How to move large sulcata

Yellowwubiedog

New Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2018
Messages
13
Location (City and/or State)
South Carolina
Hi y'all! I am a small woman with a 50lb sulcata. He has a large grassy yard and an awesome house with heat & AC and door that closes automatically after dark. However, this time of year he starts to think sleeping outside would be a great idea. Of course, this is not a safe option and I have to carry him to bed. He is HEAVY!! Anyone got any tricks to moving one of these big guys? ...or convincing them to sleep in their house?
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,269
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
I’m a big guy so I’ve always just carried them but I resently got a Rubbermaid wheelbarrow cart it has a flat nose so it’s relatively easy to tip it forward slide them in and then tip it back up and wheel them to bed. My wife loves it!
Pictures or it didn't happen!

This was going to be my suggestion too.
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,269
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
Hi y'all! I am a small woman with a 50lb sulcata. He has a large grassy yard and an awesome house with heat & AC and door that closes automatically after dark. However, this time of year he starts to think sleeping outside would be a great idea. Of course, this is not a safe option and I have to carry him to bed. He is HEAVY!! Anyone got any tricks to moving one of these big guys? ...or convincing them to sleep in their house?
Hello and welcome.

Heat AND A/C? Automatic door? I've got to see this. Pictures please. This sounds awesome!
 

kazjimmy

Active Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2018
Messages
215
Location (City and/or State)
baldwin park
My tortoise would never forget to go back to their hiding house. They have their Strong sense of GPS. I think you need to check out the problem on your hiding place. Is it too small, too
 

wccmog10

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 6, 2018
Messages
209
Location (City and/or State)
Georgia
View attachment 275197 View attachment 275198
This is the cart we are talking about

We’ve got one of these wheelbarrows as well- they are great. We don’t use it for tortoises though. The amount of weight they can carry is really nice.

There was a thread a while back about a member making their own cart.
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/tortoise-transporter-a-k-a-lumpykart.174770/#post-1731805
If you have some welding skills (or know someone who does) you could go for one of these.

I want to see some photos of this amazing sounding barn as well :)
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,390
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
I used to have a 65lb Manouria female that wouldn't go into her shed at night. I had a really nice wagon for her. the hard part was picking her up to put her in the wagon:

Manouria transportation 3-2-12 a.jpg Manouria Transportation 3-2-12 b.jpg
 

Yellowwubiedog

New Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2018
Messages
13
Location (City and/or State)
South Carolina
Here are the pics of his house/shed. This is what happens when a biologist marries an engineer! He made the automatic door out of an old drill and 2 battery chargers! It is awesome! We have it hooked up to a timer that automatically adjusts with the sunrise/sunset. There is a people door and a tort door with plastic to try and keep the temp regulated.
I monitor the temperature...with the heat in South Carolina right now I am turning the AC on in the late afternoon to cool the house for bed time. I get it to about 70F. Does anyone have any suggestions for adjustments?
The heat mat, radiator and lamps are all for winter...not on now, of course.
IMG_1913.JPGIMG_1914.JPG IMG_1915.JPGIMG_1916.JPG
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1917.JPG
    IMG_1917.JPG
    1.9 MB · Views: 28

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,390
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
I would like to make a suggestion: When I saw your lights my heart leapt up into my throat. Those clamps are notorious for failing, falling down and either smoldering the substrate or causing a fire. Also, they are too low. As a person who used to do tortoise rescue, I've seen quite a few large sulcatas with the tops of their carapaces disfigured due to burning from the too close light.
 

