sulcata habitat question

[brittbritt101]

Hi,

I bought 2 sulcata last may they are almost a 1yr old. One if about 5 1/2 inches and the other is about 3 1/2 inches. I am have been debating if I want to keep them. And this is why. Right now I have built them a 2'x5' box table on wheels that they live in and I roll it outside for natural sunlight when weather permits it. I have a feeling that probably in the next 1 to a year and 1/2 I'll be moving them outside due to their size. I live in south Louisiana just north of new orleans and we have pretty decent weather most of the time. But I am worried about the winters. Even though we don't have very cold winters we do have some nights where is will dip into the low 20's. I know I have read that when you build their outdoor encloser to provide them with a shelter so I was thinking like a medium to large size shed but how do you keep the shed warm during the cold winter nights? I am just looking for some advice. I really really really want to keep them but I am so worried about the winters and being able to keep them warm. I am a 1st time tortoise owner so any advice would be great.

 

[aktech23]

I live in phoenix and it can get below freezing sometimes.

my sulcata has a ceramic heat lamp and a kane electric mat for when its really cold.
usually the ceramic bulb is fine.
he'll still come out every day to eat and bask. if it's chilly he'll go in and warm up, then come back out.
the house he's in now is 2'x4'x2' and the tort is 10" SCL

if he's out and about when it's chilly his shell feels warm

the only time he doesn't wander home is now when it's 70+at dusk, but 50 at night.

 

[galvinkaos]

There have been some really great threads posted about how to make a outdoor house out of deck boxes and maggie has posted pics of Bob's shed interior. You can make an economical warm house that they can sleep in at night. Check out the enclosures threads.

Dawna

 

[aktech23]

Bob's got a nice pad!

 

[Laura]

This is one of the main reasons people get rid of them. Denile at the beggining of how fast they will grow or were lied to at how big they get and what their needs are.. OR they were never told and are learning the hard way. At least you are educating yourself.
I have heard from some people that thier sulcata bulldozes thru the snow and then goes back to a heated dog house. So it can be done. Heating bill will be higher.. and you might have to invest in a generator for a black out.. There are many ways to do it. Ideally.. A stall or some sort of indoor area, like a large shed.. with a very warm smaller area inside, ( dog house inside the shed) then a basking area out of the dog house and access to the outside thru a door. However most of us dont have that set up! One set of mine does.. the others.. we are working on making better. And having a covered area outside the shed area is nice too. Shade in Summer and protection from the rain but they can still wander out for air and go back inside when it cools.
Some people have done the Rubbermaid shed thing while others use just a dog house with a heat pad. I have pictures posted on here somewhere.. I think its under enclosures. Pasture pics. or something...

 

[dcoolguy68]

I'm really excited to find out how big my sulcata is going to be, I hope he/she doesn't get HUGE like bigger than normal, but I would like him/her to be BIG.

 

[dcoolguy68]

I've seen some pretty nice enclosures on this website and I was wondering where people got those rocks and flat rocks, and other decorations. My turtles home is so plain. Any ideas? Thanks, so far his home is a box of wonton soups lol.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Well, I sure hope you have the room for him to get big. I have had Bob since he was about 8 pounds. He was 14 pounds 3 years ago when I moved here to Oregon. I divided the back yard into 3 sections. One for active grazing, one is resting and growing and the third was for my other grazing tortoises. Bob was all set up in a nice shed attached onto my carport. The first winter the shed was big enough and the yard was good enough. Last summer I had to spend $800 to insulate another shed that is on the back of my property. And I had to rehome my other grazing torts because Bob takes over all. I feel lucky the shed was there cuz I couldn't have afforded both buying the shed and insulating it. So now it's just 3 years later and Bob has gone from 14 pounds to 73 last Christmas. The yard is divided in half and that's not big enough. Bob has the whole shed to himself and every afternoon I can hear him ramming the walls, he's bored and wants out. I can already tell you that the yard is not big enough for him to graze and live on that only. I am going to have to supplement his feeding. You cannot imagine the problems caused simply from his size. He needs more exercise than I imagined. He is always hungry, and is not satisfied to eat just hay. His ramming the doggie door has bent it so it doesn't fit correctly anymore and it's new! I am having to figure out how to put up a permanent fence for his pen as he has figured out how to knock off the top cinderblock that is his wall. That's cinderblock stacked 3 high with stakes pounded inside to hold them and Bob uses his weight to knock the top one off. It's always something with him. He has bitten me and drawn blood not because he's mean but because he thinks I'm the food goddess and he's just biting to get food. Their brains are not developed they're prehistoric and to him I'm food or I have food. That's my fault I guess because I hand fed him and I shouldn't have, but I didn't know that then. I have surprised him awake from a nap and that startled him and made him ram me, he's almost knocked me to the ground by ramming me and it's only going to get worse with him getting bigger. He's a powerful animal now. So I've been bruised and had my legs hurt by him. Again, not because he's mean, but because they don't reason or think the way we do. Having a large powerful animal that doesn't think or reason is not nearly the fun you think it's going to be. Didn't I just read what Yvonne wrote about Dudley constantly breaking thru her fences somewhere here? Believe me, it really isn't the fun you think it's going to be. If you don't have a BIG yard and a BIG shed don't have a BIG tortoise...I love Bob but I'm beginning to wish he lived somewhere else...
Oh...he's only 14 years old and is just a few pounds short of 100...

