rissa_noelle
New Member
Hello! I'm a new sulcata tortoise owner! I got Scribble for my birthday last month. He's/she's about 4 months old. I love him so much and I just want to make sure I'm taking proper care of him.
I currently live in Utah and we keep him indoors with a heat lamp that's set to about 90 degrees and a natural UV lamp.
Since he's so small and the dishes were too big for him, we switched out the typical food dish and water dish- so he uses the water dish for his food and a Tupperware lid for his water dish.
I feed him once a day in the morning and he eats until he's content, then he will usually go and snack on the food a little bit throughout the day. We feed him a variety of food that we try to change a little each week. He seems very picky- he doesn't like Rosemary, Oregano, or Sage very much, but LOVES kale and aloe vera from the plant. We feed him a green food (herbs, kale, etc) mixed with Tortoise Entree from National Geographic or aloe vera. I also dust a calcium supplement on his food once a week.
His substrate is 100% natural Cypress mulch mixed with half a block of compressed coconut fiber expandable substrate. I pick up his poop every couple of days as I see it and throw it away. We have newspaper lining the bottom underneath the substrate so his pee will sink down instead of sitting in the substrate.
I bathe him every 2-3 days for 10-15 minutes in lukewarm water.
I do have some questions.
1. How often do you need to change the substrate?
2. It looks like the cracks in between his scutes are getting more noticable, does that just mean he's growing? Or am I doing something wrong?
3. I've read that their home should be kept humid... How humid? How do you keep it humid? I've used a spray bottle to spray down his substrate in the morning when I feed him, but it doesn't last. Any tips on keeping it humid enough for him would be great!
4. Can I put plants in there for him to eat off of? Such as dandelions or cacti? Has anyone done this before?
Any other suggestions would be helpful and appreciated! I've done some research on my own, but I'm still new at this [emoji4] TIA!!
I currently live in Utah and we keep him indoors with a heat lamp that's set to about 90 degrees and a natural UV lamp.
Since he's so small and the dishes were too big for him, we switched out the typical food dish and water dish- so he uses the water dish for his food and a Tupperware lid for his water dish.
I feed him once a day in the morning and he eats until he's content, then he will usually go and snack on the food a little bit throughout the day. We feed him a variety of food that we try to change a little each week. He seems very picky- he doesn't like Rosemary, Oregano, or Sage very much, but LOVES kale and aloe vera from the plant. We feed him a green food (herbs, kale, etc) mixed with Tortoise Entree from National Geographic or aloe vera. I also dust a calcium supplement on his food once a week.
His substrate is 100% natural Cypress mulch mixed with half a block of compressed coconut fiber expandable substrate. I pick up his poop every couple of days as I see it and throw it away. We have newspaper lining the bottom underneath the substrate so his pee will sink down instead of sitting in the substrate.
I bathe him every 2-3 days for 10-15 minutes in lukewarm water.
I do have some questions.
1. How often do you need to change the substrate?
2. It looks like the cracks in between his scutes are getting more noticable, does that just mean he's growing? Or am I doing something wrong?
3. I've read that their home should be kept humid... How humid? How do you keep it humid? I've used a spray bottle to spray down his substrate in the morning when I feed him, but it doesn't last. Any tips on keeping it humid enough for him would be great!
4. Can I put plants in there for him to eat off of? Such as dandelions or cacti? Has anyone done this before?
Any other suggestions would be helpful and appreciated! I've done some research on my own, but I'm still new at this [emoji4] TIA!!