Hi from southern California!

SpeedyTheSulcata

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Hi! I'm Jennifer, my husband is Mark, and we live in Fontana, Ca., which is out in the Riverside/San Bernardino area. Friends of ours just gave us their 5 year old male Sulcata, Speedy. They are getting ready to move to Oregon, and thought it would be too cold and rainy for him, since he lives outdoors 24/7 now. They previously lived in San Jose, northern California.

It does seem like the climate here would be more suited for him. We have a pretty large yard, with a small lawn, some rock and gravel areas, a side area that is gravel/dirt with trees and bushes, and concrete walkways and part of the yard is concreted in. They sent along his homemade "doghouse" which has a heating lamp in it. We aren't using the lamp at the moment because the temps have been pretty warm here. The yard is completely enclosed by a 9 foot concrete brick wall, and a solid metal gate. We also have a small koi pond with a resident red eared slider.

Speedy is a 5 year old male, 30 lbs. (We weighed him) Our friend told us what to feed him, though he seems to like to forage, too. We know he's eating because he poops a *lot*. We have several types of grasses growing in the yard, though he really only seems interested in the lawn. We have only had him for 2 weeks, and at first he seemed pretty freaked out--he kept circling the perimeter of the yard, like he was looking for a way out. We would have to find him when the sun was going down to put him in his house. Last night he finally put himself to bed, so I think he is starting to adjust. Our friend never said anything about soaking him, though. He has access to our dogs water dish, but I ordered a kiddie pool on Amazon so we could start soaking him. How often should we be doing that? It does seem like he has some pyramiding on his shell, but I don't know how much is normal or abnormal.

I'm glad I found this forum, and have been starting to read some of the threads to get a better idea of how to care for him. I've been googling "caring for a sulcata tortoise", but many times the advice often seems contradictory. If anyone has any advice for newbie sulcata owners, I would appreciate it.
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Maro2Bear

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Greetings and Welcome.

Yep,,,you got urself a handful of fun. Make sure your Sully has access to water... sounds like a good large enclosure.. grass to graze too.

Lots of info here - https://tortoiseforum.org/forums/sulcata-tortoises.88/

Try to soak every day, or given his size, every few days as possible. He might not like it at first...but soak often, it’s good for them in many ways.

On your shed, you will probably want to replace the heat bulb with a Radiant Heat Panel and a thermostat,,,,but, you have time to work on that.

- Good place for RHPs - http://www.reptilebasics.com/rbi-radiant-heat-panels
- Good place for thermostats - http://www.lllreptile.com/products/13883-zilla-1000-watt-temperature-controller

Good luck!
 

Yvonne G

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Hi, and welcome! Speedy is a bit on the small side for his age, but not to worry. With the better climate and grazing, he'll catch up quickly. Be careful his heat light in the dog house isn't close enough to the top of his shell to burn the shell. This is a very common occurrence.
 

SpeedyTheSulcata

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OK, I got the kiddie pool inflated, and put some water in it--maybe a couple inches, not very deep. We put Speedy in it, and he splashed around in it for a few minutes, I didn't see him drink anything. He did seem to try and splash water on himself. After about 5 minutes, he crawled out and started grazing again. He's kind of stubborn, it's hard to get him to do something he doesn't want to do (he has already destroyed one of my husbands cactus). Is this normal? Should I just keep trying? We have had him 2 weeks, and this is the first time I tried soaking him. I'm not sure if I'm doing it right.
 

Tom

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Hello and welcome.

