HELP!!! NEED AS MUCH ADVICE AS POSSIBLE!!

[reedsmom]

HELP!!! NEED AS MUCH ADVICE AS POSSIBLE!!

Being new I have SOOOO many questions though. What should I be feeding her? Whats the best bedding for her? Does she need a box of some sort to go into to burrow up and sleep? What all should be in her enclosure? Do I leave the heat lamp and light on at all times? Please any and all info would be greatly appreciated. I want this new girl to have the best possible life here with us. I am guessing her to be between 11 and 12 based on her size.
Thank you in advance for any info.
Tabatha and Reed.

---

After looking at some pictures on here, I am thinking perhaps she is a lot younger that I initially thought. She is about the size of a regular dinner plate ( I feel like thats a horrible comparison but the best example I can think of.) Any guesses? I tried to load pictures and it told me they were to big... =(

 

[tortoisenerd]

RE: New to the Forum and being a tortoise mom

Welcome to the group! Congrats on the tort. Will you be keeping her forever or until you can find another home? What is your climate like (can you house her outdoors year round)? How big of a yard? Are you prepared for her size/strength/destruction/appetite? You need to be setting up good graze in your yard of a variety of grasses, weeds, etc. Some others will pop in soon.

In the short term: some kind of container or box set up with heat between 70-95 (one basking spot is 95 at the top of her shell; the top of the shell gets much hotter than the floor so be careful), and the temperature radiates out from there), UVB source unless she is getting outside regularly, shallow water dish to drink and soak in, I like to feed on a slate tile as it helps the beak and nails, and hides in warm and cool areas (containers and boxes work great as do fake plants). She needs light 12-14 hours a day. What is your house temperature at night? If above 60, no heat is needed for her. If under 60, then get a low wattage ceramic heat emitter to bump up the temperature a few degrees. You do want a night time temperature drop, as they get in the wild.

She needs hides. In the wild when not basking or grazing, they hide. You want at the very minimum one in a warmer area (80s) and one in a cooler area (70s). When she wants it in the 90s she will bask out in the open. You can use lots of things for bedding. At this point it is what you have access to. Here are some choices in no particular order so you can look into them: clean yard dirt (no chemicals, organic potting soil, coconut coir (it comes in bricks at pet stores), Cyprus Mulch, and Orchid Bark. You want a moist substrate so you add a little water and mix it up to maintain humidity. Sulcatas are prone to pyramiding of the shell (raised scutes), and keeping their substrate humidi can help prevent this. Although in the wild they livei n the desert, they spend more time than not in their burrow which is crazy humid from their bodily waster.

I recommend giving her a warm (baby bath) soak in a plastic container (preferably not clean sides), having water in the container such that when you put it in if will go up to where the top shell (plastron) meets the bottom shell (carapace). The tortoise should not have to raise its head to get its head out of the water. This will encourage the tortoise to drink, soak, and use the bathroom. Likely this tortoise is dehydrated, as most rescues are. You may want to do this on a daily basis for a week and then every few days, unless of course you think they are hydrated and/or you see them drinking. Some people believe tortoises absorb water during a soak even without drinking, but others think they do not. Fresh water should be available at all times in a dish shallow enough for the tortoise to easily walk through but deep enough to stick its entire head in (as they need to do to drink). I think if dehydration is suspected, the only harm it does it stress.

Are you planning to get them checked over by a vet, including a fecal test for parasites?

Best wishes.

 

[Kymiie]

I dont own a sulcata, but im sure someone will be over shortly to answer your questions!
Sad story, poor animals hope they havt been drownd! At least you had taken the sulcata!

Lighting - 12-14 hours per day!
Thats all I could tell you xx

 

[katesgoey]

Hi Tabatha and Welcome to the group. I'm glad the "angel" saved those pets and you were able to take Reed in!

I don't keep sulcata either, but I do have Leopards and their care is very similar. If you've looked through this site, you've probably by now already read up on general care but you can also go to www.africantortoise.com for more information - it is my "go to" site next to this one. Are you planning to have her checked out by a vet? If you don't know a good tortoise vet - There is a vet list here on this site: http://tortoiseforum.org/tortoisevetlist.html.

The best basic feed for sulcatas is grass, weeds and hay (no pesticides of course). You can also feed veggies from the store = Spring Mix (w/o spinach), squash, escarole, etc., but the base foods are the grass, weeds, and hay (not alfalfa, but grass hay). The site above and threads in Sulcata Central will also give you more specifics about edible and nonedible foods. You can also grow a tortoise grazing mix from seeds which I buy at www.carolinapetsupply.com.

