NEED IDEAS FOR NEW TUNNEL! We had a cave in and it scared the heck out of me!

[Annaliisas]

It's a little over a year since I got Wally, and he is doing really great! He has grown SO much! We are in our new house finally and his enclosure is huge!

I started a burrow for him aiming it towards the center of the enclosure so that it didn't go towards the wall. Although block wall goes down about 3 feet, don't ask me why they did that. But I have heard from neighbors that another tort used to live here in almost same spot. Well Wally took off with it! It's about 5 feet long. Amazing what kind of dirt moving skills these guys have!

Yesterday I had the scare of my life. His food was still on the pavers untouched. So not like him. He usually comes out several times a day to graze on grass or hibiscus leaves, if there isn't something else I have put out. I look into his tunnel and see dirt. He's trapped! So I start to dig really carefully. I thought I would find him dead, but there are all these lizard holes in the ground and I guess he had fresh air where he was. Lucky for both of us! He seems unhurt.

I love that he is living the OPPOSITE of his old existence. He lives outdoors, has to "find" his food sometimes and can dig to his hearts content. How do I construct a tunnel and burrow that I know won't collapse? That he will like.

I added a photo of what he looks like now. He has a lot of new growth on his shell and as you can see in upper left side, the new growth looks to be coming in smooth. Any advice is welcome.

 

[SANDRA_MEISSNEST]

Tom has a very good thread about it
type it in the search engine For.burrows.
mine started t
Digging this year too what I did I took a huge flower pot, and I stuck it deep into the ground its like 30 degrees angle, on top at piece of wood, and she loves it she left hers alone






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[ascott]

I find this curious? Here is why...you say possible cave in right? was the burrow sunken in above the ground as a cave in would be? Or was his burrow filled with dirt but the above ground not sunken in? If the latter, then you likely have an instance where he was back filled in by a gopher...do you have gophers anywhere on your property?

I had this same thing occur and realized as I was doing the dig out that the burrow here had been completely back filled in with the tort on the other side of the back fill....so I would really think about if it was a true sink whole type cave in or if it was a critter back fill?

---

true sink whole

Should have read

true sink hole

 

[Tom]

In the wild their burrows collapse all the time. Because they need so little oxygen, compared to a human at least, they are usually fine and just dig their own way out of it. Still, it would scare the bejesus out of me!

Here is what I did, and I think it is the most perfect way to house older than hatchling sulcatas that I have found yet. http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-28662.html
Mine go into this enclosure at about 8" and it suits them so perfectly, yet its safe and controlled, and it avoids the common problems associated with "natural" burrows. Those problems being collapse, flooding, temperature and lack of access.

Whether a sulcata's burrow will hold its shape has a lot to do with the soil composition. Some areas just don't have the right soil for it.

 

[Annaliisas]

I started with the large flower pot and that's how the first tunnel started. And a reply to the second sinkhole comment. No gophers here. But lizards and field mice. There were lizard tunnels all over as I was "shaving" off the top of the soil over the tunnel to get to him, there were tunnels everywhere!



Annaliisas