Canadian sulcata breeders

[Skitty333]

Hello I am looking to buy a sulcata tortoise can someone link me to a good Canadian breeder

 

[NorCal tortoise guy]

Are you sure you want to raise a giant sulcata in Canada? I lived a couple years in Canada and don’t want to think about how hard keeping a large sulcata In winter there would be. Sorry not trying to be a downer. I don’t know of a sulcata breeder In Canada. I would think that is because just how hard and expensive it would be to keep let alone breed them in the Canadian winter.

 

[ryan57]

Are you sure you want to raise a giant sulcata in Canada? I lived a couple years in Canada and don’t want to think about how hard keeping a large sulcata In winter there would be. Sorry not trying to be a downer. I don’t know of a sulcata breeder In Canada. I would think that is because just how hard and expensive it would be to keep let alone breed them in the Canadian winter.

I have learned recently that if you happen to heat with wood and have an upstairs, there is no problem keeping a room or two 80-90 degrees for the same energy cost that you are using to heat the main floor. The issue is space. There are only so many days that go by before these animals want to roam and when my almost 2 year 24lb sulcata wants to walk and graze we're talking acres that would need to be heated with living grass. Like a football field or so. You don't want these animals to be sad because they can't go out and it would probably make you feel bad to watch it just sit there waiting to go out. Unless you have a large dedicated heated barn I would recommend against it.

 

[Yvonne G]

I agree with the above post. Think long and hard about it. How are you going to keep an over 100lb. bulldozer at or above 80°F during the winter months? Can you make a large enough space for him and keep that space heated all winter. . . I'm talking about something like a barn (they need a lot of room to walk around. Walking aids digestion). Somewhere here on the Forum one of our members posted a picture of a sulcata that tore a hole in the wall of the room he was in.

 

[ryan57]

I agree with the above post. Think long and hard about it. How are you going to keep an over 100lb. bulldozer at or above 80°F during the winter months? Can you make a large enough space for him and keep that space heated all winter. . . I'm talking about something like a barn (they need a lot of room to walk around. Walking aids digestion). Somewhere here on the Forum one of our members posted a picture of a sulcata that tore a hole in the wall of the room he was in.

My 23lb 13oz Sulcata... almost 2 years old has a lighted "burrow" with drinking water and cypress mulch substrate that he hangs out in or the small doggie bed in the afternoons. This simulates the burrow. But they don't stay in the burrow every day and want to go out and find food. So much so that this one pesters us ridiculous to let him out to the point of me shoveling portions of my yard so he can eat. Let that sink in. I have a medium size greenhouse that I set up sometimes but took it down because we were having winds.


I mean, the picture above is ridiculous and I'm in southern PA where we don't get a lot of snow. By next year he will need very large dedicated heated space to eat grass, do his business, soak in water for an hour, etc. To make my life even more complicated, my daughter bought me another one that is small and needs his own compliment of everything. Unless you have a lot of money to spend on their care think long and hard...

When I say he HAS to go outside to eat grass, you may not understand. He pushed my wife's office chair to get her attention.... WITH HER IN IT and he's only about 24lbs. At 100lbs he could ram the exterior steel door out of the jamb if he was inclined.

 

[Maggie3fan]

For almost 20 years I have kept Sulcata in the PacificNorthWest...this is my tort shed...20'x12'...heated and insulated...it is connected to pens planted with horse pasture grass and weeds... I have literally committed my life to keeping giant tort species here. I grow everything I can so they get a simulated or natural diet. There are doggie doors on both sides of the shed so they can go and come as they like. It has been a huge/expensive task.
Rose of Sharon...
She loves to swim...
can you provide any of these activities in your upstairs room??? You can even see the joy in that torts face
Personally, I think it would be considered animal cruelty what you are considering...
It took me close to 18 years to realize that yep, they live a great life here, but I can no way simulate what they really need...EXERCISE...they walk for miles in the wild eating here and there. 20 miles is not unusual. In Canada in an upstairs room that tort would wither and die. Mine live here under my force of will...they always had poop problems and I didn't know why...They just wanted to go outside daily, but here they can't...
It took years for me to finally realize, that they had the best care here...but these are heat seeking exercise NEEDING animals...I am have been so selfish to keep them here. I figure you'll want to start with a baby...they need a very expensive humidity holding habitat...I could go on and on, but I will end by saying please do not get a Sulcata...please take advantage of my experience and get a beaded dragon instead.
Frankly, I would never do it again.

 

[_The_Beast_]

There are, to my knowledge, three well respected tortoise breeders in Canada: C and C Tortoises (BC), Prairie Hill Tortoises (MB), and Tortoise Passion (QC), though some may start their hatchlings too dry. None of them breed sulcatas. Occasionally they turn up in rescues or on local kijiji/craigslist pages.

I'm curious: are sulcatas the only tortoise species that appeals to you? If you are interested in other larger tortoise breeds with more manageable needs for our climate, C&C breeds leopard, star, and radiated tortoises and Tortoise Passion breeds Indian Stars.

 

[Yvonne G]

You can't see it very good, but this sulcata has broken through a chicken wire fence:

 

[Maggie3fan]

You can't see it very good, but this sulcata has broken through a chicken wire fence:

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOl LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL oh that is so freakin funny...I LOVE SULCATA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[TechnoCheese]

You can't see it very good, but this sulcata has broken through a chicken wire fence:

I’ll have to see if I can get a picture of the 2 massive holes Curtis put in a sturdy chain-link fence a while ago…

 

[ryan57]

Someone needs to start a sulcata destruction thread with only the mayhem that ensues.