When will my Sulcata full stand?

[Rikki Green]

My one year old Sulcata still appears to army crawl and doesn’t full stand on his back legs. Is there something I should be doing to help with his muscles? We have recently put him in a larger enclosure and started letting him explore the back yard.

 

[Len B]

How long have you had it and what substrate has it been living on ?

 

[Rikki Green]

How long have you had it and what substrate has it been living on ?

I have had him over a year since he was a hatchling. Generally we buy the eco earth substrate . It looks like mini wood chips all cut up. This time around we put a thick layer of top soil with the Same substrate on top.

 

[Sterant]

The tortoise should be walking normally (with the plastron off the ground) immediately - this is not something that takes time to develop. If you pull on his rear legs, can he retract them with a lot of force?

Is he fully hydrated all the time? What do you feed it?

Has he had any antibiotic treatments in his life?

 

[Maro2Bear]

Try to upload a few pix of your Sully & enclosures.

 

[Rikki Green]

The tortoise should be walking normally (with the plastron off the ground) immediately - this is not something that takes time to develop. If you pull on his rear legs, can he retract them with a lot of force?

Is he fully hydrated all the time? What do you feed it?

Has he had any antibiotic treatments in his life?

Yes, he retracts quickly and is still speedy when walking in the backyard or through his enclosure . We feed him Mazuri pellets , romaine and carrots . He has plenty of water plus I bathe him twice a week and keep a spray bottle by his enclosure and spray him and the entire enclosure several times a day.

 

[Rikki Green]

Try to upload a few pix of your Sully & enclosures.

Today was the first day we put him outside . After these pics I brought the entire enclosure back in. The plant was dying and the temp was reading really high.

 

[Rikki Green]

The tortoise should be walking normally (with the plastron off the ground) immediately - this is not something that takes time to develop. If you pull on his rear legs, can he retract them with a lot of force?

Is he fully hydrated all the time? What do you feed it?

Has he had any antibiotic treatments in his life?

No antibiotic treatments

 

[Toddrickfl1]

Has the Tortoise had proper uvb?

 

[Rikki Green]

Has the Tortoise had proper uvb?

We used to have a light on him but then we moved him in front of our kitchen windows. He gets natural light but it’s dark at night. No lamp.

 

[Toddrickfl1]

We used to have a light on him but then we moved him in front of our kitchen windows. He gets natural light but it’s dark at night. No lamp.

UVB doesn't pass thru glass. There's your problem. Your tortoise probably has the beginning stages of Metabolic Bone Disease from lack of UVB.

 

[Rikki Green]

UVB doesn't pass thru glass. There's your problem. Your tortoise probably has the beginning stages of Metabolic Bone Disease from lack of UVB.

How can I help him???

 

[Rikki Green]

Has the Tortoise had proper uvb?

I read up on it and ordered him a 150 uvb bulb plus calcium powder for food and water. What else can I do?

 

[Toddrickfl1]

Nothing better than the sun itself. A few hours a week outside in natural sunlight should help. Just make sure you provide shade too.

 

[Rikki Green]

Nothing better than the sun itself. A few hours a week outside in natural sunlight should help. Just make sure you provide shade too.

DONE! Thank you!

 

[Len B]

Also along with what @Toddrickfl1 said, improve his diet to a more varied diet I don't know how to link threads but @Tom has some great list here on the forum. Basically he has a vitamin deficiency but don't do vitamin shots to correct it, correct lighting and diet will help him in time. Probably should increase his humidity too.

 

[Rikki Green]

Also along with what @Toddrickfl1 said, improve his diet to a more varied diet I don't know how to link threads but @Tom has some great list here on the forum. Basically he has a vitamin deficiency but don't do vitamin shots to correct it, correct lighting and diet will help him in time. Probably should increase his humidity too.

Thank you! I will work on all of this and hopefully he gets better soon.

 

[Tom]

Thank you! I will work on all of this and hopefully he gets better soon.

Here is the care sheet Len was talking about. This tortoise needs daily soaks, a much better diet, a suitable large enclosure for outside time (your current little one is not suitable as you noticed, and a large closed chamber indoors.

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[wellington]

The enclosure size needs to be larger. If he doesn't have enough space to explore and move a lot he won't build up his muscles to hold him up.
Get everything corrected asap and he should be fine.

 

[Florida]

I read up on it and ordered him a 150 uvb bulb plus calcium powder for food and water. What else can I do?

He needs direct sunlight