Hello!

[Tertlgirl]

Long time tortoise owner, first time forum user. We have 1 California Desert Tortoise, which we've had for nearly 30 years, and 3 African Sulcatas. The Sulcatas are relatively new. We adopted a juvenile male about 10 years ago, he was very small and had been mauled by a dog, honestly I didn't think he would make it but "Scar" has grown up nicely dispite the big dent in his shell. Then we got an adult female 8 years ago, she was a little dominant at first but we made sure there were lots of places for the smaller tortoises to get away. Last year, we adopted an adult male, Rocky, after some time for incubation, I introduced the new male to the others. Whoa! He was non-stop, if you know what I mean. Now, our female, Kraken, is digging a new hole, how can I tell if she's digging to lay or just digging a new burrow
Curious in California

 

[Stuart S.]

Hello and welcome!

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hi
It's great to have another member that 1955 isn't a tire size !

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Welcome from steamy south Florida.
I know very little about Sulcatas. But there are many folks here that do.

 

[Stormy Bluu]

Welcome from Pennsylvania!

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi and welcome!

Just a piece of advice for the sake of your tortoises - make a separate area in the yard for the male sulcata. Since adding him to the group, the female's life has become a living hell. Eventually you're going to see her hiding more and eating less. Also, I hope you're protecting your desert tortoise from the sulcatas. One school of thought is that the dreaded mycoplasma that is making the wild desert tortoise population sick came from someone's released sulcata. Not a good idea to mix species.

To answer your question. . . the female will usually start a scrape with her front legs, but when she actually starts the nest digging she turns around and digs with her back legs.

 

[Tertlgirl]

Hello
My female Sulcata finally laid her eggs! I have 16 in an incubator set at 80 degrees, but what about humidity? I can't seem to find any information on this, perhaps you can help
Thanks

 

[Tom]

Hello
My female Sulcata finally laid her eggs! I have 16 in an incubator set at 80 degrees, but what about humidity? I can't seem to find any information on this, perhaps you can help
Thanks

That temp is too low. They need to be around 86-88.

Give this a read through:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-incubate-eggs-and-start-hatchlings.124266/

 

[Tertlgirl]

Thanks for your quick reply. I've increased the temp to 88 and pray they'll be alright.

 

[Tertlgirl]

Hello
I've been incubating 14 Sulcata eggs since May 31. I figured they would start hatching around Aug. 27, but one started hatching last Saturday. Can anyone tell me how long it should take for the others to hatch?

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Hello.
I'm afraid I don't know the answer to your question, though patience might be all there is to it.
Try posting a new thread in the Tortoise Breeding section for a better chance of a response.