A few things:
  1. Having the tortoise loose in your back yard is a recipe for disaster. He will destroy everything and likely get hurt or killed in the process. You need to contain him in his own area where people and dogs are not doing their thing.
  2. He should not have access to the pond. Drowning is likely.
  3. At 30 pounds, soaking once or twice a week should be sufficient if he has drinking water and drinks. The inflatable kiddie pool that he can walk out of is not going to work, however. You need something that can contain him and keep him soaking for a good 45-60 minutes. I use large cement mixing tubs or horse water troughs. Warm water about half way up his shell.
  4. Your dog needs to be kept separated from the tortoise. They should never have any unsupervised contact and all contact should be discouraged when you are there too. Teach the dog to avoid the tortoise and always leave it alone, and never leave them together in the yard unattended. Not even for one second.
  5. If the wrought iron gate is see through, you'll need to put a visual barrier along the bottom 12 inches or so. Plywood works.
  6. He needs his own large water dish. He should not be sharing with the dog. I use large pizza dough trays, but some people like water heater pan or upside down trash can lids. Whatever you use, it should be sunk into the ground and you need to make sure the tortoise is drinking from it regularly. There are many reasons why they might not drink from it, and the consequences can be fatal over the long term. The regular soaking will prevent these problems in the event that your tortoise doesn't like its water bowl for any reason.
  7. The dog house and heat lamp isn't going to work. I've tried and watched many other people try. They just aren't designed for tortoises and don't work well for them. And as Yvonne already mentioned, the heat lamp will burn the top of their shell, while still not doing enough to warm the bottom and core of this tropical tortoise. And our nights are too cold right now too. These are tropical animals. They need warm temps year round. Sure they can sometimes survive colder temps, but that doesn't mean it is good for them. Here is what I've come up with after many years of trial and error: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/another-night-box-thread.88966/ I'm building another one of these right now. This is another way to do it: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/my-best-night-box-design-yet.66867/
  8. Time to introduce grass hay to the diet. I prefer orchard grass hay or bermuda hay. Make a little pile of the grass hay and put the other food on top. In time the tortoise will start to also eat the grass hay.
  9. This one was typed up with new babies in mind, but the same principals and foods apply to older larger tortoises too: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/
Please feel free to question any of this. I welcome the opportunity to explain further.
 

SpeedyTheSulcata

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Well, then it sounds like we need to find him a new home. He used to live with dogs and had free access to his entire old backyard, and has lived with his homemade house since he became outdoor only several years ago, but if you are so certain this won't work, I guess we will start asking around.
 

Minority2

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Adult tortoises, especially males are quite confrontational about their territories. Bigger tortoises will bully smaller animals. Some tortoises can mistake fur as food. Larger animals can also cause enough stress to make a smaller tortoise attack in defense. This is why most of the members in this forum recommends a single tortoise per enclosure.

Here are some examples of what can go wrong when let other animals roam freely with tortoises and or turtles.

Tortoise bites dog:

Dogs gang up on snapping turtle. Repeatedly nipping and stepping on turtle:

Another example of a turtle (Slider) being bullied/nipped by dogs:
 

SpeedyTheSulcata

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Well, like I said, literally the only difference between his old environment and the new one is that ours is 4 times bigger, has a lot more variety of forage, is generally 10-15 degrees warmer, and has a pond. And I only have one dog, while he used to live with 3. His homemade house is well insulated and looks almost exactly like the box in the link above (his former owner was a general contractor).

But if everyone is certain it won't work, we'll find him a new home.
 

Tom

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Well, like I said, literally the only difference between his old environment and the new one is that ours is 4 times bigger, has a lot more variety of forage, is generally 10-15 degrees warmer, and has a pond. And I only have one dog, while he used to live with 3. His homemade house is well insulated and looks almost exactly like the box in the link above (his former owner was a general contractor).

But if everyone is certain it won't work, we'll find him a new home.
Many people house them incorrectly and do all sorts of things that are dangerous and likely to result in harm.

Getting rid of the tortoise is not necessarily the answer. Improving the housing and living conditions to make it safe and optimal should be the goal. Sounds like all you need is a fence and a night box, along with a suitable water source, big soaking tub and possibly a visual barrier on the gate. Is that too much? Doesn't seem like that much to me. We can get creative and help you figure out ways to do it cheaply, if money is a concern.
 

SpeedyTheSulcata

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Like I said, his house looks exactly like the one in the thread you sent me to. The gate is solid metal, he can't see through it. I don't understand how restricting his living area down to a much smaller area is going to make his life better. I was careful to research and make sure we didn't have any plants in the yard that would hurt him, so right now he literally has an entire yard, with a lawn and a variety of other grasses, to forage on. I see him eating weeds as well as grazing on the lawn. He wanders around the sunny areas and then goes and rests in the shade when it gets hot. I am willing to get him whatever other foods he needs, but I think restricting him to a small area would be cruel. You make it sound like it's a miracle he survived.
 

