Newbie Needs Help

Arilyna

New Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2020
Messages
7
Location (City and/or State)
Asheville, NC
To make a long story short, on Saturday, my boyfriend got excited and bought a baby sulcata tortoise at the local Repticon. I don’t know the sex, but I’ve been calling it a her and the name is Agave. She is maybe two inches going vertically down the shell, not including head or tail length and she has her egg tooth.
ADB4D9E6-10DF-45E2-B637-A70F1B2EF95C.jpeg275D6B2F-93CE-4B9E-8BB1-8F5CBD5419B7.jpeg
The guy who sold her to us did not give us good information: keep her on cedar chips, use a Rubbermaid tub to keep her warm, turn off the heat at night, etc. As you can see, we are not set up for this baby- it’s a forty gallon tank with a wire lid, ugh.
1EDB7E4B-94B6-475E-9AC5-7DC5937A630D.jpegHer basking spot has been 100ish with the 100w heat bulb, that’s a reptisun 10.0 UVB bulb in the middle (which is not close enough) and I had to add the third smaller light on the end because that side was 73 degrees during the day when we got home. When I added the third bulb, it brought that side up to 77, but the basking spot hit 105.7 before we had to cut it off for bedtime. I’ve kept the 100w bulb on for the night because the guy at the con said to turn off the heat lights at night and she’d be fine, but I know now that 68 degrees at night is too cold.

There’s a lot of information out there and a lot of misinformation out there and I think this is more of an SOS situation than muddling through info will allow. She hasn’t really eaten other than when we took her outside for a bit yesterday. We’ve been giving her grass/clover mixed with turnip greens and some moistened grassland pellets. We had a terra cotta plate in there for water, but it’s too big for her and I don’t want her to flip when we’re at work, so I’ll be filling some deli lids with water until we can get this sorted. She’s on a mixture of spaghum moss, cypress mulch and loose coco fiber. My boyfriend has misted the cool side once a day, but I’m sure that’s not enough with the open top.

I’ve found these enclosures online, would one of these be acceptable until we get this sorted?


FEBFC8DC-DC10-4DDE-ADEB-70FDEDD8EF62.jpeg

And I’ve been on forums before, I know people are going to hop on and tell us we’re awful and should have had the enclosure set up beforehand, Etc, let me just say that I know this. We’re trying to fix our mistake because now she’s here and I want her to survive. I appreciate the help ladies and gents.
 

Golden Greek Tortoise 567

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Joined
Dec 30, 2019
Messages
1,756
Location (City and/or State)
Colorado Springs,CO
Those red bulbs are not good for your tortoise. None of those are good enclosures. I would read this care sheet, it will explain everything...
 

Arilyna

New Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2020
Messages
7
Location (City and/or State)
Asheville, NC
Those red bulbs are not good for your tortoise. None of those are good enclosures. I would read this care sheet, it will explain everything...
Any links for how to build said enclosure? Pictures and dimensions are great, but I’ve never done something like that.
 

Golden Greek Tortoise 567

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2019
Messages
1,756
Location (City and/or State)
Colorado Springs,CO
Any links for how to build said enclosure? Pictures and dimensions are great, but I’ve never done something like that.
You can use a tank for a baby, I would go to at least 50 gallons, though it won’t last too long. Just make sure that you can cover the top with something, like aluminum foil. It won’t work as well as a closed chamber, but it will still work. Make sure that your humidity levels are high to prevent pyramiding.
 

Maggie3fan

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2018
Messages
8,046
Location (City and/or State)
PacificNorthWest
To make a long story short, on Saturday, my boyfriend got excited and bought a baby sulcata tortoise at the local Repticon. I don’t know the sex, but I’ve been calling it a her and the name is Agave. She is maybe two inches going vertically down the shell, not including head or tail length and she has her egg tooth.
View attachment 304355View attachment 304356
The guy who sold her to us did not give us good information: keep her on cedar chips, use a Rubbermaid tub to keep her warm, turn off the heat at night, etc. As you can see, we are not set up for this baby- it’s a forty gallon tank with a wire lid, ugh.
View attachment 304357Her basking spot has been 100ish with the 100w heat bulb, that’s a reptisun 10.0 UVB bulb in the middle (which is not close enough) and I had to add the third smaller light on the end because that side was 73 degrees during the day when we got home. When I added the third bulb, it brought that side up to 77, but the basking spot hit 105.7 before we had to cut it off for bedtime. I’ve kept the 100w bulb on for the night because the guy at the con said to turn off the heat lights at night and she’d be fine, but I know now that 68 degrees at night is too cold.

There’s a lot of information out there and a lot of misinformation out there and I think this is more of an SOS situation than muddling through info will allow. She hasn’t really eaten other than when we took her outside for a bit yesterday. We’ve been giving her grass/clover mixed with turnip greens and some moistened grassland pellets. We had a terra cotta plate in there for water, but it’s too big for her and I don’t want her to flip when we’re at work, so I’ll be filling some deli lids with water until we can get this sorted. She’s on a mixture of spaghum moss, cypress mulch and loose coco fiber. My boyfriend has misted the cool side once a day, but I’m sure that’s not enough with the open top.

I’ve found these enclosures online, would one of these be acceptable until we get this sorted?


View attachment 304360

And I’ve been on forums before, I know people are going to hop on and tell us we’re awful and should have had the enclosure set up beforehand, Etc, let me just say that I know this. We’re trying to fix our mistake because now she’s here and I want her to survive. I appreciate the help ladies and gents.
We don't care how awful YOU are, we care to help you help your tortoise. That's the bottom line here, help for the tort
 

Arilyna

New Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2020
Messages
7
Location (City and/or State)
Asheville, NC
Hey guys! Sorry to revive an old thread, but I’ve got an update on little Agave. We’ve changed a lot for her and are continuing to try and improve her tank. 6E41F18A-741C-4A5B-AFB6-B05DB11F57DD.jpegWe are still using the red light until we get a flood light. We took out the spaghum moss and found smaller terra cotta dishes for her, so she won’t flip herself over. The little dish on the right has cuttle bone pieces in it. We got rid of the bright white heat light and replaced it with a ceramic heat emitter. She is sitting at 86 ambient temp and her basking spot is sitting at 97.0 currently. The humidity according to the gauge is at 58-60% which is much better than it was, but we plan to cover the top with some tin foil to help with that. Once we cover the top, we will be adjusting the basking light and CHE so she doesn’t roast.

My boyfriend found this tank online that he is looking at: https://apcages.com/collections/terrestrial-cages/products/t25-72l-x-30w-x-18h-1
Do you guys have any experience/opinionAnimal Plastics?

Other than that, Agave has been VERY mobile with the increased heat and humidity. We’ve seen her eat a little, but not much. She gets a little sunshine when we can get home in time from work and is getting a warm bath almost everyday.
72678097-99EB-454D-A1D3-3EDC99692790.jpeg
Agave says thank you for any and all advice!
 

Golden Greek Tortoise 567

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2019
Messages
1,756
Location (City and/or State)
Colorado Springs,CO
I’ve used animal plastics, I really like them. The one that you plan on getting seems like a closed chamber. It will be much easier to keep the temps and humidity consistent. To keep the humidity up, pour like a gallon of water in the substrate, mist mist mist regularly.
 

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