Baby sulcata care ?

[Trucker]

I have just acquired a baby sulcata.. I really want to take the best care possible for her. ( not sure of sex , to me, its a girl) she is not quite 3 inches. There is so much confusion on the proper care. I've read a lot about them and thought about getting one for years. I have 2 redfoots that I absolutely love. I have done well with them so far. No pyramiding! So .. I have 2 concerns.. One is... I keep reading that you have to give them this mazuri tortoise diet. Is this correct? Because I ve also read not to give them protein and mazuri has protein in it...?? Question 2 I ve also read they should have 16 hrs uvb when they are this little..? Also read that in the wild they stay in burrows until a certain age. They aren't getting sunlight if they are in burrows. And last question what should her humidity be?

 

[Clamhandsmcgee]

You do not have to give "her" mazuri. I do, as well as other keepers, as a supplement to their regular diet. I only give it to mine maybe once or twice a week. As far as sunlight, all tortoises benefit from uv light. I have a MVB light in my hatchlings enclosure that provides uv light and heat, and I take mine outside a few times a week for natural sun light. I keep my humidity high for hatchlings, somewhere between 80-90%. Humidity is the most important thing to keep their shells smooth. Keep in mind though, if your humidity is that high you need to make sure her temperatures don't drop below 80°.

 

[Taylor T.]

Well, first read these:

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/ever-wonder-how-fast-a-sulcata-can-grow.150013/


There is no way to tell the gender for quite a while.

Unfortunately there is a lot of incorrect advise floating around, however, those threads linked above have current information that have been proven time and time again to produce healthy specimens.

I hope you realize that you will not be able to keep the two species together.

There is no reason that you HAVE to use Mazuri, but it fine to supplement their diet with it. While Redfoots do need some protein, Sulcatas do not, they need a diet high in fiber.

14 hours of UVB is plenty. In the wild they may spend a lot of time in burrows, but they definitely come out to eat and bask.

Humidity should be 80%. The only may to way to maintain this is with a closed chamber.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Hello, and a very warm welcome to Tortoise Forum.
Lots of good advice given above.
In nature they only need a little sun, it is very fierce where they come from, even quite early and late in the day, out artificial suns, the UVB lights can't emulate the real thing so we need to keep ours on for many hours to equal just one hour of direct African sunlight.

 

[Tom]

I have just acquired a baby sulcata.. I really want to take the best care possible for her. ( not sure of sex , to me, its a girl) she is not quite 3 inches. There is so much confusion on the proper care. I've read a lot about them and thought about getting one for years. I have 2 redfoots that I absolutely love. I have done well with them so far. No pyramiding! So .. I have 2 concerns.. One is... I keep reading that you have to give them this mazuri tortoise diet. Is this correct? Because I ve also read not to give them protein and mazuri has protein in it...?? Question 2 I ve also read they should have 16 hrs uvb when they are this little..? Also read that in the wild they stay in burrows until a certain age. They aren't getting sunlight if they are in burrows. And last question what should her humidity be?

Hello and welcome.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of old, incorrect, and conflicting info out there for this species. I don't know how to convince you to believe us over all the other advice out there in the world, but look at the results. We've got 1000's of pics showing our results with many species using the methods that Taylor linked for you. I couldn't have said all that better myself.