How Does My Setup Look?

[Amen_brother_ben]

I’m new to tortoises but not new to pets!

This is Paul, he’s a 4 months old sulcata but I’ve only had him 2 days.



Lighting: The bulb is UVA, I turn it off at night and on in the morning.

Food: I feed him moistened pellets and romane lettuce, although, he hasn’t eaten any pellets yet.

Water: I make sure his water dish is always full and then splash water on the substrate.

Hide: it’s a basic hide but with little water bowls for extra humidity.

What do y’all think?

 

[KarenSoCal]

Well, Paul is a sweetheart, but I see many things that need to be changed, starting with his enclosure size. It needs to be much larger.

Also, while he is a baby, he needs to be in a closed top enclosure. It is impossible to maintain the humidity with an open top. And splashing water on the substrate won't do the job either.

Your UV light (hopefully UVB, not A) is completely ineffective, as UV does not pass through glass or screens.

He needs a heat source day and night to keep the temp in his enclosure 80 deg all the time, plus a basking spot of 95 deg.

He needs a varied diet of weeds and grasses. The pellets are good, but romaine lettuce has almost no nutritional value. Do you soak the pellets until they are soft and mushy? Your baby can't eat the hard pellets.

I'm going to give you a bunch of links. Please, read all of it very carefully, make changes, and come back with any questions. The info in the links will explain the observations I made about your setup.

Beginner Mistakes

To comment on Tom's article, go here: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-split-Beginner-Mistakes#axzz1tG8s05M5 Over the years many of us, myself included, have made many of these mistakes, and we have certainly seen them made many times by others. With springtime upon us and many new...

www.tortoiseforum.org

For Those Who Have a Young Sulcata

For Those Who Have a Young Sulcata...

Over and over I type up and answer diet questions and try to get people feeding the right stuff, but I find that the "norm" is grocery store food. Grocery store food is expensive, a hassle to obtain, and very low on the list of what is best for sulcatas. These tortoises are GRASS eaters. From...

tortoiseforum.org

How To Raise A Healthy Sulcata Or Leopard, Version 2.0

It's been three years since the original care sheet, http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-63788.html , and I think its time for a review and an update. A lot of new info has come to light over the last three years and new insight has been gained through numerous experiences. What follows is my...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[DJ Kirk]

Please look into proper care and husbandry for a sulcate immediately
There are many things you need to know and change in the coming months
Most importantly, start saving lots of $$$$ to upgrade your enclosure especially if you plan on your sulcata being outside
Caresheets and beginner sheets here are a great place to start

 

[Yvonne G]

You have your hiding place positioned effectively cordoning off the remaining floor space of the enclosure. He needs to be able to walk a lot in order to keep his digestive system healthy. Also, the carpeting on the other side isn't suitable. I position the hiding place up against a wall in a corner, giving the rest of the enclosure space over to walking. I like to use clay plant saucers that are sunk down into the substrate for water. Since babies are hard bodied animals and don't bend in the middle, when they have to go into a dish with straight sides they sometimes get overbalanced trying to get out and sometimes end up on their back in the water. Then I use a piece of broken cement for feeding, or a tile.

I have recently learned that the incandescent type, or Mercury Vapor type heating, UVB bulbs are desiccating to babies, so I've changed over to using a tube type fluorescent UVB bulb and a LED type for brightness. For heat I use a radiant heat panel. The RHP is on all the time, day and night, and operates off a thermostat.

I know this is a lot to digest, but there are many her on the Forum who have "been there, done that" and you'd do well to gain the benefit of our collective experience.

 

[Gillian M]

Welcome to the forum.

Oh, Paul is simply gorgeous. God bless him

 

[Yvonne G]

Here's an example of what I'm talking about. This is a brand new set up with no substrate, etc. yet. You can see the bright LED light on the left front ceiling, the tube type fluorescent UVB bulb and in the next picture, the radiant heat panel on the ceiling on the right.






And in this last picture a set up that's been in use a couple years with fluorescent instead of LED:

 

[Tony the Tort42]

The hide does not have to be that big. Something half the size would work fine. His enclosure also looks very dry... The whole thing should have 80% humidity (well his future home, as others have said that's too small)