Meet Alfie, my new baby sulcata tortoise! :)

[Blakem]

Alfie seems to have some poop stuck in his cloaca. I do soak him occasionally and he goes to the bathroom not only when I soak him, but mostly in his cage too, and every time he comes to greet me for food I end up seeing the stuck poop... how do I go on about fixing that without hurting him? I tried cleaning it with a Q-tip but stopped shortly as I thought I was hurting him because he kept opening and closing his eyes. I can get some pics if they help, but the underside of his tail is entirely black because of the stuck feces.

Do you try cleaning it up after a warm soak? It should come off easily after that. How long are your soaks?

 

[Smile]

I got it all taken care of. I usually let him soak for about 30 minutes, sometimes more and other times less.

 

[Smile]

Didn't have time yesterday for pictures, but Alfie has now been with me for two whole months! He's going to turn 4 months old soon. Here is how he looks today!

Enjoying a nice soak:


Back in his enclosure basking under his lamp. He's getting strong enough to be able to bite his cuttlebone now!





At what age do their shells start to get darker? His shell is relatively light compared to other baby sulcata I've seen, so should I expect his shell to darken at all? He hasn't gotten any real sunlight since he came here as well, so that might be a contributing factor as to why his shell hasn't darkened much yet. His shell is nice and smoove still though as you can see, hopefully it remains that way until he's an adult.

 

[joshua_moncada]

Didn't have time yesterday for pictures, but Alfie has now been with me for two whole months! He's going to turn 4 months old soon. Here is how he looks today!

Enjoying a nice soak:
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Back in his enclosure basking under his lamp. He's getting strong enough to be able to bite his cuttlebone now!

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At what age do their shells start to get darker? His shell is relatively light compared to other baby sulcata I've seen, so should I expect his shell to darken at all? He hasn't gotten any real sunlight since he came here as well, so that might be a contributing factor as to why his shell hasn't darkened much yet. His shell is nice and smoove still though as you can see, hopefully it remains that way until he's an adult.

Awesome little sully my friend! I have a 1 year old sully that I rescued and he has a darker shell. When I got him his shell was a little brighter. His old owner didn't know that they need sunlight or uvb... So now he gets about 6 hours a day with a shady hiding spot that I built for him and I notices his shell did get a bit darker. This is just my guess. I am no expert