New Sulcata owner

[nlaconcha]

Hi all, my name is Nicole and we purchased a sulcata yesterday. Unfortunately the reptile store has no idea of a hatch date but it looks very young. I feel like everything I thought knew about properly caring for one seems to be wrong per the store so I will take any information or advice you can give. We have Oogway in a glass terrarium with the 2 lights we were told he needed in coco fiber and reptibark mixture. He has a food dish and a water dish (we were told no water for some reason). We were told to feed lettuce (no iceburg) and vegetables but on a facebook site it says no vegetables. We are keeping the lights on 12 hours a day and we were told to spray the substrate every coupe of days since we live in Florida. Do they need anything over night? I dont know if I'm doing this all correct so any advice would be appreciated..TIA

 

[Maro2Bear]

Greetings & Welcome to the Forum

You will find all of the information on everything you need to grow & raise a healthy Sully right here. Enclosure, substrate, lighting, food, water, soaking, humidity are all critical.

Lucky for you @Tom has all that info right here - https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threa...se-a-sulcata-leopard-or-star-tortoise.181497/

Good luck & Ask Away

 

[Maro2Bear]

You specifically asked - “Do they need anything over night?”

Yes, you might want to explain how you are heating your torts enclosure? At a minimum, the overall ambient temperature day & night, 24/7 should be 80F. There are other critical daytime / basking temps that need to be maintained as well. (All noted in the care sheet above).

 

[method89]

Hi all, my name is Nicole and we purchased a sulcata yesterday. Unfortunately the reptile store has no idea of a hatch date but it looks very young. I feel like everything I thought knew about properly caring for one seems to be wrong per the store so I will take any information or advice you can give. We have Oogway in a glass terrarium with the 2 lights we were told he needed in coco fiber and reptibark mixture. He has a food dish and a water dish (we were told no water for some reason). We were told to feed lettuce (no iceburg) and vegetables but on a facebook site it says no vegetables. We are keeping the lights on 12 hours a day and we were told to spray the substrate every coupe of days since we live in Florida. Do they need anything over night? I dont know if I'm doing this all correct so any advice would be appreciated..TIA

Welcome to the TFO. You have made it to the right place to get your tortoise the proper care it needs. First step is forget everything that the pet store and facebook told you. Second step, read the care sheets that are in the post above. They will provide most of your answers and are a great way to keep checking on things as you begin to elevate your husbandry.

 

[Billna the 2]

Welcome

 

[Tom]

Hi all, my name is Nicole and we purchased a sulcata yesterday. Unfortunately the reptile store has no idea of a hatch date but it looks very young. I feel like everything I thought knew about properly caring for one seems to be wrong per the store so I will take any information or advice you can give. We have Oogway in a glass terrarium with the 2 lights we were told he needed in coco fiber and reptibark mixture. He has a food dish and a water dish (we were told no water for some reason). We were told to feed lettuce (no iceburg) and vegetables but on a facebook site it says no vegetables. We are keeping the lights on 12 hours a day and we were told to spray the substrate every coupe of days since we live in Florida. Do they need anything over night? I dont know if I'm doing this all correct so any advice would be appreciated..TIA

Hello and welcome. You finally found the right place. Stay out of the pet shop, and stay off of FB. Bad info from both. Read that care sheet and then ask us all your questions.