Hi, I am interested in owning a sulcata. I live in Indiana where it can get really hot and humid in the summer and very cold in the winter. I wondered what your advice would be for housing a sulcata? I share a house with my parents and they would not want a huge tortoise roaming in the house, nor would they want him to take over the lawn. I wondered if I could construct some kind of outdoor pen that I could fill with substrate to where it wouldn't burrow into the lawn? What kind of size of an enclosure would I need to prepare for a full grown tortoise? And since it gets very cold, I may be able to make space for him in the basement/crawspace as well, although sometimes mice and spiders can creep into there. Do you have any ideas how I might be able to make this work? Thanks!
Questions about Sulcata housing, live in Indiana
- Thread starter Kyster
- Start date
It sounds like you should consider a smaller tortoise. Sulcata will get over a hundred pounds. For winter he needs a bedroom size enclosure, kept at 80F.
I suggest that you settle for another kind of tortoise. Sulcatas can be very, very destructive especially if they don't have room to roam. It sounds like if you get a sulcata and it caused some trouble with the lawn, or even a neighbors lawn, your parents may force you to give him up. It's not fair to the animal to put him in a cold basement with spiders and mice. This species need space! They also need to be kept in a warm environment during the winter months. Is there another species, a smaller one, that you can consider?
Yeah that makes sense, I could consider another species, do you any recommendations for a smaller tortoise, that I could split between an outdoor enclosure and a pen that I could keep indoors as well? Maybe a Russian, Greek, Hermanns or another kind of tortoise?
I agree, you probably shouldn't get a sulcata. Mine dug under the fence into our neighbors once. Then he dug underneath our house and we had to hire a contractor to fill it in. He is a bulldozer and drags the lawn furniture across the yard. He has broken sprinklers. But I wouldn't consider penning him into a smaller space. He deserves the best life I can give him and that includes space to roam.
I agree, best to get a smaller tort now and when you are living in your own home and can afford to heat a large shed or barn then get your sulcata. They can do fine in Indiana in the winter, any tort can as long as you have the means and room
omg! Charlie would do this! A few times he has gotten wedged under something and I thought we were going to have to cut it apart to get him out!
