Newbie

[Morton]

Hello,

I am a fairly new Sulcata tortoise owner. He (Morton) was found on a bike path in the city I live in, and the owner was never located. We ended up adopting him several months after his rescue from the bike path. I took him to the vet shortly after he was adopted and he had a clean bill of health.
I have never seen him even attempt to dig a burrow. My question is, should I break out some garden tools and get one started for him? I thought they naturally dug their own burrow. His favorite home has been an igloo dog house.

Thank you for any information.

Ken

 

[Tom]

Hello,

I am a fairly new Sulcata tortoise owner. He (Morton) was found on a bike path in the city I live in, and the owner was never located. We ended up adopting him several months after his rescue from the bike path. I took him to the vet shortly after he was adopted and he had a clean bill of health.
I have never seen him even attempt to dig a burrow. My question is, should I break out some garden tools and get one started for him? I thought they naturally dug their own burrow. His favorite home has been an igloo dog house.

Thank you for any information.

Ken

Hello and welcome.

What size is your new tortoise? This will determine the best way to go for your housing strategy.

A big concern for any recently rescued tortoise should be dehydration. I would soak this guy every day or every other in warm water in a tall sided opaque tub for at least 30-40 minutes.

Start here and look for the sulcata care sheet near the bottom. Some of the info applies to little babies, but much of it applies to adults too.

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

Burrows are great for hot summer weather, but you will need a heated insulated tortoises shelter for winter. Dogloos and other dog house type structures don't work. Here are a couple of examples:

Single Tortoise Night Box

I like my larger tortoises to live outside full time. My climate permits this year round with a little help. For people who live where it snows all winter, this type of box is still good for warmer weather, getting them out earlier in Spring, and keeping them out a bit later into fall. You'll...

tortoiseforum.org

Double Door Night Box

As the years have gone by and I build more of these boxes, I learn more and more each time. This one is the latest and I incorporated everything I've learned over the years. I also tried to take lots of pics so I can explain in more detail some of what is going on. It will take multiple posts to...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Morton]

Tom,
Thank you for responding. He is roughly 45-50 pounds and the vet estimated him to be late teens early 20’s in age. I built a large wood box with a ramp and he never used it and still doesn’t even though he has access. It originally had a floor, which I thought he might not like. I removed it and he still doesn’t use it at all.

 

[Tom]

Tom,
Thank you for responding. He is roughly 45-50 pounds and the vet estimated him to be late teens early 20’s in age. I built a large wood box with a ramp and he never used it and still doesn’t even though he has access. It originally had a floor, which I thought he might not like. I removed it and he still doesn’t use it at all.

First lesson: Vets know very little about tortoises. Even most "tortoise" vets. If things are done correctly, they can reach forty pounds in 3-4 years. Be careful taking tortoise care advice from any vet. There is no semester on tortoise care in vet school, and even if there was, it is likely that the same old wrong info that is everywhere else, would be taught there. Vets are great for medicine and surgeries, but day to day care and problem prevention is usually not their thing.

Your box will need a solid floor, or the tortoise will show you how they dig to China. Ask me how I know this...

There are many reasons why a tortoise might choose one spot over another in the enclosure. Their instincts that keep them alive and well in the wilds of tropical Africa, will often lead them to death in a North American back yard. You decide where the safest and best place for your tortoise to sleep is, and put them there every night. Best to latch them in behind a solid door to keep rodents and other night time pests from harming them. In time, they usually habituate to the right area, and when the cold weather arrives, they soak out the warm areas themselves. During these hot spells, they really don't need heat, but cooler weather is on the way in just a few days. Don't use heat lamps or CHEs over larger tortoises like this. These heat sources are great for little ones, but not effective for large tortoises, and they usually end up damaging the carapace. Safe and effective heating strategies are in those threads I linked above. Questions and conversation are welcome. Argue, ask, or converse as much as you want.

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome to the Forum, Ken!