I just love her!

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Coldliz

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Ok, I've been reading through the threads and there is some great information here.
During my research on the net (like I said in my introduction thread) I have many conflicting ideas on the proper care of a Sulcata.
One question I have is humidity. I was told (by the breeder that I bought her from) that baby Sulcata's need more humidity than people think. What I have read elsewhere says to keep their enclosure dry. Do they need humidity? Does anyone know the range of humidity I should keep it at?
Also, how much do they sleep? Mine seems to sleep a lot.
Just for information ...I am keeping her in a 20 gal tank with a 50 watt heat bulb. I also have a Zoo med full spectrum repti-Sun 5.0 lamp for her. (it's too cold here right now to get her outside) Also, the I feed her mustard greens, collard greens, grass I grow myself, and tortoise krunchies from turtlestuff.com. I give her calcium about twice a week. She has a hide house that she spends a lot of time in and a shallow water dish that she visits often.I soak her about 3-4 times a week. Also, the substrate I use it shredded coconut fiber.
I took her to the vet last week because I was concerned because she had bubbles coming from her nose. They gave me a series of injections to give her for respiratory infection. The vet called me yesterday and said they examined the stool sample I took in of hers and that she has pin worms too!! So, I have to take her back today for some med's for that!
I just love her to death. I love watching her. Although she technically isn't mine. She's my 6 year old daughters. (thats how she got the name Sparkles) I do all the work in taking care of her and I just love her. I just want to do the best I can for her. The first one we had died suddenly after only having her for 3 months. I have no idea why she died. I think she wasn't healthy when I got her.
I appreciate any input, advice, comments. Thanks.
 

demjor19

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i have heard that shredded cocoa fiber is bad for them. i guess they can injest it and get impacted from it. i use timothy hay as my substrate. as far as humidity...i believe the smaller sulcatas do need higher humidity (they dehydrate faster do to their smaller size), but do not make the enclosure wet. w/ the worms and nasal discharge i would follow the vets instructions and be sure to keep the tortoise warm.
 

JustAnja

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Coldliz said:
Ok, I've been reading through the threads and there is some great information here.
During my research on the net (like I said in my introduction thread) I have many conflicting ideas on the proper care of a Sulcata.
One question I have is humidity. I was told (by the breeder that I bought her from) that baby Sulcata's need more humidity than people think. What I have read elsewhere says to keep their enclosure dry. Do they need humidity? Does anyone know the range of humidity I should keep it at?
Also, how much do they sleep? Mine seems to sleep a lot.
Just for information ...I am keeping her in a 20 gal tank with a 50 watt heat bulb. I also have a Zoo med full spectrum repti-Sun 5.0 lamp for her. (it's too cold here right now to get her outside) Also, the I feed her mustard greens, collard greens, grass I grow myself, and tortoise krunchies from turtlestuff.com. I give her calcium about twice a week. She has a hide house that she spends a lot of time in and a shallow water dish that she visits often.I soak her about 3-4 times a week. Also, the substrate I use it shredded coconut fiber.
I took her to the vet last week because I was concerned because she had bubbles coming from her nose. They gave me a series of injections to give her for respiratory infection. The vet called me yesterday and said they examined the stool sample I took in of hers and that she has pin worms too!! So, I have to take her back today for some med's for that!
I just love her to death. I love watching her. Although she technically isn't mine. She's my 6 year old daughters. (thats how she got the name Sparkles) I do all the work in taking care of her and I just love her. I just want to do the best I can for her. The first one we had died suddenly after only having her for 3 months. I have no idea why she died. I think she wasn't healthy when I got her.
I appreciate any input, advice, comments. Thanks.

Hi there and welcome aboard. First off I would start by mixing the coco fiber 50/50 with play sand.(you can get this at any Home Depot/Lowes type store, dont use calci-sand from a pet store) This will keep the humidity in, just spray it down heavily a couple of times per week on the warm end of the enclosure. I would add long strand sphagnum moss to her hide and mist it every few days, this will help with some humidity as well.