Where are you located? What is the climate where you live? What type of heat lamp are you using (wattage, etc)? You will need a UVB lamp also if you are keeping Reed inside for the winter (sulcatas don't hibernate but should be kept inside or provided sufficient heat for cold winters). If you live in a warmer climate, Reed may get UVB naturally with daily time outdoors. So if you're keeping Reed inside your house for the winter in the dog crate, you will probably need to add the UVB lamp. You may want to get a thermometer to see what the temps are in the crate (whether inside or outside) so you don't have to guess if she's getting enough heat or too much. She will need some kind of water dish to drink from. She sounds good size, but you still may want to soak her in lukewarm water for about ten minutes or so at least once a week for now. Fill a large bowl or tub with just enough warm water to come to her where the carapace (top shell) and plastron (bottom) meet, then set her in it.

You will need to plan for an outdoor enclosure for Reed. It is best that they live in as natural an environment for their species as possible....and Sulcatas get very big and can be destructive (see this site: http://turtlerescues.com/sulcata_challenge.htm).

My older Leopard tortoises sleep outside in an insulated and heated Rubbermaid shed. I don't use a substrate right now, but I have used organic topsoil and hay (which I didn't like for them, I worried it was a fire hazard). I will be putting in rubber mats this weekend because it is really getting cold in Central Valley CA - the mats are the kind they use in horse trailers. You can use one of these substrates or orchid bark or aspen shavings.

There are a lot of things to share about keeping sulcatas but these are the basics for one her size. We love pictures and it can helps us help you with Reed if you post pics of her and her set up. Let us know if you have any other questions and keep us updated on how you and Reed are doing.

 

[t_mclellan]

Hi reedsmom;
The first thing I would do in your situation would be look threw this forum.
All the questions you just asked are answered here several times.
After reading threw the general care (Food & Diet & Enclosures), Then post your specific question. I think you will get better response that way, Rather than the ever popular, All inclusive "Tell me everything!"
Trust me after your done reading & thinking about the new information, You will have just as many if not more completely different but more specific questions. Then search the forum again for those answers & go on from there. 1 day spent reading will yield more info. than waiting on the correct response to your post.

I hope this helps!

By the way, How did you come up with 11 or 12 years for the age?

 

[katesgoey]

Hi reedsmom;
The first thing I would do in your situation would be look threw this forum.
All the questions you just asked are answered here several times.
After reading threw the general care (Food & Diet & Enclosures), Then post your specific question. I think you will get better response that way, Rather than the ever popular, All inclusive "Tell me everything!"
Trust me after your done reading & thinking about the new information, You will have just as many if not more completely different but more specific questions. Then search the forum again for those answers & go on from there. 1 day spent reading will yield more info. than waiting on the correct response to your post.

I hope this helps!

By the way, How did you come up with 11 or 12 years for the age?

Well, gee - she did ask some specific questions. Do you believe I gave her incorrect information? (See underlined part of quotes). If so, I'd like to learn too, so please let me know. Thanks.

 

[egyptiandan]

RE: New to the Forum and being a tortoise mom

I tweeked your post here too so it's just your questions.

Danny

 

[t_mclellan]

Hi reedsmom;
The first thing I would do in your situation would be look threw this forum.
All the questions you just asked are answered here several times.
After reading threw the general care (Food & Diet & Enclosures), Then post your specific question. I think you will get better response that way, Rather than the ever popular, All inclusive "Tell me everything!"
Trust me after your done reading & thinking about the new information, You will have just as many if not more completely different but more specific questions. Then search the forum again for those answers & go on from there. 1 day spent reading will yield more info. than waiting on the correct response to your post.

I hope this helps!

By the way, How did you come up with 11 or 12 years for the age?

Well, gee - she did ask some specific questions. Do you believe I gave her incorrect information? (See underlined part of quotes). If so, I'd like to learn too, so please let me know. Thanks.

I was not referring to your post at all.
It would seem that you posted while I was typing my reply.
All I said & MENT was that searching is usually faster than waiting for a reply. No more no less.

 

[reedsmom]

Wow thank you so much for the help. We live in a little town in Oregon. It does get cold but not to bad. I planned on keeping her inside for the winter. As far as her age it is a complete and total guess. We dont have any vets around here that are knowledgeable in Tortoise's. So my plan is to go to the local wildlife park we have here. They have a male sulcata. I am going to see if they would check her out for me. As far as the question about whether I am going to keep her or re-home her, that is something that I want to talk to the wildlife park about as well. They have a beautiful enclosure for the one they have and if that will give her a better quality of life then I could provide then thats what I would prefer for her. I want whatever is going to be best for her.

The set up that you have all suggested for inside as far as lights, diet, etc I pretty much had all that for her. I was happy to see that we didnt do to bad for getting her set up.

I cant thank you all enough for your help. We want Reed to have a much better future then she has past.

 

[Yvonne G]

There's a pretty good tortoise vet in Corvallis, OR. What town are ;you in?

Yvonne

 

[TheACO731]

this website helped me in the begining www.sulcata-station.org

 

[Laura]

You wont be keeping her inside in the winter once she gets bigger.. you will need an outdoor heated shed forher. look to Tuf shed Loafing sheds to give you an idea of what to build or buy.
Most zoos or parks will not take in unwanted pets. worth asking, but.....call first.
there is a Thread here for vets. check it out and see if there is one listed near you.