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[Love My Dove]

Hi my name is Stephanie, I live in Chicago, and am interested in getting a Sulcata. I want to make sure I get the enclosure right before I bring he/she home. I've been reading some of the threads all weekend and doing research online. It seems to get confusing when one care sheet says one thing, then you read something else. I want to be able to raise a healthy Sulcata to the best of my abilities and provided it with everything it will need. I live in a house with a back yard, but like I said I live in Chicago and snowy months are ahead! Any help, ideas, pics are greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help, it is greatly appreciated.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Stephanie:

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

You must prepare yourself for a very large bulldozer having to stay indoors during inclement weather...6 or 7 months of the year? You'll have to have a fairly large space for him to live during this time. They don't do well boxed up. Rather they need a room or a basement all to themselves. Most of our members who have sulcatas in climates where they're indoors during the winter, keep them in a heated shed with access to outside.

 

[jaizei]

Hello and welcome.

 

[dmarcus]

Hello and welcome to the forum...

 

[coreyc]

Welcome

 

[Love My Dove]

The husband and I do not plan on staying here long. We eventually want to move some where warmer and bigger. So it will be much easier to keep he/she outside or in their own space. But to start indoors what is the best way to go? Glass tank, tortoise table, storage container? Coco coir, peat moss, cypress mulch? Humidity? I've read the threads about taking care of hatchlings but many seem to contradict each other. Does it depend on where you live?

Thank you for all the welcomes!!!

 

[cemmons12]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome.

 

[Torty Mom]

Read up on the stories and adventures of "Bob" might help you decide!!

 

[jackrat]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome.

 

[Yvonne G]

But to start indoors what is the best way to go? Glass tank, tortoise table, storage container? Coco coir, peat moss, cypress mulch? Humidity? I've read the threads about taking care of hatchlings but many seem to contradict each other. Does it depend on where you live?

Thank you for all the welcomes!!!

My personal choice is a wooden tort table. I have built two of them in outside sheds. Then second choice is a Christmas Tree Storage Bin by Iris. They should be coming up for sale pretty soon as its getting close to Christmas. Just put those words in a GOOGLE search. You should be able to find one for around $40 and then there's shipping. This is a great big plastic tote. Its a great size for having lots of plants and site barriers in it, plus a couple of hiding places. Anything smaller and its hard to have lots of hides and sight barriers because they take up too much room.

Any of those substrates you listed would be fine. My first choice is fine grade orchid bark. Second choice is cypress mulch.

Just read Tom's thread:

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-How-To-Raise-Sulcata-Hatchlings-and-Babies#axzz1XgnYwz8j

He gives pretty good insight and many pointers for new tortoise keepers. Just bear in mind that Tom is in the desert and what he has to do to keep up the humidity might not be what you have to do in your area.

 

[Love My Dove]

Thank you very much!!