Future baby tortoise home

Tony the Tort42

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Jan 7, 2020
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Southern California
Hey guys, i'm currently keeping my baby sulcata in a 20 gal temporarily, however I know this is way too small to keep him in (when hes big enough to not get picked up by a hawk i'll move him onto my lawn). What would you guys recommend as a healthy size for him (not minimum) right now as the little guy he is. Also ive heard that tubs are much better than glass. Is this true? I have realized he tries to walk through to glass and gets quite confused. Thanks in advance!
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
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Please read the pinned threads at the top of the Sulcata section. There are more than one thread there that will give you lots of help raising this baby. One of those threads speaks about not putting babies outside for a couple, three years.
 

Tony the Tort42

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Jan 7, 2020
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Southern California
Thanks so much!! Looks like everything checks out for beginner mistakes, I did most of my research before buying the little guy. I've read the other threads multiple times XD
 

Tony the Tort42

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Jan 7, 2020
Messages
233
Location (City and/or State)
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thanks so much @Tom, i have a nice sized tank, just have too set it up! your tips are better than anything on other websites ive seen! just wondering, how long have you been keeping torts?
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
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thanks so much @Tom, i have a nice sized tank, just have too set it up! your tips are better than anything on other websites ive seen! just wondering, how long have you been keeping torts?
I got my first box turtle in 1979. I went to work in a pet shop with exotic reptiles, birds and fish in 1986, and that was when I first began working with tortoises, plus several people I knew growing up had wild caught desert tortoises in their backyards. Got my first sulcata in 1991. First leopard soon after.

But the length of time isn't whats important. Its what people do in that time. For nearly two decades I followed all the common advice of the day and it simply didn't work. I nearly gave up on tortoises altogether, and I did go into a sort of limbo for many years. I knew something was wrong, but until I knew what it was and how to fix it, I didn't want to do anything more with tortoises. I kept the ones I had that were stunted and pyramided, but I wasn't adding any new ones, breeding or advancing my hobby in any way. It was 2007 when several puzzle pieces fell into my lap. I began to understand what was going on and how to fix it, but I didn't understand why. I talked to lots of people and had lots of help. I started doing experiments to test my theories, and I was right. When I began sharing this info, I encountered tremendous resistance. I was insulted, berated, dismissed as an idiot, threatened, etc... They could not argue with my evidence, so they attacked my character. Not being able to explain WHY it worked when everyone thought these were desert animals, made it very difficult to argue. They called it "un-natural" while not realizing that their "desert" style enclosures were as opposite from what was happening in nature as could be. It wasn't until meeting Tomas Diagne in 2010 or 2011 that the WHY began to fall into place. He explained the rainy season and monsoon conditions over there, and what happens during the dry season. Once I had a reasonable explanation, loads of pictures and evidence to back it up, and a few brave souls who duplicated my experiments and results, it all snowballed into this.

Many other people also contributed to this new knowledge, and so many people have schooled me along the way, introduced new concepts, and advanced the knowledge far further than I could have done on my own. Its been a group effort from day one. Many other tortoise keepers gave me puzzle pieces to this great mystery and helped these ideas to come together. We have a knowledgable tortoise community here. Not just one knowledgable guy. Other members here teach me new things on a regular basis. Thank you for the compliment, but your compliment toward me is really a compliment to many many people who have been on this journey with me.
 

Nimus

Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2019
Messages
31
Location (City and/or State)
California
If you can find this tote anywhere (it might be hard since it's made for storing artificial Christmas tree trees and that time has passed) I'd recommend that. I got one and it's prefect for a small Sulcata.

Here is my setup using that tote:

20200108_160817.jpg Atlas Cam - 2020-01-08 15.24.21.jpg

20200108_160817.jpgAtlas Cam - 2020-01-08 15.24.21.jpg
 

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