madbad
Active Member
Mine went from 67g to 77g in a week and then the next week reached 90g.
That was 23g in 2weeks.
If my guy grows that fast he'll need a new home yesterday LOL!
Mine went from 67g to 77g in a week and then the next week reached 90g.
That was 23g in 2weeks.
This is why you should weigh at the same time of day and only after a soak and I nice size #2. My tort let 10g of #2 out once.
This is what I have been doing, when I saw the weight I stared laughing hysterically, 10 grams is amazing!
I think it's awesome how enthusiastic you are about Tank [emoji16]
Hi, guys just wanted to introduce myself and tell you my story. 2 days ago a cute lil Sulcata Tortoise was kind of dumped in my lap. My sister-in-law is a generally irresponsible person with serious drug problems and while LIVING OUT OF A CAR!!, purchased a Sulcata . Her plan was to keep it until it was too big then take it to the tortoise refuge in Anderson, CA.. My wife and I caught up with her living out of her car and brought her and her tort home.
Currently, I live in apartment with no yard and cant provide a real future for my new lil buddy. Normally I would be trying to re-home this guy (and really now is the time because he is still small and so cute!) but I don't actually own this beautiful beast, and I'm not exactly sure what to do about this.
I don't really think he is getting the best care from it's owner, after spending just a couple hours on these forums I have noticed a litany of problems with it's care (low temperature, poor diet, dehydration, no UVB bulb, low humidity substrate, undersized tank). Luckily, with the help of these forums, all of these problems can be solved (except the fact that it has no future in an apartment).
So far I have: Adjusted the basking lamp to make sure he is getting enough heat (his lamp wasn't pointing directly at his basking spot also i ordered a temp gun off amazon so this wont happen again). Purchased some dark leafy greens (he LOVES kale) and I am going to harvest wild grass today, I also ordered some Mazuri. Started him on a daily soaking regimen (he has peed once and pooped twice since I got him day before yesterday both times while soaking and everything looked as I expected it to). I replaced his dirty Cyprus bark bedding with half and half Cyprus and coconut bedding (hydrated I also have a hygrometer coming). I'm going out today to shop for a UVB bulb and a ceramic heat emitter. He is living in a 20 Gallon aquarium so I am going to do some research and next week on payday im gong to make some sort of enclosure (Rubbermaid tub? any recommendations or links?)
What have i missed?
Healthwise, the tort seems pretty good, regular bowel movements, healthy appetite (once the temp was fixed) and loves to roam his tank (which also happens to be it's name! Tank!) he is 52.3 grams but I have no idea of the age. Ill get you guys a picture soon, I have terribad photographic equipment so it may be rough.
My MAIN CONCERN is for my new pal's future, I'm certain I don't have the resources to care for a growing Sulcata, and I'm almost positive the actual owner won't ever be able to give it the home it needs. She is dead set on keeping it though (she seems to think it will be like 20 years before it gets too big to handle).
Is it legal for me to surrender someone else's animal? I don't really GAF if she gets mad at me (temporary anger vs the life of an animal, amiright?), but I don't really want to break the law here. Anyone else have luck convincing someone to surrender their tort? Would her knowingly putting the tort back in to the bad situation of living out of her car constitute animal abuse or animal cruelty? (maybe I could gain some leverage there...)
The upside to this whole mess is that I have now caught Tortoise Fever! I really want my own lil guy! Are there any Torts that can thrive (not just tolerate) living in an apartment situation?
Thanks for reading my book you guys. I really appreciate the knowledge base you folks have created, it beats the hell out of any other information I found out there in the web.
Until next time
I got my new temp gun in the mail today, I've been testing it on everything much to my wife's chagrin.
Carapace temp of Tank the Tort is about 91 right now, sound right? He was sitting in his basking spot when I took the temp.
I constructed the new enclosure today. It looks like it is going to work out well, I'll post a pic when the wife gets home and see if you guys can point out any glaring issues before I make the move.
As for health, I have been a bit busy today so haven't been able to observe any eating, that being said he pissed on me after his soak and I cleaned up a turd this afternoon (small, firm, black, pellet). I have observed much more burrowing behavior today, I see an abandoned excavation in one corner and he is sitting in the bottom of another excavation under his basking lamp with mainly his shell showing.
Here's hoping this all sounds right!