Hello. I am new to the forum & new to sulcatas.
I am a teacher and athletic trainer at a high school in Florida, I teach sports medicine. I don't quite know how I got so intrigued with tortoises but I am glad I did. I have just spent a week with my new sulcatas. After a year of interest and lots of research I decided to get two. Much of that research was done through reading this forum so I wanted to share what I have and ask for any critiques and suggestions.
Here they are....Colonel & Cougar (named after my alma maters...Eastern Kentucky University & Columbus State University).
I received them at the reptile show in Sarasota. The breeder told me that he incubated them to be males, but believed that he gave me a male and a female because one has an asymmetrical scute pattern that he has recorded 90% of the time to be female. Has anyone heard the same, any truth to this? The “boy†is 2.25in. and the “girl†is 2.5in.
Here is my setup…I know they will quickly outgrow this enclosure…I have big plans for an outdoor setup.
It is a concrete mixing tub (the biggest that Home Depot stocks) filled with soil & sand. I have a feed bucket up-side-down with a door cut out for a hide. I have attached a sponge to the ceiling of the hide via zipties so to maintain humidity. I am thinking of adding some cypress mulch to the mix…is this worth it or is the top soil and sand good enough? Has anyone had a bad experience with soil/sand mix…as far as impaction issues? I can see where that could happen to hatchlings, they get it all over themselves.
This is under a Powersun 100w UVB/heat bulb. I have a thermometer on each side that reads 92â—¦ & 77â—¦ with nighttime temps dropping to 72â—¦. The heat bulb is 14 hrs/day. (I am waiting for a temp gun to come in the mail.)
I have orchard grass hay for them to eat but that was not very appetizing to them…I ended up mixing it with mustard greens. I am trying to slowly increase the hay:greens ratio so they will eat mostly hay. This may take a while…any ideas to how old they get before they enjoy to eat straight dry grass hay? I also have calcium and vitamin supplements.
Here are some more pictures of them…I try to rearranged their dirt to keep them active. I have learned the more I move the soil around the more roaming they do. I just did this today…I buried their hide and made a hill to the top of it.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts and being apart of the forum.
CHRIS
I am a teacher and athletic trainer at a high school in Florida, I teach sports medicine. I don't quite know how I got so intrigued with tortoises but I am glad I did. I have just spent a week with my new sulcatas. After a year of interest and lots of research I decided to get two. Much of that research was done through reading this forum so I wanted to share what I have and ask for any critiques and suggestions.
Here they are....Colonel & Cougar (named after my alma maters...Eastern Kentucky University & Columbus State University).
I received them at the reptile show in Sarasota. The breeder told me that he incubated them to be males, but believed that he gave me a male and a female because one has an asymmetrical scute pattern that he has recorded 90% of the time to be female. Has anyone heard the same, any truth to this? The “boy†is 2.25in. and the “girl†is 2.5in.
Here is my setup…I know they will quickly outgrow this enclosure…I have big plans for an outdoor setup.
It is a concrete mixing tub (the biggest that Home Depot stocks) filled with soil & sand. I have a feed bucket up-side-down with a door cut out for a hide. I have attached a sponge to the ceiling of the hide via zipties so to maintain humidity. I am thinking of adding some cypress mulch to the mix…is this worth it or is the top soil and sand good enough? Has anyone had a bad experience with soil/sand mix…as far as impaction issues? I can see where that could happen to hatchlings, they get it all over themselves.
This is under a Powersun 100w UVB/heat bulb. I have a thermometer on each side that reads 92â—¦ & 77â—¦ with nighttime temps dropping to 72â—¦. The heat bulb is 14 hrs/day. (I am waiting for a temp gun to come in the mail.)
I have orchard grass hay for them to eat but that was not very appetizing to them…I ended up mixing it with mustard greens. I am trying to slowly increase the hay:greens ratio so they will eat mostly hay. This may take a while…any ideas to how old they get before they enjoy to eat straight dry grass hay? I also have calcium and vitamin supplements.
Here are some more pictures of them…I try to rearranged their dirt to keep them active. I have learned the more I move the soil around the more roaming they do. I just did this today…I buried their hide and made a hill to the top of it.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts and being apart of the forum.
CHRIS