Meet Dino - my first sulcata - question for the experts

[Tom]

Hello. First time tortoise owner so looking for advice on my less than a year old tortoise. His shell has darkened a ton. I am wondering if any mine can confirm that this is normal. Attached are two photos, I’m getting mixed information on the internet. I already know I need to increase the humidity of his cage. Thank you in advance.

Hello and welcome.

Darkness is new growth coming in. Young growing sulcatas should be dark brown where the new growth is coming in, as yours is. Totally normal, and also a good sign that he is healthy.

There is nothing wrong with glass tanks. That is an old persistent myth like so many others. Glass tanks are fine for the OPPOSITE of why they say they are a problem. There are two problems with glass tanks and it is NOT what you have read before. "They" say that the tall sides restrict air flow and that this is bad. Nonsense! The opposite is true. The problem is that they don't restrict airflow ENOUGH! That open top lets all the heat and humidity out. You need a closed chamber enclosure. Trying to heat and humidify an open topped enclosure is like trying to heat your house in winter with no roof on it. Its impossible. The heat just rises up and out.

The other problem with glass tanks is NOT that they can see out. Its good that you can see in and they can see out. This does NOT stress them out and any other such non-sense. The other problem is that they are too small for anything but a tiny hatchling.

There is a lot of old incorrect info out in the world for tortoise care. Almost everything on YT and FB is just plain wrong. You have NOW found the correct info. Hope we can help.

Read through this at least twice. Then look for the sulcata care sheet near the bottom and read that one at least twice. Then, hit us with all your questions. We will help make sense of it all:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Tom]

I Didn’t Ask You About Pairs Or Fake Grass But Thank you Anyway!
I Use The F-Grass When I Feed Them Only, And As Of Having a Pair I ALWAY Had Pairs With NO Problem!

She isn't telling you this to upset or insult you. She is telling you this because, like so many other people, you have gotten the wrong care info about tortoises. Almost every source outside of this forum is just plain wrong. I tried watching about 15 different YT videos on sulcata care and every single one of them was just full of wrong info, harmful info, only incorrect statements, and most of them repeated the same wrong info that has been repeated for decades.

You didn't ask for help, but if you saw someone making mistakes that could do harm to their animals, would you not point it out and try to help?

Before you launch a counter-attack against someone who is not attacking you, please take a few minutes to read this thread. It will explain a whole lot, and make you a better tortoise keeper. After you've read it, let's have a conversation. A helpful conversation, not an angry argument. We want to HELP you and your tortoises.

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[NELSUN737]

She isn't telling you this to upset or insult you. She is telling you this because, like so many other people, you have gotten the wrong care info about tortoises. Almost every source outside of this forum is just plain wrong. I tried watching about 15 different YT videos on sulcata care and every single one of them was just full of wrong info, harmful info, only incorrect statements, and most of them repeated the same wrong info that has been repeated for decades.

You didn't ask for help, but if you saw someone making mistakes that could do harm to their animals, would you not point it out and try to help?

Before you launch a counter-attack against someone who is not attacking you, please take a few minutes to read this thread. It will explain a whole lot, and make you a better tortoise keeper. After you've read it, let's have a conversation. A helpful conversation, not an angry argument. We want to HELP you and your tortoises.

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

I'm not here to confront anyone or to be confronted by anyone. Is sad that in my first comment not even a post I have to go through this because of people's misunderstanding.

I saw a post about the coloration of their box turtles, African Spurs, African sulcata, or whatever you want to call it!

I posted a picture of my African Spurs having different coloration though they were born at the same time, not even a minute passed and someone commented about my picture right away!
don't put two of them together,
Don't use fake grass etc etc.

The question was if it was okay for box turtles to change colors.

it wasn't about fake grass, or keeping them in pairs, I was just merely letting her know that it was perfectly normal for colors to change.

So I replied! I didn't ask about fake grass or having them in pairs, and I said "Thank you anyway"

Then I explained that I used the fake grass for feeding time only
So they don't get messy.
They usually make a mess all over the coconut husk.

