New Sulcata Tortoise Owner

[Newbie Allen]

Hello All!

My name is Nick and I am an excited new owner of a baby Sulcata Tortoise. I am aware of the size they grow to and the habitat needed, after researching before going and making the purchase. I have owned reptiles in the past and still do (bearded dragon). Being that I am new to raising tortoises in general I figured I would introduce my self to the community and tell you a little about my new baby Sulcata and the enclosure i have assembled for him/her. I look forward to and hope to receive any suggestions so my Sulcata can grow big and live a healthy life.

-According to the reptile center I purchased the baby from he/she is about 4-5 months old.
-He/she tends to sleep a lot.
-I have only owned the baby for a couple of days.
-Every morning I have given him a luke warm soak for 10-15 min, then dried him off and placed him in front of the food i prepared for him/her. For example he/she ate what felt to me a good amount yesterday but then today could not be bothered and has just slept, is this normal?
-After the soak and later at night is when the baby seems to be most active, then seemingly tires it self out and sleeps.
-he/she has not yet pooped at least to my knowledge.
-he/she occasionally seems to rub his/her eyes and will actually walk around with what seems to be having his eyes closed sometimes more often, no swelling or discharge of any kind has been noticed. Should I do anything or is this normal?
-The enclosure consists of a large tub (which serves as the actual enclosure), a large cave (hide), a water dish/bowl (filled only high enough with luke warm water so the baby can sit in the bowl if need be and not drown), a plastic food dish (just since he/she is so small and to keep the food of the substrate), cypress mulch as a substrate (which i soak each morning with a spray bottle consisting of luke warm water) and rough sand like mat (sand does not move and is more like sand paperish and is not edible) which was provided to me by my local reptile center and advised this would help with his/her nails.
-I feed daily with a variety of the following: Grass hay, mustard greens, dandelion greens, collard greens, kale (all purchased from my local food store) mixed with Repashy Super Food Super Veggie Herbivore Supplement used as his/her vitamin supplement and occasionally very little when given of Nature Zone Bites For Tortoises Nutritious Soft Moist Food. How big or small should the size of his/her food be?
-During the day I use a UVB 24" light by Zoo Med and a 100W day bulb for basking, at night i use a 75W red glow bulb. Temperatures during the day on the warm side of the enclosure vary from 85F-88F and on the cool side 77F-81F and at night being that I have the red glow 75W night bulb centered over the middle of the enclosure the temps vary anywhere from 75F-80F at the warmest.


If anyone has any tips or suggestions they would be willing to share i would appreciate any and all advise being that I am a newbie to raising a tortoise but obviously want to learn and give this little guy a great and healthy life.

I do apologize if this should have been posted elsewhere within the community but seeing as i was introducing my self I figured why not, however, my apologies if I was in the wrong.


Thank you for any and all help,

Nick

 

[russian/sulcata/tortoise]

hello nick, my name is also nick, but I'm the one and only nick!!!! yes its normal for baby sulcatas to sleep a lot of the day. is it possible for you to feed her more alive grasses, mine liked those a lot more when she was a hatchling. how much food to give her, i would say as much as she can eat! the water dish you are using is a flip hazard, use a thin plant saucer, where she can fit her entire body in. also i would bump up the basking spot to around 95ish. read this entire care sheet. http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/ whats the cages humidity and what lights are you using? are you using a coil bulb?

 

[Zeko]

All good questions asked so far.

Please provide photos of the bulb, I suspect that this may be part of the main issue.

It is very important to not go below 80F. I've found much more activity and food drive when the temperature is around 85F.

You will want to seal much of the top of the enclosure to bump humidity up to 80-90%.

Tortoises can likely see the Red Light at night and this may be stressing him out. I'd recommend swapping that night bulb to a ceramic heat emitter on a thermostat. This can be run 24/7 to help with day temps of required as well.


These are the main things I can see, other than what R.S.T. has pointed out to you.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Nick, and welcome to the forum!

I can see in the picture that you're using a tube type fluorescent UVB bulb. That's just fine. But it's NOT normal for a baby to walk around with closed eyes. When he wakes up his eyes should open right away, or at least within a second or two. I think it may be that you're keeping him too dry. After you read the care sheet that Little Nicky* referred you too, you will understand more about baby sulcata tortoises hatching out during the monsoon season when it's very wet, humid and lots of grass.

And, speaking of grass, most baby tortoise won't eat hay. I think if you change the diet to weeds and plants, and you can supplement with packaged salads like Spring Mix or Santa Barbara Mix, you'll find that he eats better.

*Russian/Sulcata/Tortoise, or Nick, and I are having a friendly war right now about him teasing old people, hence I must refer to him in this manner

 

[Zeko]

Hi Nick, and welcome to the forum!

I can see in the picture that you're using a tube type fluorescent UVB bulb. That's just fine.

He is also two Bulb type fixtures. I have a feeling these are spiral/bent/curved tubes. Won't know till he posts the picts, but I'd imagine this is the case.

 

[Newbie Allen]

Hey guys! Thank you for all of the replies, I really appreciate it! To answer some of your follow up questions, none of the lights are coil lights (I can/will post pics later, camera is charging). As for the humidity that I do not know, the cypress mulch is moist, and i regularly wet in the AM to try and prevent in from drying. The ceramic bulb for nighttime heating does sound like a good idea, I will absolutely pick one up, I already use one for my bearded dragon so I do not know why i honestly did not do the same for this situation. As for the bowls, thank you for pointing that hazard out to me, I will try submerging the bowls within the mulch to maybe make them even with the substrate, will that be better suited for him/her? Good news it seems that around 6pm is when he/she wakes up and starts running around a lot and then nibbles (does not go to town on the food, i just put in a fresh mixture of greens with vitamins since it was old from earlier and dried) and with both eyes wide open! I am going to look into ways to raise the humidity, in the meantime to keep him/her hydrated will an occasional spray of luke warm water help? Again, thank you all!

