The Quads!

The quads have been here a week now. It's been quite the adventure to say the least. I decorated their enclosure and found out that pretty decoration equals flip hazard so I took that down to minimal things, just enough to create sight barriers. I completely forgot about the humid hides and just put in open hides so I put in some humid hides and just took the others out completely since the quads thought they would fly off the ends of them. The first few days was rough cause they didn't want to eat but after speaking w the breeder and making the changed and adjustments he suggested, I am happy to say they are little eating machines now. I have changed out basking lights, lowered the basking light, and finally got my basking spot at the right temp. I figured out a system to keep their soak water warm for the 15-20 minutes they are soaking. I have spent hours researching the weeds in my yard and creating a varied diet from day to day. So has all this been worth it?? Yep!! The quads are doing great. We are a week into a lifetime and things seem to be going good. Of course I will have to say thanks to everyone here that's helped guide me when I have ran into a problem( or something I just thought was a problem) and a future thanks for all the future inquiry's i will have.

Here's the enclosure after many many adjustments.

And the quads...
This is vanilla (my daughter named her this because she is so light.)

And Callie. She came all the way from California with her sister Vanilla.

And Arizona. Arizona (if u couldn't guess) came all the way from Arizona. She is the smallest but she has a huge personality. She has a real neat scute pattern to match her personality.

And Alfie. Alfie also came from Arizona. He is my darkest. He has a small extra scute in the back but his color is what attracted me to him. He will come to the edge of the enclosure and look at me kinda like to say " hey, what are you doing".

I took this one this morning after they got out their soak. They are eating machines now. Hard to tell 4 days ago I was scared to death cause they wasn't eating.

Your gonna have your hands full in a few years

Kelly, well said. Amanda, i was wondering what your long term plans are for four sulcutas? I see folks having a hard time taking care of one, but four?

They are beautiful, are you sure you can properly care for them all?

Maro2Bear said:

Kelly, well said. Amanda, i was wondering what your long term plans are for four sulcutas? I see folks having a hard time taking care of one, but four?

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My long term plan is to raise them and keep them. I understand that things might not work out as Planned but I will do everything I can to have 4 big, happy, healthy digging machines in 20-25 years.

AbdullaAli said:

They are beautiful, are you sure you can properly care for them all?

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Thank you, and yes I do feel I'm sure I can properly care for all of them. I have done plenty of research and I'm not scared to ask a question when I'm unsure. I learn something new everyday and suspect I will continue to do so. If I didn't feel that I could properly care for them I would not have gotten them.

I love how you are vibrant of confidence!

Keep us all updated with Quad Progress!

AbdullaAli said:

I love how you are vibrant of confidence!

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I wouldn't call it confidence. I would call it determination. I know I have plenty more to learn and I know it's going to be a real job but I also know I have took them all on and I will do what I have to do to have big, healthy, happy torts.

they look amazing! Oh don't worry, they will grow up fast, and be excavating your yard in no time!

I have some things going on with the quads. Now I changed their enclosure a month or so ago, they got an enclosure that holds heat and humidity better and has more foot space. While I changed out the enclosure I did a couple things different. I layered the substrate. Couple inches of damp Eco earth topped with a couple inches of Repti bark, I left the bark dry but I do mist it down once a day real good. I redid their humid hides, which they loved at first. Now I still soak once daily for 20-30 minutes in warm water, I still most their shells a few times a day and of course they have fresh water available at all times. For the most part they were fine w the changes I made. Over the last week I have got to noticing a couple things.
1) they are digging down thru the reptibark into the Eco earth substrate and sleeping.
2) they will not use their hide, when I first changed it, they went in voluntarily and now, I put them in an hour after lights go out.
3) they don't seem as eager about their food as they use to. They are still eating but it's more like they each take turns nibbling here and there.
My night temps are usually around 82 on cool end and 84-85 on hot end. My day temps are 86-87 on cool end and 89-93 on hot end. The humidity is staying around 87-99 through out enclosure. The certain spot they all want to dig down to the Eco earth is right under the CHE, but it never turns on during the day due to the basking light raising temps up. I have also noticed that Alfie is kinda separating himself from the group. They will all be over nibbling on their food and he is still in his spot sleeping, he will eventually go eat but it's usually when none the others are at that location. They are 4 months old now and I have watched for any aggressiveness between them and haven't really seen any. I try to watch to see if maybe one is giving him am evil eye or anything but haven't noticed that either. Could the whole "I want to be the only sulcata" already be playing a roll at only 4 months of age? The weather is changing and getting cooler outside but would that play a role since their environment is controlled. I still take them out for sun rays, usually an hour a day but it is always the hottest part of the day and the ground temps in their enclosure is above 80, their concrete pads and rocks are always near 95-100, I make sure the sun is shining in their enclosure (except their shade spots) the whole time their out.
I have went back to their usual weeds/grass variety diet, I did add some new weeds that have showed up since the weather has changed but I checked to make sure they were safe to feed and the initial feeding was fine, they gobbled them up. I also give them mazuri mixed with vitamin/calcium supplement twice a week, usually 1 tablespoon each, they gobble that down and usually have a little left over.
I almost forgot but over theist 2 days I also noticed that Alfie has started making a rather loud squeaking noise when he pulls himself back in his shell. I notice it when he is soaking usually so perhaps it seems loud cause the tub he is in has high sides and it kinda magnifies the noise, I'm not sure.
I am sure that I don't want anyone bullying anyone else so if this is the case I will separate.
I also know they can be sick and almost dead before we see the symptoms and I don't want that either.
So is something going on or does all this just sound like normal stuff?
Any advise or suggestions will be really helpful.

How big is their enclosure. At their size...you would need (at least) an 8 x 8...but it's not even November yet! I'm hoping this is a night enclosure...
because anything cramped could cause Marv to become aggressive towards both! He hung out with Monstro A LOT...and that could have a profound effect on him if conditions were to change too drastically. Please follow up. @Tom ...he has ALL the other Sudans so he should chime in here too with his observations...
@JennBell0725 we need to know if anything significant is going on with your three as well

We are currently working on a planted indoor inclosure for winter here. Going to separate my yearlings and the sudans according to size. Heating a whole room for them. Planting two large plastic pools in there as well. They will still go out when weather permits.

JennBell0725 said:

We are currently working on a planted indoor inclosure for winter here. Going to separate my yearlings and the sudans according to size. Heating a whole room for them. Planting two large plastic pools in there as well. They will still go out when weather permits.

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I can't wait to see how that turns out...please post pictures when you start/finish!