I also explained that I kept two of them together before and I had no problems and that was it.

When I said I didn't ask you I meant to say that I didn't post asking for advice, I was just putting a picture so the person with the question about colors would know that my two African Spurs were different in colors even though they were born the same day from the same mom and that's it.


I posted my picture as part of the comment, I was not asking for advice but letting them know not to worry about the color change because sometimes it's genetic or it's the environment, etc etc.

I didn't mean to offend anybody my apologies if you got offended but I think that when somebody post something picture whatever don't jump to criticize the picture right away just ask or you use fake grass you have two of them together you know ask me separately but not even a minute past if you look at the time in the post you'll notice that but I'm a peaceful person my apologies for those who got offended and I look forward to be part of the community sincerely and from the bottom of my heart God bless you all! Okay

 

[Tom]

I'm not here to confront anyone or to be confronted by anyone. Is sad that in my first comment not even a post I have to go through this because of people's misunderstanding.

I saw a post about the coloration of their box turtles, African Spurs, African sulcata, or whatever you want to call it!

I posted a picture of my African Spurs having different coloration though they were born at the same time, not even a minute passed and someone commented about my picture right away!
don't put two of them together,
Don't use fake grass etc etc.

The question was if it was okay for box turtles to change colors.

it wasn't about fake grass, or keeping them in pairs, I was just merely letting her know that it was perfectly normal for colors to change.

So I replied! I didn't ask about fake grass or having them in pairs, and I said "Thank you anyway"

Then I explained that I used the fake grass for feeding time only
So they don't get messy.
They usually make a mess all over the coconut husk.

I also explained that I kept two of them together before and I had no problems and that was it.

When I said I didn't ask you I meant to say that I didn't post asking for advice, I was just putting a picture so the person with the question about colors would know that my two African Spurs were different in colors even though they were born the same day from the same mom and that's it.


I posted my picture as part of the comment, I was not asking for advice but letting them know not to worry about the color change because sometimes it's genetic or it's the environment, etc etc.

I didn't mean to offend anybody my apologies if you got offended but I think that when somebody post something picture whatever don't jump to criticize the picture right away just ask or you use fake grass you have two of them together you know ask me separately but not even a minute past if you look at the time in the post you'll notice that but I'm a peaceful person my apologies for those who got offended and I look forward to be part of the community sincerely and from the bottom of my heart God bless you all! Okay

Thank you for talking the time to reply. It appears that you missed my question in the middle of my post, so I'll leave it here again:

You didn't ask for help, but if you saw someone making mistakes that could do harm to their animals, would you not point it out and try to help?

You were not being criticized. You were being helped. There is a HUGE difference.

 

[TammyJ]

PERFECTLY NORMAL, AS YOU CAN SEE BOTH OF MY AFRICAN SPURS ARE DIFERENT IN COLORATION AND THE WERE SAME COLOR 7 MO AGO!
IS GENETIC, JUST FEED THEM WELL AND ENJOY YOUR BABIES!

You are wrong with your advice. The people like Wellington, Yvonne and @EppsDynasty who are sharing their excellent knowledge and comments here, don't need to be criticized by someone who calls any tortoise an AFRICAN SPURRED BOX TURTLE. Kkwoodson, you and Nelsun are both welcome here, so please let's be willing to learn from people with many years of experience and care for all species of tortoises. I came here knowing zero except what I thought I knew, and I learned that what I thought I knew was dead wrong. Thanks to the expert advice I got here.

 

[EppsDynasty]

You are wrong with your advice. The people like Wellington, Yvonne and @EppsDynasty who are sharing their excellent knowledge and comments here, don't need to be criticized by someone who calls any tortoise an AFRICAN SPURRED BOX TURTLE. Kkwoodson, you and Nelsun are both welcome here, so please let's be willing to learn from people with many years of experience and care for all species of tortoises. I came here knowing zero except what I thought I knew, and I learned that what I thought I knew was dead wrong. Thanks to the expert advice I got here.

Thank You @TammyJ .... very well said.