Minority2

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Like I said, his house looks exactly like the one in the thread you sent me to. The gate is solid metal, he can't see through it. I don't understand how restricting his living area down to a much smaller area is going to make his life better. I was careful to research and make sure we didn't have any plants in the yard that would hurt him, so right now he literally has an entire yard, with a lawn and a variety of other grasses, to forage on. I see him eating weeds as well as grazing on the lawn. He wanders around the sunny areas and then goes and rests in the shade when it gets hot. I am willing to get him whatever other foods he needs, but I think restricting him to a small area would be cruel. You make it sound like it's a miracle he survived.

Sulcatas are known for escaping backyards. They'll known for digging under and breaking through barriers. Extra care and attention should be placed to prevent such events from occurring.

Tom is just highlighting a couple things you can improve do to improve your tortoise's living conditions. All these numerous suggestions may sound a bit harsh but they come from a good place. Your Sulcata should remain solitary for it's safety as well as the safety of your dog.

A 40 x 40 feet outdoor enclosure is a good minimum starting size for an outdoor enclosure for your Sulcata. Experienced Sulcata owners will recommend much, much more. It would really be up to you to decide how much space you're willing to give your tortoise while also providing the necessary safety for both of your pets to thrive.
 

Triz

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Sulcatas are known for escaping backyards. They'll known for digging under and breaking through barriers. Extra care and attention should be placed to prevent such events from occurring.

Tom is just highlighting a couple things you can improve do to improve your tortoise's living conditions. All these numerous suggestions may sound a bit harsh but they come from a good place. Your Sulcata should remain solitary for it's safety as well as the safety of your dog.

A 40 x 40 feet outdoor enclosure is a good minimum starting size for an outdoor enclosure for your Sulcata. Experienced Sulcata owners will recommend much, much more. It would really be up to you to decide how much space you're willing to give your tortoise while also providing the necessary safety for both of your pets to thrive.
This Is true, someone down the road from me lost their 60lb Sulcata because it dugg out. You would think, how do you lose a tortoise that big right? Even if they arent very fast and theyre big, they still seem to find ways of disappearing it seems.
 

Tom

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Like I said, his house looks exactly like the one in the thread you sent me to. The gate is solid metal, he can't see through it. I don't understand how restricting his living area down to a much smaller area is going to make his life better. I was careful to research and make sure we didn't have any plants in the yard that would hurt him, so right now he literally has an entire yard, with a lawn and a variety of other grasses, to forage on. I see him eating weeds as well as grazing on the lawn. He wanders around the sunny areas and then goes and rests in the shade when it gets hot. I am willing to get him whatever other foods he needs, but I think restricting him to a small area would be cruel. You make it sound like it's a miracle he survived.
Forgive me. You said "dog house", so that is what I was envisioning. Can we see a pic of the tortoise house? Is it sealed and insulated? If yes, then all you need to do is choose a different way to heat it than using overhead bulbs.

Likewise, can we see a picture of the gate in question? You did say it was "solid", but most metal gates the I've seen have see-through portions too. If yours is opaque for the bottom 12" or so, then no need for any modification, and my apologies.

I never said you should restrict him to a small area. I said the tortoise needs his own space where dogs and people don't tread and do their things. This area should be very large, but it needs to be the tortoise's area alone and not shared with the dog and people. The tortoise needs its own large enclosure.

I don't know enough of the specifics in your tortoise's case, but I can tell you that sometimes it truly is a miracle that some of the back yard tortoises I've seen have survived. What is even more sad is all the numerous cases I have seen where they didn't survive. I'm trying to share this info with you so that when people see and hear about your tortoise they are inspired rather than saddened. Nothing would make me happier than to see your tortoise living in optimal, safe conditions and thriving.

Once you have the right set up, maintaining a single sulcata in our climate is super easy. I'm just trying to help you get to that point. Sorry if some of the info seems overwhelming. I just hate seeing the result when its not done correctly.

This info is not intend to offend or insult you. You asked for advice for a newbie sulcata owner, and I'm trying to help you avoid some of the common pit falls that I've seen too many times. Some of those common pitfalls include:
  • Interaction and sharing yard space with dogs.
  • Inadequate shelter for this tropical species.
  • Potentially dangerous heating strategies for this species.
  • Incorrect diet.
  • Inadequate containment measures.
  • Lack of hydration which can eventually lead to stone formation and death.
Not saying that any of this is you, but just trying to warn you ahead of time so that if any of the above does sound like something going on at your place, you can avoid disaster before it is too late.

Hope this helps and please ask for more explanation on anything that is not clear.
 

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