First time sulcata tortoise owner.

[BulbasaurTheSulcata]

Hello TFO my name is Horia and I live in Portugal. I recently found a baby sulcata in a reptile shop and I took him/her home.
I have been stalking this forum without posting for years now and i am positive it's the most accurate info to date.
My sulcata named Bulbasaur was not in the best shape when I got him, soft-ish plastron, kept dry, fed only lettuce and other vegetables, newspaper as substrate. I still got him hoping I can put him on his feet
since it is quite rare to find a sulcata in Portugal.
It's been 3 weeks since I brought him home and he is active. Eating the right food, soaking 2 times/day. My temperatures and humidity are 82° cool side 87° hot side 102° basking and 80%-90% Humidity. UVB I use the Arcadia 12% and heating I have a 100W CHE set to 84°F.

Questions:
- How soft should a sulcata baby plastron be? (I test by gently pushing with my index finger and it feels like a soda bottle under pressure.)

- Should I get the "ambiental" temp on the surface of his coco coir to be over 80° (if I set the thermostat to 80° the coir will fall to 75)

- Is a halogen bolb better for basking then a spot bolb? (I can't find the incandescent flood lights anywhere)

- I love fishing and I catch a lot of cuttlefish, can I give him "fresh" cuttle bone after boiling them?

- A week after I took him he passed a half rice grain size urate stone followed by slightly gritty urates untill today ~2 times per week.
Will this continue to be a problem or will it improve over time?

 

[Pák]

Really nice setup, he is a lucky tort. I set the thermostat to maintain 26-27 C close to the wall in the middle of the terrarium above 5 cm of the substrate. There is some corners where its only 24-25 C, but never had any problem with temps.

Urates are normal, if there is no stones just thootpaste like stuff. My sulcata is one year old almost, in the firts six month he passed zero urates, but then eventually he startad passign it almost daily, no idea why, nothing changed in his enviroment.

 

[BulbasaurTheSulcata]

Really nice setup, he is a lucky tort. I set the thermostat to maintain 26-27 C close to the wall in the middle of the terrarium above 5 cm of the substrate. There is some corners where its only 24-25 C, but never had any problem with temps.

Urates are normal, if there is no stones just thootpaste like stuff. My sulcata is one year old almost, in the firts six month he passed zero urates, but then eventually he startad passign it almost daily, no idea why, nothing changed in his enviroment.

Thank you, his thermostat probe is on the opposite corner form the CHE (ground level) and it is set to 29.9-30 C but rises each time the bolb shuts off to 30.4

 

[Pák]

You can set it to a wider range, so its not clicking that much.
We have technically the exact same setup you can check it here

Sulcata Indoor Enclosure

Hi, I just want to show my indoor sulcata tortoise setup. It can be useful for someone who are planing to build one. Its an 'L' shape, because its made from 2 individual enclosoure, wich i buy second hand from its previous owner. Dimensions: cm: 150x220-80x150 = 2 square meter; feet...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[BulbasaurTheSulcata]

The wet towel on the hide is a great idea. I noticed my tort has a bit of piramiding starting on the vertebral scoots ( but I am not sure ) a wet towel touching the area while he is sleeping or just hiding is a good idea no?

 

[BulbasaurTheSulcata]

The wet towel on the hide is a great idea. I noticed my tort has a bit of piramiding starting on the vertebral scoots ( but I am not sure ) a wet towel touching the area while he is sleeping or just hiding is a good idea no?

He has a wet sponge on the roof of his hide now but it is high up so he does not nibble at it.

 

[Tom]

Hello TFO my name is Horia and I live in Portugal. I recently found a baby sulcata in a reptile shop and I took him/her home.
I have been stalking this forum without posting for years now and i am positive it's the most accurate info to date.
My sulcata named Bulbasaur was not in the best shape when I got him, soft-ish plastron, kept dry, fed only lettuce and other vegetables, newspaper as substrate. I still got him hoping I can put him on his feet
since it is quite rare to find a sulcata in Portugal.
It's been 3 weeks since I brought him home and he is active. Eating the right food, soaking 2 times/day. My temperatures and humidity are 82° cool side 87° hot side 102° basking and 80%-90% Humidity. UVB I use the Arcadia 12% and heating I have a 100W CHE set to 84°F.

Questions:
- How soft should a sulcata baby plastron be? (I test by gently pushing with my index finger and it feels like a soda bottle under pressure.)

- Should I get the "ambiental" temp on the surface of his coco coir to be over 80° (if I set the thermostat to 80° the coir will fall to 75)

- Is a halogen bolb better for basking then a spot bolb? (I can't find the incandescent flood lights anywhere)

- I love fishing and I catch a lot of cuttlefish, can I give him "fresh" cuttle bone after boiling them?

- A week after I took him he passed a half rice grain size urate stone followed by slightly gritty urates untill today ~2 times per week.
Will this continue to be a problem or will it improve over time?

