Adopted a Sulcata

[Russian/SulcadaMommy]

My husband and I adopted a Sulcata yesterday. I have been reading the care sheets, but they seem to be aimed to baby Sulcatas. I already own a Russian so I am familiar with tortoises. I have been reading about the diet so I have that covered. Mine is 15" long and about 30 lbs. Any idea how old she is? Do most people keep their Sulcata outdoors all of the time when they get this large? I know they would need a covered heated area, but I was thinking I would keep her inside at night and just put her out during the day. Right now I am setting up an enclosure for nights in my house. It is 15' long by 3.5' wide. I have a hide and a MV bulb, shallow water dish rock to feed on. But so far the flooring is just linoleum. This seems like a large space to have 5" of substrate on. Do I need to do that if she is just coming in at night? What would be the ideal living situation for a tort this large?

 

[Russian/SulcadaMommy]

One more question... What is the lowest temp they can tolerate in their outdoor enclosure without additional heating available?

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi, and welcome to the forum!

Most of us with the larger sulcatas keep them outside with heated shelters. Here's where my 110lb Dudley lives:

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/dudleys-rebuild.111350/

You can also search for Tom's heated night boxes.

I wouldn't allow Dudley's temperature inside his shed to get any lower than 75F degrees, however, he goes out every day to graze, even when there's frost on the ground. But then, he has his warm shelter to retreat to.

 

[Gillian M]

A very warm welcome to the forum!

 

[Russian/SulcadaMommy]

Thank you for the info Yvonne! Do you think he is full grown now or do they keep growing their whole life? 110 lbs, wow!!! How old is he? I am nervous and excited!

 

[Gillian M]

Thank you for the info Yvonne! I am nervous and excited!

No need to be nervous. You'll get the help you need here. Just ask questions whenever in doubt.

Any pics of your torts?

 

[Russian/SulcadaMommy]

Here is the Sulcata late last night right after we got home from picking her up. Let me know if the photo shows up.

 

[Markw84]

Here is the Sulcata late last night right after we got home from picking her up. Let me know if the photo shows up.

Congratulations. Just a guess, but that looks to be a four to five year old to me. You can normally get an idea by the way the darker brown fades to the light brown with age on sulcatas combined with the growth patterns the "rings" create. Nothing exact, but can give an idea.

Lots of growing to do!! Will get a lot bigger!

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Here is the Sulcata late last night right after we got home from picking her up. Let me know if the photo shows up.

Hello, and a very warm welcome to Tortoise Forum.
Nice sully but will get a lot, lot bigger!

 

[Big Charlie]

Eventually your sulcata will get so big you won't be able to pick him up to bring him inside. Charlie is around 100 pounds and doesn't go anywhere he doesn't want to. If you build the night box right, you can use it forever.

About the temperatures, I think they can handle temperatures as low as 60 or possibly lower but they can't digest their food unless they heat up to around 80 degrees. So, if the outside temperatures where you are aren't nearing 80, he will need someplace to warm up, probably warmer than the temperature of your house. During the winter, Charlie will go out and graze for an hour or so and then come back inside his heated box for the rest of the day and night. There have been days he has gone out to graze when it is in the 40s, and many tortoises go out in the snow.

If you are putting him out every day or nearly every day, he doesn't need a UV bulb indoors. For larger tortoises, heat bulbs aren't good since they concentrate heat in too small an area. The top of the shell can burn while the rest of the tortoise is still cold. It is better to use a heat panel or heater to get him evenly heated.

 

[Stuart S.]

Hello and welcome! Where are you located? My little one is only 94g right now and we live in Alaska, but we'll be back in Texas by the end of the year and I'm glad too because he'll be needing to get sunshine! They're bulldozers!

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Sulcata can handle it pretty cold, but they shouldn't have to. Bob would go out in the snow and graze, then he'd go in under a Powersun150 watt bulb. Bob had his own shed with a doggie door so he was free to go where he want'ed. He was 17 yr old and 125 pounds when he died. I personally feel that the heated boxes my friend Tom talks about are a great idea but <3 I think they are too small for such an active animal. In the wild Sulcata walk for miles and my experience is that when a large Sulcata is confined too long they become jerks. I live in the PNW so sometimes the torts are confined for longer periods, then Tom's for instance. I'll attach a photo taken at 4 am. That's Bob's shed, it's 20'x12'. The other stuff are the swimming hole and the tort pens.
So I think if you don't have room for a large unthinking animal you should really think about it. Bob was set up nicely and had a lot of freedom, but it would take too long to tell you about the trouble he caused on a daily basis. He was always one step a head of me. So here's a photo of my tort yard. That's the tort shed. Not as fancy as N2torts but good enough...
In Calif I guess your animals wouldn't be confined as long as mine are in the winter. I have 4 and go to some trouble to make them think they are in someplace warmer than PNW, we have snow and ice lots this year. But all of my Sulcata go out in the winter and seems like they are smart enough to go in when cold. I don't mean to disrespect Tom's warm box in the least. I just believe a big Sulcata needs as much room as possible. It rains, snows and ices for 7 months in my part of the West so my tortoises need enough room to walk off all that energy. My torts are certainly confined longer in the North than the South, so that box would work better in the South than the North. But I really believe they need as big a habitat as you can make it. Probably could have said that a couple of sentences...lol

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Thank you for the info Yvonne! Do you think he is full grown now or do they keep growing their whole life? 110 lbs, wow!!! How old is he? I am nervous and excited!