 

[russian/sulcata/tortoise]

this is the best type of water bowl you can get them at plant stores for like $1

 

[Newbie Allen]

Ok simple enough I will pick one up tomorrow! thanks!

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome to TFO!

 

[Maro2Bear]

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Forum. As far as increasing humidity levels, when you spray/mist water into the enclosure, it only increases the overall relative humidity for a period short time. There are several options available and discussed here on the forum for increasing and keeping your humidity high all the time. Good luck and post often!

 

[pam]

Welcome

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hello Nick welcome to the TFO from AZ . Reptile centers are in bisness to make money that's it. I would get rid of any sand small or rough and give the tort more substrate in its home . But have a great tort day !

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome. I see several things that concern me. I don't intend to sound harsh, but I don't sugar coat things. I want to give you accurate, helpful info, not warm your heart with unfounded sentimental stuff.

1. It will be too dry in there with an open top. They need a simulation of the African monsoon season. This is when babies hatch in the wild.
2. The eye thing you have going on is a bad deal. Two main possibilities. He was housed under a coil bulb somewhere else and his eyes are burned, or he's sick. Either way its bad.
3. That water bowl is literally a tortoise death trap. I'd pull it right away. Sink the terra cotta saucer into the substrate and you'll be all set.
4. I don't like colored bulbs for tortoises. If you can see it, they can see it better. CHE on a thermostat is the best way to go. It will maintain your ambient temps day and night. Then a basking lamp on a timer for 12 hours will complete your heating and lighting needs.
5. Once you have the heat all situated, you need to dampen that substrate. Spraying the top does little to nothing. You need to dump water in there and dampen the lower layers.
6. That tortoise does not look 4-5 months old. No growth lines at all. If it is 4-5 months old, you have a serious problem. It likely means that it had a very dry start. Post a plastron pic, and I can give you a better guesstimate on age. Read this: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/hatchling-failure-syndrome.23493/
7. Those foods are not great. Babies don't eat hay. They will eat fresh young grass shoots that are chopped and mixed in. If you must use grocery store greens you should favor endive and escarole and they will need to be amended with blended, rehydrated grass hay, TNT or soaked ZooMed Grassland pellets. Read this for some better food choices: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/
8. Some tips on what not to do: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
9. Here is that care sheet again. Lots of tips in there: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/

Come back with as many questions as you like. I don't mind explaining further.

 

[leopard777]

how do you gauge from a plastron pic ?

 

[Tom]

how do you gauge from a plastron pic ?

There is a progression of what is typical for the umbilical scar from the time of hatching up to about 8 weeks or so. For a tortoise with no growth lines on the carapace, I would expect to see an umbilical scar that is still morphing into shape. When you've raised a few dozen or a few hundred babies and watched what the umbilical scar does, you kind of get a "feel" for what it normally looks like at various young ages.

 

[Newbie Allen]

so after seeing all of the replies which i am grateful for this is what i have done so far,

-added the ceramic dishes that were mentioned and made them both flush with the substrate and removed the old bowls.
-filled the whole enclosure with cypress mulch, removed the mat bought from the reptile store.
-it seems kind of hard where i live to find any sort of weeds or other foods mentioned but i manged to buy some dandelion, collard and mustard greens to go along with the kale, some pumpkin puree as a treat to try and get in to eat his vitamins (does not seem to be working), and ordered the zoomed pellets mentioned (couldn't find them around here).
-i removed the color night time bulb and replaced it with a ceramic bulb, night time temps seem to be varying from 74F - 81F now.
-i also began soaking the mulch to provide more humidity.
-daily soaks have been continued


I am however bringing him to a exotic vet to have him look at my sulcata to make sure everything is ok. Also are the shells of baby sulcatas a little soft not squishy but idk it is hard to explain or do i have a bigger problem? he seems to be relatively active, eating his greens for the most part and enjoying his soaks.

 

[russian/sulcata/tortoise]

baby torts have some "give" in there shells for around the first year of life. but with a UVB light and natural sunlight his shell will be fine.

 

[Newbie Allen]

Hello all again,

Just wanted to provide an update and see if there is any more additional helpful info that i can obtain.

My baby sulcata seems to be doing good. He is now on all cypress mulch substrate which gets soaked daily to raise humidity levels. Temps seem to be good as previously mentioned day basking temps are at 95. Mid enclosure is about 86 and cool end is about 82 and his hide is about 80 give or take a little. I still have not seen him move his bowels though which is worries me. He gets a daily saok in warm water for 20min and gets misted 2-3 times a day. He gets both uva and uvb for 12 to 14 hours a day. Also like previously stated the old dangerous bowls have been replaced with ceramic potting dishes for easy access and no flip hazard. As for eating he seems to be in love with dandelion and is ehhh with kale and collard greens that have been offered and will not bother with the moist grassland pellets nor a treat of pumpkin. He also does not like the powdered vitamin so i got him the flavored salad dressing vitamin stuff and put that on the dandelions which he seems to be more receptive to, i am going to buy some spring mix and see if he likes that.. I did take him to the vet about 5 days ago and the vet did say he looked a little dehydrated and his shell was a little soft (not squishy) but he is still a baby and it is not that alarming and he would not be worried and to just continue with proper care, he also did say he was only 2-3 months old (35 grams) rather than what the pet store claimed 4-5 months old. But i tend to be a worry wort, is there anything i should be be doing? Any thoughts? I will attach a pic of the little, does he look healthy?