Hi, I'm Lorenzo with a Sulcata

Tidgy's Dad

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2015
Messages
48,238
Location (City and/or State)
Fes, Morocco
Hello, Lorenzo, and a very warm welcome to Tortoise Forum .:)
Don't bother with spraying the substrate, just pour water in and mix by hand to get a nice moisture level.
Hot and humid is good, but wet and cold is bad.
 

Lorenzooo96

Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2017
Messages
30
Hi, thanks for the advice.
I will try to do it later when I'm back home, even though I think it will get back being dry in not too long, so I'll probably do it once a day if it's ok
 

Lorenzooo96

Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2017
Messages
30
For the substrate I only use the one shown in a photo i posted, I believe it's called Orchid Bark. Do you think I should add some soil? I also bought Orchid Moss to increase the humidity in the hide, I read it's enough to soak it, squeeze out the excess water and if the tortoise wants to be in a more humid environment can go in there. What do you guys think?
 

Tidgy's Dad

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2015
Messages
48,238
Location (City and/or State)
Fes, Morocco
Orchid bark is fine.
Some use coco coir or cypress mulch, but it's just a question of preference.
Moisten it as often as is necessary, but don't overdo it.
Moist, not wet.
 

Gillian M

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2014
Messages
15,417
Location (City and/or State)
Jordan
I'm gonna read the links you sent me, thanks for all the answers :)
I'll post more photos so you can see how big she is and all. She should weigh around 80g, tonight I will be able to know the exact amount though.
Do you think she might really be 2 years old or not?
Also, I did not notice that she's already pyramiding, how can i keep her more humid? I soaked her already in water today as she was a bit dirty

View attachment 197980 View attachment 197981
Oh what a gorgeous little tort you have. GOD bless. Take good care of here and make sure she's warm and has enough humidity. I live in Jordan where the climate is very DRY. I give Oli my beloved Greek tort a soak in warm water each and every day. I spray his enclosure with water and mix the substrate with my hands. Hope that helps.

And welcome to the forum!
 

Lorenzooo96

Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2017
Messages
30
I soak her in water every day too, but not for too long because I'm scared it might get too cold after a while. So I would say I soak her for about 5-10 minutes a day, I hope it's enough :)

Thank you for all the advice you guys are giving me :)

I will try to keep this thread updated writing down her weight and see if she's actually growing.

I really hope she'll start doing better than how she was in that pet shop, it's pretty awful how little she grew in 2 years in the conditions she was
 

Gillian M

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2014
Messages
15,417
Location (City and/or State)
Jordan
I soak her in water every day too, but not for too long because I'm scared it might get too cold after a while. So I would say I soak her for about 5-10 minutes a day, I hope it's enough :)

Thank you for all the advice you guys are giving me :)

I will try to keep this thread updated writing down her weight and see if she's actually growing.

I really hope she'll start doing better than how she was in that pet shop, it's pretty awful how little she grew in 2 years in the conditions she was
I do not think that 10 minutes are enough. I soak Oli for about 25-30 minutes and keep checking the temperature of the water. Once I feel it's cooled down, I immediately pour some warmer water into his bowl, or change the water. This applies nowadays with extremely cold weather here.
 

cmacusa3

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2014
Messages
3,191
Location (City and/or State)
Bixby
Soak her in a bowl inside the enclosure, temps will stay perfect. You will never need to change water during unless its been pooped in.
 

Lorenzooo96

Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2017
Messages
30
Oh, I thought 30 minutes was a long time, I'll totally let her soak for longer then :)
Cmac3 thanks, you're right, I will definitely put the bowl in the enclosure so the water stays warm and I don't have to worry about it getting cold.

Thank you guys for the help :D
 

Pearly

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2015
Messages
5,287
Location (City and/or State)
Central Texas, Austin area
Hi Lorenzo, welcome to the forum! I am Polish but live in Texas (US). I am raising Northern Redfooted and Brazilian Cherryhead (type of Redfooted as well). Like you and many other new keepers I also struggled with keeping temps and humidity constant. "Closed chamber" is definitely the way to go with keeping babies or torts that are not well and on the mend. I have a pretty informative thread on here with lots of pictures on how I ended up doing mine. If you want to look it up just go to SEARCH feature and type in "Pearly's 40 gal covered top tank". If you like what you see there you should be able to easily and inexpensively replicate it with the instructions/descriptions in that thread.
 

Pearly

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2015
Messages
5,287
Location (City and/or State)
Central Texas, Austin area
The low temperature is around 20 C because its very distant from the heat lamp. But I noticed she stays under her hide until morning.
I tried to feed her again and she's not eating.
I hope that the Saran Wrap does something and keeps the heat in, you can see in the picture how much it covers the enclosure.
She may not eat if her core body temp it too low. Depending on what your ambient room temp is I bet you are dealing with huge heat/humidity loss on this tort table. Cover the top! Also I'd add some nice plants for her. Youngsters like to have places to hide and being exposed on barren table maybe making her feel vulnerable. As for food, I have some experience in nursing sick non-eating baby back to health and made a thread on it. It's for the RF baby but with feeding babies omni or herbivorous bunch of this same principles apply. Just keep trying different things and don't give up until she catches onto eating just like my sickly picky eater did. This is him now at 1yr 8months, weighing almost 2lbs, 6.5 inches carapace...ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1485534328.255072.jpg my "little monster Tucker":) anyway if you are interested in some practical feeding tips on different ways that may work in getting yours to eat, look up my feeding thread by SEARCH feature, just type "Pearly's tips on feeding picky eater", lots of step by step instructions and lots of pictures. Hope you find those helpful. Good luck
 

Pearly

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2015
Messages
5,287
Location (City and/or State)
Central Texas, Austin area

Lorenzooo96

Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2017
Messages
30
Pearly, thank you very very much, now I'm definitely going to read all of the links you posted :) Also, your redfoot tort is beautiful!!!
 

Lorenzooo96

Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2017
Messages
30
Pearly, I read the thread about covering the terrarium and I have some questions:
1. My enclosure is made out of wood so if I close it completely from the top with the reflectix I am not going to be able to see the tortoise anymore, because I don't have transparent glass like you do.

2. Your terrarium is beautiful and full of plants and stuff, the problem with mine is I don't use soil, so I can't place plants in there, maybe I can put some pots but it's probably not the same
 

Lorenzooo96

Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2017
Messages
30
One more thing, when I soak her in water, is it normal if when she's nose breathing, some bubbles come out of the nose? it only happens when she breathes out strongly, not normally. I don't know if it makes sense. I always check the temp of the water an I make sure it's not cold. IMG_4839.JPG
 

Tidgy's Dad

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2015
Messages
48,238
Location (City and/or State)
Fes, Morocco
One more thing, when I soak her in water, is it normal if when she's nose breathing, some bubbles come out of the nose? it only happens when she breathes out strongly, not normally. I don't know if it makes sense. I always check the temp of the water an I make sure it's not cold. View attachment 198177
A tortoises nares (nostrils) lead to the top of the mouth, not to the back of the throat, so when a tort drinks it is not uncommon for water to bubble out of the nose.
If it only bubbles when bathing, i wouldn't worry, if it happens away from the water is when there may be a problem.
Make sure the water is nice and warm and a bit deeper, to a line a little above where the carapace and plastron meet.
 

New Posts

Top