Soon to be Sulcata mom here!

[Tinytortmama]

Coir is too messy for sulcata. Get fine grade orchid bark. Sold as "Repti-bark" in pet channels.

I don't like those water bowls. Too slick. Get terra cotta saucers and sink them into the substrate for wood and water. Start with 6 inch saucers, and get bigger saucers as your tortoise grows.

No dual hoods. You want separate hoods so you can spread out your heat and light. Get the ceramic based hoods at Home Depot for about $13. Get rid of the clamps that come with them.

Reptile thermometers suck. Get other ones that record the highs and lows. Look for Accu-Rite or Therm-Pro brands. Like this:
View attachment 359448

For UV get the Arcadia Pro T5 Kit from Lightyourreptiles.com or from Kapidolofarms.com.

No heat mats for tortoises. Use overhead RHPs or CHEs set on a thermostat for that.

The LEDs look good for light.

The floods look good for heat.

The enclosure that you posted in the top left is the only one I would use, IF it is not made of wood. If it is wood, then its no good. Any wooden enclosure will rot in short order with all the necessary moisture and humidity. You need a closed chamber. All of the other ones are open on top. You need something made of expanded PVC material and it needs to be 24 inches tall inside to have room to hang your lights. If you want to save your self a lot of time, trouble and expense, just order a smart enclosure from @Markw84 It is everything you need and its already assembled and done. Its cheaper than buying everything separately and building it yourself, and it is the perfect tortoise life support system. You can easily add on the inexpensive "expansion pack" in a few months when your tortoise outgrows it.

Where are you getting the baby? Almost no one starts them correctly. You will be lucky if it survives the way most breeders do it. I think you should delay shipment until AFTER you have the enclosure all set up, running, tested and adjusted to perfection. You don't want to be making adjustments after thereby is in there, and it takes time to get everything perfect. There will be many unexpected delays between now and August 4th.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. I'm pretty versed in many animals, but this entire process has been extremely stressful, all due the reasons you have stated here that everyone has different ways to do things and so much conflicting advice. It is much the same in the small mammal rehab world.

The enclosure you mentioned is not wood, but a composite material, which I would still line the bottom I think and I considered removing the wire mesh at the top, and putting the entire thing in a greenhouse and stringing the lights above. I see this done with those greenhouse things and I assume the bulbs, as long as not touching any of the surround, would be safe and not a huge fire hazard.

I did reach out to Mark about pricing on an enclosure.

I purchased the baby from someone in Missouri who breeds about 6 kinds of tortoises. I do plan to have the enclosure set up, temp and humidity tested and ready to go before she comes home.

 

[Ray--Opo]

If I did end up using a wooden type tortoise table and putting the greenhouse over it, could I line the bottom with a shower liner or something that will prevent the wood from rotting?

Yes and remember this enclosure is really temporary. After 2 years you will be going bigger and a more permanent enclosure. So the wood enclosure should last a few years. If you put 2 or 3 coats of paint on the wood that should give you a little more life. I finally built Opo's outside enclosure completely out of expanded PVC board. I have no idea what it cost me because I didn't keep track. I know I am in the 500.00 range. But it should last for years if I recaulk the joints periodically. So once you get settled in with your new tort. I would start looking at options for a outdoor enclosure.

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: the mini greenhouse:

Maggie had a large (6' long) wooden tort table. She set the greenhouse (from Amazon, comes in different sizes) over the tort table, tucking the bottom edges under the tort table. She had been using this tort table for box turtles and the wood is not treated, but my advice to you is either try to find a Christmas Tree storage bin by Iris (5' long) or other large plastic tote (you can even Cut off opposing ends and put two together), or line a wooden tort table with something water proof.

 

[Tinytortmama]

Yes and remember this enclosure is really temporary. After 2 years you will be going bigger and a more permanent enclosure. So the wood enclosure should last a few years. If you put 2 or 3 coats of paint on the wood that should give you a little more life. I finally built Opo's outside enclosure completely out of expanded PVC board. I have no idea what it cost me because I didn't keep track. I know I am in the 500.00 range. But it should last for years if I recaulk the joints periodically. So once you get settled in with your new tort. I would start looking at options for an outdoor enclosure.

Thank you so much! May I see your outdoor enclosure?

 

[Tinytortmama]

RE: the mini greenhouse:

Maggie had a large (6' long) wooden tort table. She set the greenhouse (from Amazon, comes in different sizes) over the tort table, tucking the bottom edges under the tort table. She had been using this tort table for box turtles and the wood is not treated, but my advice to you is either try to find a Christmas Tree storage bin by Iris (5' long) or other large plastic tote (you can even Cut off opposing ends and put two together), or line a wooden tort table with something water proof.

Thank you! That’s great advice!

 

[Ray--Opo]

Thank you so much! May I see your outdoor enclosure?

I will take pictures tomorrow. My box is only 4'x 4', but that's all my sully needs being I live in central FL. The handful of days that it is to cold for Opo. He just stays in his box and sleeps. Since you live in N.C. you will need a bigger box outside. There are some great enclosures posted on this forum.

 

[Tinytortmama]

Here's something for you to think about before you spend the money on a pre-built enclosure:

The fellow in San Diego who I'm in partnership with on the tortoises has a keen eye for finding things on craigslist, and over time he has bought quite a few Vision brand enclosures. He loaned me three of them and I've since raised quite a few clutches of babies in them - leopards, desert tortoises, russians. But these were bred to sell, and only lived in the enclosures for, at the most, a year. Here's a Vision enclosure to give you an idea of what I'm talking about :

View attachment 359458View attachment 359459View attachment 359460

So about three years ago I hatched a clutch of three Manouria emys emys tortoises. One of them has no eyes and I decided to keep it. The clutch was in a Vision enclosure like shown above. When the two 'healthy' babies were sellable age they were removed from the enclosure and the eyeless baby, now about three years old, has stayed in the same enclosure.

Manouria don't grow as fast as sulcata, but they grow pretty fast. Here's the Vision enclosure with the three babies, then again a current picture to show how big the last one is at three years, and how destroyed the inside of the enclosure is:

View attachment 359463

In the last picture the enclosure isn't destroyed because the guy can't see, but rather because he's too big to live in that space. I working (in my mind) on how to set him up in a bigger enclosure without stressing him too much because he can't see. But your little sulcata won't last three years in something like my Vision enclosure.

Now my sister - @Maggie3fan - up in Oregon has a portable greenhouse over a very large open enclosure (for a redfooted tortoise) and the greenhouse is great at keeping in the humidity and heat, and it was quite a bit cheaper than the Vision enclosure.

What did she like the tortoise table with? I know the environment is humid, but is it super wet?

 

[Tinytortmama]

Hello and welcome. Read this before you do anything else. It will explain a lot:

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Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

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There is a sulcata care sheet and a heating/lighting breakdown at the bottom.

Tom,
Can you give me your thoughts on our setup so far?
I’m starting to monitor temps and humidity now. I still have to get timers.
We got the floodlight bulb and the daylight bulb as well as the Arcadia setup you recommended.
Do we need more repti bark?