Hello and welcome!
-The plastic soda bottle analogy is perfect. I usually say a plastic butter tub lid, but I like your description too. That level of pliability is normal and good. It would be bad if it was squishy like a sponge.
-Leave your thermostat set where it is. This species likes it warm.
-Neither halogen nor spot bulbs should be used. Both cause pyramiding. Keep looking for a flood bulb. Arcadia sells them for reptiles. Perhaps the place where you got the UV tube can order some for you? If not, a regular round bulb can work too if used in a dome.
-Yes on your cuttle bone.
-The urates will likely stop if you are soaking daily and keeping him in a humid closed chamber.

A problem I see is that your wooden enclosure is going to rot quickly with all the humidity. Hopefully it will last until he outgrows it.

 

[BulbasaurTheSulcata]

Hello and welcome!
-The plastic soda bottle analogy is perfect. I usually say a plastic butter tub lid, but I like your description too. That level of pliability is normal and good. It would be bad if it was squishy like a sponge.
-Leave your thermostat set where it is. This species likes it warm.
-Neither halogen nor spot bulbs should be used. Both cause pyramiding. Keep looking for a flood bulb. Arcadia sells them for reptiles. Perhaps the place where you got the UV tube can order some for you? If not, a regular round bulb can work too if used in a dome.
-Yes on your cuttle bone.
-The urates will likely stop if you are soaking daily and keeping him in a humid closed chamber.

A problem I see is that your wooden enclosure is going to rot quickly with all the humidity. Hopefully it will last until he outgrows it.

Hello and welcome!
-The plastic soda bottle analogy is perfect. I usually say a plastic butter tub lid, but I like your description too. That level of pliability is normal and good. It would be bad if it was squishy like a sponge.
-Leave your thermostat set where it is. This species likes it warm.
-Neither halogen nor spot bulbs should be used. Both cause pyramiding. Keep looking for a flood bulb. Arcadia sells them for reptiles. Perhaps the place where you got the UV tube can order some for you? If not, a regular round bulb can work too if used in a dome.
-Yes on your cuttle bone.
-The urates will likely stop if you are soaking daily and keeping him in a humid closed chamber.

A problem I see is that your wooden enclosure is going to rot quickly with all the humidity. Hopefully it will last until he outgrows it.

Hello Tom, thanks for the reply.
First I want to thank you for the level of detail you provided all over this forum, it helped me and numerous people a lot.
Untill I read your reply I was a bit (very) concerned about the condition of his plastron but I am now relieved to know it's ok.
I already found the arcadia flood light I will put a screenshot of it just to be sure it is the type I need.
I know the wood box is not the best idea but I hope it will not desintegrate completely untill next year. I did not find expanded PVC panels in my area.
I will keep posting on this thread updates about the urate situation.

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Hello!
This lamp is the right one. However you might get a higher wattage plus a dimmer switch (from a DIY store like Leroy Merlin) to adjust basking zone temperature.

OCB boards (I guess, that's what you used to build the enclosure) should last for a while if you can seal all the seams (the edges are most vulnerable to water).

And definitely, keep us updated on his health, growth and his first outdoors adventure

 

[BulbasaurTheSulcata]

Hello!
This lamp is the right one. However you might get a higher wattage plus a dimmer switch (from a DIY store like Leroy Merlin) to adjust basking zone temperature.

OCB boards (I guess, that's what you used to build the enclosure) should last for a while if you can seal all the seams (the edges are most vulnerable to water).

And definitely, keep us updated on his health, growth and his first outdoors adventure

Hello Alex, thanks for the reply!
I will order the 75 watt version Monday.
Good tip with the dimmer. Just now I was trying to figure out what wattage I need (overthinking) I remember reading about dimming the bask lamp some time ago in a thread.
Yes the OCB board is 22mm thick and "humidity resistent" I also sealed all the corners with silicone. Dimensions are 145long 66wide 55tall (cm)
Tomorrow will be the 4th time I weigh him and I expect somewhere around 90 g. I will post tomorrow his growth chart.
Outdoors I'm still a little bit hesitant to take him, it is still quite cold here ~22°C but summer is around the corner!
Here is a photo of his first hibiscus petal. (very confused)

 

[BulbasaurTheSulcata]

Hello and good morning!

After a long and warm spa session in the soaking tub Bulbasaur had his 4th weigh-in.
I attached a screenshot of his growth data.
Yesterday after work I stopped by the reptile store to ask of his exact age but unsurprisingly got different ages from different workers...
One said he's around 4 months and the other around 6 so no definitive answer.
Question:
Can I at least approximate the age using the growth data I already have or is it just speculative?
I will share some photos of him from the moment I got him untill today.

 

[BajatheChickenMan]

welcome to the forum! pretty lookin baby tort!

 

[TammyJ]

Hi there. Nice little tortoise and great looking setup!