Big tortoises organs keep growing their whole life. Ours stop growing when we are in our 20's. Sulcata could live to 180 or so and weigh close to 200 pounds and if you didn't know that you'd better start your research, because you are in for an 'A' ticket ride. His insides have to be 85 degrees or they can't digest their food, so they don't eat if they are too cold. So there's a lot to know to keep him healthy. Oh and my floor is plywood. Big torts don't need substrate, just my opinion. Certainly is easier to clean. Welcome
Don't hesitate to ask questions...

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

Sulcata can handle it pretty cold, but they shouldn't have to.
So I think if you don't have room for a large unthinking animal you should really think about it. Sulcata go out in the winter and seems like they are smart enough to go in when cold. Probably could have said that a couple of sentences...lol
View attachment 200992 View attachment 200994

And to add to Maggie's post…here is one of my hatchlings compared to a 15 year old rescue a friend has . And one of mine looking for green in all this white. Like Maggie, I too live in the PNW. Sorry, I could find the rescue picture of my friends tortoise.

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

I found the picture of my friends rescued sulcata. They get big and like Maggie's, Bob, are known to cause problems…

 

[Big Charlie]

Big tortoises organs keep growing their whole life. Ours stop growing when we are in our 20's. Sulcata could live to 180 or so and weigh close to 200 pounds and if you didn't know that you'd better start your research, because you are in for an 'A' ticket ride. His insides have to be 85 degrees or they can't digest their food, so they don't eat if they are too cold. So there's a lot to know to keep him healthy. Oh and my floor is plywood. Big torts don't need substrate, just my opinion. Certainly is easier to clean. Welcome
Don't hesitate to ask questions...

I don't use substrate either.

 

[Russian/SulcadaMommy]

That is a hilarious photo Cowboy Ken. Mine already somehow managed to "put on" my daughters backpack and wear it around the house. I am SO sorry for your loss, Maggie3Fan. Thank you all for the warm welcomes and photos. We live just a bit N. of Portland, Oregon. We have 2.5 acres and lots of wild green, not manicured wild grass. This will be a great place to raise a Sulcata. I just need to get the right setup. I am working on getting fencing set up for her. She will have a large grassy, sandy area to roam. i am thinking about getting a little dog house that I can put a ceramic bulb for heat.

I do have to say, I love having her in the house, though. I have a 15' x 4' space, I imagined I would keep her in, but she would prefer run of the house (LOL). We have wood floors, so she is free to roam if she wants. And she can go back to her "room" to drink and sleep in her hide if she wants or if I need her to.

We are really enjoying this sweet character so far. She is a rescue. Her first 5 years she was kept with someone that had her in a dog crate, so sad. She has a damaged area on her shell that has healed up well. She is not too shy, given her history. I am excited to give her a wonderful home. I was going to say forever home, but, hey- she may outlive me!

 

[Maggie Cummings]

That is a hilarious photo Cowboy Ken. Mine already somehow managed to "put on" my daughters backpack and wear it around the house. I am SO sorry for your loss, Maggie3Fan. Thank you all for the warm welcomes and photos. We live just a bit N. of Portland, Oregon. We have 2.5 acres and lots of wild green, not manicured wild grass. This will be a great place to raise a Sulcata. I just need to get the right setup. I am working on getting fencing set up for her. She will have a large grassy, sandy area to roam. i am thinking about getting a little dog house that I can put a ceramic bulb for heat.

I do have to say, I love having her in the house, though. I have a 15' x 4' space, I imagined I would keep her in, but she would prefer run of the house (LOL). We have wood floors, so she is free to roam if she wants. And she can go back to her "room" to drink and sleep in her hide if she wants or if I need her to.

We are really enjoying this sweet character so far. She is a rescue. Her first 5 years she was kept with someone that had her in a dog crate, so sad. She has a damaged area on her shell that has healed up well. She is not too shy, given her history. I am excited to give her a wonderful home. I was going to say forever home, but, hey- she may outlive me!

Hey...I live outside of Corvallis.....(play the it's a small world music" it's a small small world.) Now I hope all of you have that song stuck in your head all day....lol

 

[Yvonne G]

Here is the Sulcata late last night right after we got home from picking her up. Let me know if the photo shows up.

View attachment 200948

No, that little guy isn't even a third of what he's going to grow up to be.

 

[Big Charlie]

That is a hilarious photo Cowboy Ken. Mine already somehow managed to "put on" my daughters backpack and wear it around the house. I am SO sorry for your loss, Maggie3Fan. Thank you all for the warm welcomes and photos. We live just a bit N. of Portland, Oregon. We have 2.5 acres and lots of wild green, not manicured wild grass. This will be a great place to raise a Sulcata. I just need to get the right setup. I am working on getting fencing set up for her. She will have a large grassy, sandy area to roam. i am thinking about getting a little dog house that I can put a ceramic bulb for heat.

I do have to say, I love having her in the house, though. I have a 15' x 4' space, I imagined I would keep her in, but she would prefer run of the house (LOL). We have wood floors, so she is free to roam if she wants. And she can go back to her "room" to drink and sleep in her hide if she wants or if I need her to.

We are really enjoying this sweet character so far. She is a rescue. Her first 5 years she was kept with someone that had her in a dog crate, so sad. She has a damaged area on her shell that has healed up well. She is not too shy, given her history. I am excited to give her a wonderful home. I was going to say forever home, but, hey- she may outlive me!

As I mentioned before, a heat bulb isn't good for a larger sulcata. A dog house is not a good idea, either. They aren't shaped right for a tortoise - too tall and the door is too narrow. Since you are in Oregon, where it is cold for a long time, a heated storage shed is a better idea.

Allowing your tortoise to roam in your house is also a terrible idea. The floor isn't warm enough. There are all kinds of things a tortoise can eat that they shouldn't, like paper clips and fuzzies. There was a horrible story on tfo: someone didn't realize their tortoise had their neck in the way when they closed a door and it got smashed.