queen koopa

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2018
Messages
754
Location (City and/or State)
Las Vegas Nevada
Here are the pics of his house/shed. This is what happens when a biologist marries an engineer! He made the automatic door out of an old drill and 2 battery chargers! It is awesome! We have it hooked up to a timer that automatically adjusts with the sunrise/sunset. There is a people door and a tort door with plastic to try and keep the temp regulated.
I monitor the temperature...with the heat in South Carolina right now I am turning the AC on in the late afternoon to cool the house for bed time. I get it to about 70F. Does anyone have any suggestions for adjustments?
The heat mat, radiator and lamps are all for winter...not on now, of course.
View attachment 275222View attachment 275223 View attachment 275224View attachment 275225
Owwww... that drop down door system. Cool. I’m always looking for new door ideas due to koopa growing. Have had to enlarge her door to her shed and her hide within a year of having her and she is 6. (Her hide is a 100 gallon water trough upside-down)
 

wccmog10

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 6, 2018
Messages
209
Location (City and/or State)
Georgia
Here are the pics of his house/shed. This is what happens when a biologist marries an engineer! He made the automatic door out of an old drill and 2 battery chargers! It is awesome! We have it hooked up to a timer that automatically adjusts with the sunrise/sunset. There is a people door and a tort door with plastic to try and keep the temp regulated.
I monitor the temperature...with the heat in South Carolina right now I am turning the AC on in the late afternoon to cool the house for bed time. I get it to about 70F. Does anyone have any suggestions for adjustments?
The heat mat, radiator and lamps are all for winter...not on now, of course.
View attachment 275222View attachment 275223 View attachment 275224View attachment 275225

I agree that the lights are low, but the automatic door is super cool. Maybe you could tell us more about how you and your husband did that?
 

Yellowwubiedog

New Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2018
Messages
13
Location (City and/or State)
South Carolina
Thanks for the light suggestion...you can't see it but long screws are holding them up. We'll rethink it though - thank you.

As for the door construction, I will turn it over to my hubby.

... hubby here. I used an old 12V drill powered by two 12V battery chargers (one wired for forward, one wired for reverse - definitely put a fuse in the line in case both turn on at the same time! Fires are bad!). I ran the rope through a few pulleys to give it mechanical advantage, slow it down (for the inevitable 'close on tortoise' events), and pull it evenly left-vs-right. The door itself is very light weight (in case it closes on Hugo - which it has) - thin plywood with insulation inside, and a few casters to guide it down. The chargers are plugged in to WEMOs (like 110V plug-in timers, but also controllable from the internet). One charger turns on in the morning for a minute, the other after sunset for a minute. The power is also routed through a pair of light switches carefully set up ('calibrated') to swap position at 'full down' and 'full up' so that only the appropriate charger can supply the drill, and the power turns off at the full up/down position. (at full down, the light switches are aligned to only allow the 'up' charger to power the drill, and the opposite and full up). (light switches are cheap and designed for a huge number of cycles)

It seems very Rube Goldberg (I really laughed at myself after the finished product). But in 6 years, it has been extremely reliable. The only problems have been - too much hay/tortoise poop propped the door above the switches (not too bad - just keeps it from opening the next morning), and one 12V battery charger died after a few years. Ironically, modern 12V chargers don't work (digital controls prevent it from supplying the juice) - we literally had to buy an 'antique' non-digital 12V charger off eBay to replace it. Other than that - It's been great. We used regular timers at first (seen in the video) but switched to WEMOs and put a NEST camera in the house so we could check him and open/close the door from the couch or on vacation. This is particularly useful during May-ish when he likes to stay outside at night.

 
Last edited:

Yellowwubiedog

New Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2018
Messages
13
Location (City and/or State)
South Carolina
I used to have a 65lb Manouria female that wouldn't go into her shed at night. I had a really nice wagon for her. the hard part was picking her up to put her in the wagon:

View attachment 275215 View attachment 275216
I used to have a 65lb Manouria female that wouldn't go into her shed at night. I had a really nice wagon for her. the hard part was picking her up to put her in the wagon:

View attachment 275215 View attachment 275216
Can't quite make out the brand of cart. Who makes?? Mucho Thanks
 

wccmog10

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 6, 2018
Messages
209
Location (City and/or State)
Georgia
Thanks for the light suggestion...you can't see it but long screws are holding them up. We'll rethink it though - thank you.

