Probably a Dumb Question

[byerssusan]

I mean seriously how long do we know in the wild do... let's say baby sulcatas really come out of their burrows? How much sun do they really get a day..when according to the info I got it says they can spend months inside their burrows. No sun..and they are perfectly healthy. I don't know it just makes me question alot

---

Well I have looked today till i am blue in the face..I did find some nice sites though

http://www.tortoise.org/dfriend_sulcata.pdf
http://www.matts-turtles.org/links.html
http://www.chelonian.org/ttn/PDF/TTN1.pdf
http://wbd.etibioinformatics.nl/bis/turtles.php?selected=beschrijving&menuentry=soorten&id=374


I believe this is an updated version of the village website
http://rolexawards.com/en/the-laureates/tomasdiagne-the-project.jsp

 

[byerssusan]

sorry just one more site I found interesting

http://www.turtlerescues.org/sulcata_tortoise.htm

 

[Floof]

Regarding the original subject, best I can figure, the main thing to keep in mind is that UVB from natural sunlight, as we all well know, is MUCH stronger and more potent than any bulb... When providing artificial UV in place of natural sunlight, it takes much more exposure time to the artificial bulb to equal exposure to natural sunlight. So, even though our tortoises may normally aestivate for much of the day in the wild, or only come out of burrows to feed, the intense strength of the sun imparts much more UVB during those short periods than our artificial bulbs do over a longer period of time.

BUT, that's just speculation and the logic I've gone with whenever I start to wonder the same thing. It's a really interesting question, hopefully a few of our more experienced members will chime in with their thoughts!!

 

[jaizei]

I have a question now. How do torts in the wild get calcium?

All of the areas that tortoises are native to tend to have extremely calcium rich soil. The water therefor has a higher level of dissolved calcium, and the plants as well absorb calcium and are more calcium rich than plants that grow in areas where the soil contains less calcium. Also, tortoises will eat mouthfuls of soil, small pebbles, insects, small lizards and mammals, and bones to supplement their need for calcium and other minerals.

I've often wondered about trying to raise the calcium content of soil in order to get the same result of calcium rich plants. Obviously it would have to be small scale rather than an entire field but do you have any thoughts on this, or it's plausibility?

 

[ascott]

I bet you could; where though would you gain the information to the quantity needed in relation to the soil type, soil depth, quality based on your irrigation and area covered in order to get result desired? you know? hmmmm?

 

[byerssusan]

Well thank you for those of you who have me their opinion on the matter..Though I must say I am a little dissappointed that more did not respond. I was really looking forward to those who know so much more than I on this subject. Oh well I'ma still researching what I can

 

[byerssusan]

Okay so I have decided that with what info I have already and what I have been witnessing myself.. I am going along with..20 minutes a day of natural sunshine... No uvb..no all day long outside any more. Heat of course at night..and a basking light.Along with the humidty. The reason being..I can tell a big difference in Phoenix's shell already in one week. It is beginning to look more shiny..and healthy.. shes growing like a weed too her weigh in is not till tomorrow but I was curious and she is at 118 grams.

The first pic of her is of last week ..I had been putting her in her outside enclosure for almost the whole day..She had shelter, water, shade..I gave her daily soaks because I did not want her to dehydrate..well her shell was starting to look extremely dry to me. Here she was then:

Now after I read a few things and done a little research that most of the time in the wild they spend in their burrows I cut her down too about 20 minutes a day outside in the sun.. Here she is today: I can tell a difference. I don't know if you can from the pics. But she is getting that shine back on her shell.

taking a nice soak

 

[ascott]

The shine coming back may be due to the lack of her having adequate time to muck about in the dirt...hence her dry dull looking shell....my CDTs are the dirtiest driest "looking" torts and they live outdoors all tortoise season...during that time if I spray them off they look clean and shiny ...well, until they do what burrowing tortoise do...muck about in the dirt...kick it up --dig pallets ---etc....

I personally feel that you will be doing a great disservice to your baby by reducing him to only 20 minutes per day of sunshine...IMHO that is...I would say that you should allow 2-3 hours of sunshine time per day, weather permitting that is....again, totally IMHO....

I believe that you may be discounting that they do expose themselves to uv rays on a daily basis...strictly based on the "lack" of formal reports on the internet....I bet that if you asked some of the long time caregivers of these awesome tortoise you will find that the more sun time the better...they are an animal that will grow to a large size...they have a large calcium intake need...and along with that intake they need the sun time to transfer that intake to an appropriate level in their body...again, please know that this is simply IMHO....

 

[byerssusan]

Ascott..Finally I am getting some type of feed back here. Okay so they are suppose to have that dry look? I am confused really..how are they suppose to have a dry look if everyone is saying keep misting, soaking, etc? I know by keeping their enclosure humid they soak in the moisture..naturally. I want her outside..that's why I made her out door enclosure for the natural sun. But I could see such a difference in her shell.(By keeping her outside all day long) She wanted to hide most of the time when she was out there. If babies in the wild mostly stay in their burrows..I am sure their shells are not so dry it looks like it would crack. And I posted this so that the more experieneced would give me some input on this matter but as you can see there have not been hardly any. I thank you for taking the time to give me your opinion on this.