Hello from africa

Hi everybody.

I'm Victor, i'm 32, always been around turtles and lizards...

Now i've been living for about 4years in Ivory Coast.

I got 3 baby Sulcatas, they are around 4 months, i saw their gigantic parents, super smooth shells etc...

They've been raised outside since the beginning, the owner don't even use incubator.

I'm currently building them a big outside enclosure with multiple hiding spots

i'll be glad to exchange thoughts with other sulcata owners, as they are in the perfect species climate conditions.

Welcome!

Hi and welcome .
There's plenty of good up to date information on keeping sullies here.

Welcome I hope you can make the enclosures critter free. Generally they are kept inside until they are about 2yrs old and about 10 inches long. Read the care sheets for sulcata's. Usually you get the best results by raising them separately. You will find that bullying will start to happen. Things like what looks like cuddling to us is really one dominating another. Also blocking one in the hide so the other cant get out. Sitting on top of the food. As they get bigger it can get more aggressive. But while they are young the stress can make them sick.
Some do keep them in groups and it works out fine but they have the right mix like all females. Generally a mature male needs to be separated from the group.
Pics would be great!

Thanks for the welcome
@Ray--Opo

They are in a 200cmx80cm enclosure, with several hiding spot and a big covered area where they are protected against the rain...
The enclosure is fully covered with fine wire mesh. So i don't think i can be more critter free than this.

The reason i don't keep them inside is because we use AC otherwise the temperature and humidity is unbearable...
So i'de rather have them in a well protected outside enclosure under the natural sun than under a uv light and basking spot (that are virtually impossible to get in this area of africa)

As i said, i live where sulcatas actually come from... so temperature and humidity wise its all fine.
The wet season is almost over now, so the heat will rise a bit, so i prepared a nice spot where they can dig to cool down if necessary.

Regarding one turtle dominating another, i'm really paying attention of their behavior. I put multiple hiding spots so they can have their own territory, as well as several food places... But if i see one of them lose appetite or any strange unusual behavior, i can easily divide the enclosure to house the 3 of them separately.

Welcome! It's great to hear from someone living near the native range of these awesome creatures. I can't wait to see some pictures of your little ones.

Welcome to the site! Look forward to seeing some pics of your setup and tortoises.

Welcome to the Forum.

Hello and welcome.

Great looks like you have it all figured out. Cant wait to see pics. Did you buy captive breed?

@Ray--Opo
I bought it from an old couple that have several big adult sulcatas, they have them since the 80's apparently.

They just let nature do it's thing, so they have several clutches every year, no incubators used or anything
they just see the hatchlings go out of their nests and put them on a separate protected enclosure outside, with plenty of shades THAT's it.

And apparently they have an extremely low hatchling mortality rate.

The man told me that he tried a couple times to incubate the eggs, but the natural way (leave the eggs where they've been layed) produce hatchling that are way bigger and stronger and that the incubated ones apparently.

Most of the babies go to a local wild sulcata program up north, that reintroduce them in the wild;

That's awesome! @Victor Swanson do you come across wild sulcatas at all where you are? Forgive me, I'm not sure how much of their native range overlaps where you are.

@vladimir
The main wild population is in Mauritanie, Sénégal, Mali, Niger and Tchad, so basically at least 1000 km from where i am.
I'm living in the southern part of Ivory Coast, so the landscape here is tropical, the savannah/arid type is up north (Korhogo) and i have the opportunity to go there often, and this is where i had seen wild specimen, but strangely it is not said anywhere in the internet or in books that there is a sulcata population there, but the elderly from korhogo that i spoke with are positive on the fact there always have been Sulcata there, so... maybe their native range overlaps a little bit of north ivory coast

Fascinating! Do you have pictures you can share of your sulcatas?

Yes i'll do a thread on the right section

Victor Swanson said:

@Ray--Opo
I bought it from an old couple that have several big adult sulcatas, they have them since the 80's apparently.

They just let nature do it's thing, so they have several clutches every year, no incubators used or anything
they just see the hatchlings go out of their nests and put them on a separate protected enclosure outside, with plenty of shades THAT's it.

And apparently they have an extremely low hatchling mortality rate.

The man told me that he tried a couple times to incubate the eggs, but the natural way (leave the eggs where they've been layed) produce hatchling that are way bigger and stronger and that the incubated ones apparently.

Most of the babies go to a local wild sulcata program up north, that reintroduce them in the wild;

Click to expand...

That is very interesting.

I got a chance to take a picture of the parents, pretty smooth shell indeed

Regarding their enclosure

It's 2m x 2m x 25 cm, they have a big hide section and 4 different burrows.
Even though some people might tell that they need to be in close chambers... The humidity here is ranging from 75 to 95 all year round, so no need to worry about that.

th

Victor Swanson said:

I got a chance to take a picture of the parents, pretty smooth shell indeedView attachment 291700

Click to expand...

they're beautiful, thanks for sharing!