As for the door construction, I will turn it over to my hubby.

... hubby here. I used an old 12V drill powered by two 12V battery chargers (one wired for forward, one wired for reverse - definitely put a fuse in the line in case both turn on at the same time! Fires are bad!). I ran the rope through a few pulleys to give it mechanical advantage, slow it down (for the inevitable 'close on tortoise' events), and pull it evenly left-vs-right. The door itself is very light weight (in case it closes on Hugo - which it has) - thin plywood with insulation inside, and a few casters to guide it down. The chargers are plugged in to WEMOs (like 110V plug-in timers, but also controllable from the internet). One charger turns on in the morning for a minute, the other after sunset for a minute. The power is also routed through a pair of light switches carefully set up ('calibrated') to swap position at 'full down' and 'full up' so that only the appropriate charger can supply the drill, and the power turns off at the full up/down position. (at full down, the light switches are aligned to only allow the 'up' charger to power the drill, and the opposite and full up). (light switches are cheap and designed for a huge number of cycles)

It seems very Rube Goldberg (I really laughed at myself after the finished product). But in 6 years, it has been extremely reliable. The only problems have been - too much hay/tortoise poop propped the door above the switches (not too bad - just keeps it from opening the next morning), and one 12V battery charger died after a few years. Ironically, modern 12V chargers don't work (digital controls prevent it from supplying the juice) - we literally had to buy an 'antique' non-digital 12V charger off eBay to replace it. Other than that - It's been great. We used regular timers at first (seen in the video) but switched to WEMOs and put a NEST camera in the house so we could check him and open/close the door from the couch or on vacation. This is particularly useful during May-ish when he likes to stay outside at night.


That is cool, but I’m not sure I could reproduce that without some additional help...
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,390
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
Thanks for the light suggestion...you can't see it but long screws are holding them up. We'll rethink it though - thank you.

As for the door construction, I will turn it over to my hubby.

... hubby here. I used an old 12V drill powered by two 12V battery chargers (one wired for forward, one wired for reverse - definitely put a fuse in the line in case both turn on at the same time! Fires are bad!). I ran the rope through a few pulleys to give it mechanical advantage, slow it down (for the inevitable 'close on tortoise' events), and pull it evenly left-vs-right. The door itself is very light weight (in case it closes on Hugo - which it has) - thin plywood with insulation inside, and a few casters to guide it down. The chargers are plugged in to WEMOs (like 110V plug-in timers, but also controllable from the internet). One charger turns on in the morning for a minute, the other after sunset for a minute. The power is also routed through a pair of light switches carefully set up ('calibrated') to swap position at 'full down' and 'full up' so that only the appropriate charger can supply the drill, and the power turns off at the full up/down position. (at full down, the light switches are aligned to only allow the 'up' charger to power the drill, and the opposite and full up). (light switches are cheap and designed for a huge number of cycles)

It seems very Rube Goldberg (I really laughed at myself after the finished product). But in 6 years, it has been extremely reliable. The only problems have been - too much hay/tortoise poop propped the door above the switches (not too bad - just keeps it from opening the next morning), and one 12V battery charger died after a few years. Ironically, modern 12V chargers don't work (digital controls prevent it from supplying the juice) - we literally had to buy an 'antique' non-digital 12V charger off eBay to replace it. Other than that - It's been great. We used regular timers at first (seen in the video) but switched to WEMOs and put a NEST camera in the house so we could check him and open/close the door from the couch or on vacation. This is particularly useful during May-ish when he likes to stay outside at night.

OMG that door!!! Can I adopt you?
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,269
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
Ideal temp for a large sulcata is 80-85 overnight, and low 90s during the day. 70 is too low. This is what the ground temps are in sub-Saharan Africa where they come from. No need to cool it to 70.

I wouldn't use the heat lamps over a large sulcata. Like Yvonne mentioned, I've also seen too many get "slow burned" by them. Better to use other heating methods like your radiant oil heater or Kane heat mats, or both.
 
Top