Tortugal
New Member
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2014
- Messages
- 22
A friend of a friend (you know how that goes) asked for help trying to sex her sulcata. I went over to help. Oh boy am I glad I went. She has had "Frank" since he was a hatchling from petsmart. He is 3years old, about 6 inches long and has some carapace deformities. I'm going to list what I saw as major husbandry problems first:
1. 3ft long glass tank with very dry Reptibark, one side had a big wooden hide house about 12in long.
2. Large water dish about 3in high and not large enough for the tort to climb in and out of. Sully was never soaked a day in his life. I saw a major drowning hazard and she said he regularly flips over trying to get in.
3. Only ever fed iceberg lettuce sprinkled with multi-colored tortoise pellets that were dry and Brussel sprouts. Calcium spray was used once a week.
4. Only an incandescent bulb for UVA which was a 60wt which was 1 year old. No fluorescent bulb or CHE or natual sunlight. Tortoise was rarely allowed outside. There are also large dogs living in the home. No thermostats or thermometers used. Infrared bulb used at night.
He is too small and young to be sexed but I'm referring to him as male in this post. The rear part of the shell is sunken in a bit and there is some pyramiding. Poor skin was sooooo dry. I knew this was an amazing opportunity to share what I have learned here and to possibly give this family a chance to have a healthy tortoise. There were some nasal bubbles when I saw him, so I got her an apt with the reptile vet and he's on baytril for 2 weeks. I went with and we discussed husbandry improvements that were going to happen.
I printed the juvenile care sheet from Tom so she has a reference and I gave her forum info. Here were my suggestions and please advise any others:
1. Tort table at least 6ft long and 2ft wide for now. Substrate coconut coir/organic potting soil mixture kept damp.
2. Terra cotta saucer as a water dish, changed daily or more frequent as needed. Soaking daily for 2 weeks while on antibiotics and then 4-5 times a week. 20-30 min in warm water.
3. Diet: introducing hay (no alfalfa) Timothy, orchard, Bermuda, weeds (no pesticides), dandelion, hibiscus, rose petals and the diet items listed by Tom. No fruit. No iceberg lettuce ever again. Mazuri grassland pellets softened two to three times a week.
4. Cuttlebone for calcium. Told her to leave it in and see his often he noshes.
5. Natural sunshine! Build a tortoise pen that is dog proof (at least keep dogs locked in while tort is out) and predator proof as possible. Let him graze on grass. Provide shade and eventually an outdoor heated house. They didn't know sulcatas don't hibernate. For indoor time, fluorescent reptisun 5.0 changed every 6 mo. UVA bulb changed to fresh one and thermometers bought so basking site is 90-95F and cool side no lower than 70F.
We also discussed CHE.
Sorry this is so long, and I may have forgotten to write a thing or two, but this is the overall summary. If you have other suggestions I'm all ears. Hopefully this guy will get a much better chance at a healthy life and I thank his mom for being open-minded and listening to me, I was very nice and understanding and I think that helped in the interaction. I love this forum!
1. 3ft long glass tank with very dry Reptibark, one side had a big wooden hide house about 12in long.
2. Large water dish about 3in high and not large enough for the tort to climb in and out of. Sully was never soaked a day in his life. I saw a major drowning hazard and she said he regularly flips over trying to get in.
3. Only ever fed iceberg lettuce sprinkled with multi-colored tortoise pellets that were dry and Brussel sprouts. Calcium spray was used once a week.
4. Only an incandescent bulb for UVA which was a 60wt which was 1 year old. No fluorescent bulb or CHE or natual sunlight. Tortoise was rarely allowed outside. There are also large dogs living in the home. No thermostats or thermometers used. Infrared bulb used at night.
He is too small and young to be sexed but I'm referring to him as male in this post. The rear part of the shell is sunken in a bit and there is some pyramiding. Poor skin was sooooo dry. I knew this was an amazing opportunity to share what I have learned here and to possibly give this family a chance to have a healthy tortoise. There were some nasal bubbles when I saw him, so I got her an apt with the reptile vet and he's on baytril for 2 weeks. I went with and we discussed husbandry improvements that were going to happen.
I printed the juvenile care sheet from Tom so she has a reference and I gave her forum info. Here were my suggestions and please advise any others:
1. Tort table at least 6ft long and 2ft wide for now. Substrate coconut coir/organic potting soil mixture kept damp.
2. Terra cotta saucer as a water dish, changed daily or more frequent as needed. Soaking daily for 2 weeks while on antibiotics and then 4-5 times a week. 20-30 min in warm water.
3. Diet: introducing hay (no alfalfa) Timothy, orchard, Bermuda, weeds (no pesticides), dandelion, hibiscus, rose petals and the diet items listed by Tom. No fruit. No iceberg lettuce ever again. Mazuri grassland pellets softened two to three times a week.
4. Cuttlebone for calcium. Told her to leave it in and see his often he noshes.
5. Natural sunshine! Build a tortoise pen that is dog proof (at least keep dogs locked in while tort is out) and predator proof as possible. Let him graze on grass. Provide shade and eventually an outdoor heated house. They didn't know sulcatas don't hibernate. For indoor time, fluorescent reptisun 5.0 changed every 6 mo. UVA bulb changed to fresh one and thermometers bought so basking site is 90-95F and cool side no lower than 70F.
We also discussed CHE.
Sorry this is so long, and I may have forgotten to write a thing or two, but this is the overall summary. If you have other suggestions I'm all ears. Hopefully this guy will get a much better chance at a healthy life and I thank his mom for being open-minded and listening to me, I was very nice and understanding and I think that helped in the interaction. I love this forum!