If you have the tort in a glass aquarium type setup it would be best to change it over to a low sided rubbermaid container or something similar. Glass tanks dont allow airflow or give enough of a temperature gradient. The tort should have a warm side around 95F and a cooler side around 75-80F. Put the UVB lamp and the heat lamp all on one end. A great site for Sulcata info is www.africantortoise.com.

If the Vet found pinworms, you only need to go pick up the meds for her. No need to drag her out into the weather to just pick up worm meds especially if she was recently treated for a resp infection.

Baby torts are just like any other baby, they sleep ALLOT. It wont hurt to wake them up a few times per day though.

Other than that, everything sounds pretty OK although I would up the calcium to 3-4 times per week, and make sure it does not have D3 added. If your using a UVB bulb they can actually overdoes on D3 when their calcium supplement has it added as well.


Hope this helps! If you need pics of a simple rubbermaid setup please let me know. I know they are posted in a few threads on this site but I can add them to this one if you need me to.
 

Coldliz

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Thank you both for your help.

See, this is where I get confused. The first tortoise I had, I kept her in a rubbermaid container as suggested. I used 50/50 mix play sand and organic topsoil. Then when I got this tortoise, the breeder told me to use coconut fiber (its what he uses) It keeps humidity and if she ingests it, which I have seen her do a little, she can pass it. I have let the humidity drop because of her respiratory infection but I have noticed since doing that her skin on her legs looks dry and cracked.
He also told me to use the glass tank and a solid top to keep the heat in but I was concerned about the air flow. Also, I bought a book last week. ( The African Spurred Tortoise in Captivity Professional breeder series by Russ Gurley) it also says to keep them in a glass tank.
I really appreciate all the input. For me, trying to figure out the best way to keep her happy and healthy has been very hard.
 

demjor19

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i think the opinions on the husbandry of sulcata tortoiseS will always have some contradictions. since she has a respiratory infection you do not want too much humidity (that will cause the mucas to break up too fast and work it's way into her lungs). keep her warm and dry (other than rutine soakings). all you can do is try your best and seek advice when needed...i'm sure there is some great information to be found on this forum. keep us updated.
 

Coldliz

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Well, I called the vet to see if I had to take her. They said yes, so I went ahead and took her for the pinworm med. I have to take her back in 3 weeks for another dose.
I think I'm going to keep part of her enclosure damp and part dry. That way she can decide where she feels like being. She spends a lot of her time sleeping in her hide box. I assume that is because they like to burrow in the wild. I think I will keep it moist in there.
Thanks so much everyone.
 

jlyoncc1

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I have to agree with everything that Anja stated. The only other thing that I would change would be the collard greens. That is something that they should only receive once in a while. Good Luck!
 

Coldliz

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Another question, at what age are they no longer considered babies/ hatchlings?
also, what are urates?
 

Jentortmom

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Just a suggestion, since she does have a RI, your best bet is to keep her on hay or paper towels. When my new rescue came in sick with a vitamin deficancy and a RI. I was told to keep him on blankets until he was clear and medicine was completely gone. That guy was a boxie so they require a lot of humidity, but doing that he recovered really quick. I did keep his water dish in the enclosure with him. As for the glass enclosure I agree they do not provide enough circulation and the tort can see out, if you decide to keep in the glass enclosure then you will probably want to put a barrier on the glass so s/he can't see out and move her to a larger one like 45 gals. I know a lot of people do keep their hatchlings in a enclosure with a lid, I believe to help keep the heat in after the lights go out. As far as your question as to when they are no longer hatchlings, I read somewhere just recently that a tort over 2" is no longer a hatchling. But don't quote me that is just what I read. Urates is the white deposits tortoises leave instead of urinating liquid, they use this to expell waste without losing water, I read that it is like uric acid, this way the tortoise does not become dehydrated. If your little one expells clear liquid your best bet is to soak her. I know in my russians I have one that will expel clear if she is by her water bowl, but the urates when she is farther away. And my other female only expels urates unless she has become frightened. My sulcata hatchling has not expelled the urates yet so I am not quite sure at what age they begin doing that, Ah another item for me to research. Good luck with your little one and I wish I could share pictures of mine but my computer is down and I have not set the lap top up to link to the camera, not that it would help since all of my pics are on my other computer.
 
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