I just wanted to add that if you are prepared for a big tortoise from the beginning and have the money and the room for one that you'd be better off then I have been. If I had more room and someone to help with fencing and carpentry it would have been easier I think. I'm learning as I go....I should have been more prepared...

 

[galvinkaos]

I've seen some pretty nice enclosures on this website and I was wondering where people got those rocks and flat rocks, and other decorations. My turtles home is so plain. Any ideas? Thanks, so far his home is a box of wonton soups lol.

Are you near a river bed or natural area or river? some of my best rocks in my yard are from the colorado river or the mohave desert, including some lava rock my son picked up for extra credit when they were studying volcanoes. I love to collect "cool" looking rocks and bring them home. Kinda annoys my husband when I fill the floor of the boat with rocks though.

Dawna

 

[aktech23]

hay maggie. how fast does your grass grow?
I already have issues with my grass growing too fast, it gets 5+ inches in a week every week. i have to mow all the time, i'm currently drying the grass i mow for substrate.
the grass in my yard is on the same sprinkler line as the drip system for my garden so i haven't gone into the sprinklers to try to get the grass to grow slower. i can make it grow faster.
I have two grass areas for the tort. one is 5 x12 the other 20x20. plus two patio areas for wandering. along with rock areas around the perimeter of my yard. i have 1/6 of an acre.

i'm in arizona so i don't need quite the elaborate enclosure as you do in Or and the plan is to integrate tortimers house with a nice potting table for my wife. it will be 3 1/2' wide by 10' long and waist high.

how high of wall can bob climb over? I have raised beds for all the landscaping in the backyard.. i'm going to raise these walls higher to keep him out of our edibles. he is already sneaking into places he shouldn't i think these guys have good noses.

a sully would not have been my first choice for a tort, he found me. i feel like i rescued the guy. in fact the rescue center here, although they said they would take him, brushed me off pretty hard when no owner surfaced, my wife and I are attached to it now. if need be in the future my in-laws have 6 acres and tortimer can go there.

i think i can give it a proper home, and am anticipating a hand full, but it might be more then we bargain for.

all the fencing and carpentry i can do myself

 

[Maggie Cummings]

hay maggie. how fast does your grass grow?
I already have issues with my grass growing too fast, it gets 5+ inches in a week every week. i have to mow all the time, i'm currently drying the grass i mow for substrate.
the grass in my yard is on the same sprinkler line as the drip system for my garden so i haven't gone into the sprinklers to try to get the grass to grow slower. i can make it grow faster.
I have two grass areas for the tort. one is 5 x12 the other 20x20. plus two patio areas for wandering. along with rock areas around the perimeter of my yard. i have 1/6 of an acre.

i'm in arizona so i don't need quite the elaborate enclosure as you do in Or and the plan is to integrate tortimers house with a nice potting table for my wife. it will be 3 1/2' wide by 10' long and waist high.

how high of wall can bob climb over? I have raised beds for all the landscaping in the backyard.. i'm going to raise these walls higher to keep him out of our edibles. he is already sneaking into places he shouldn't i think these guys have good noses.

a sully would not have been my first choice for a tort, he found me. i feel like i rescued the guy. in fact the rescue center here, although they said they would take him, brushed me off pretty hard when no owner surfaced, my wife and I are attached to it now. if need be in the future my in-laws have 6 acres and tortimer can go there.

i think i can give it a proper home, and am anticipating a hand full, but it might be more then we bargain for.

all the fencing and carpentry i can do myself

It doesn't grow fast enough. Right now the snow has melted and his pen is mud and old grass. I've thrown some cheap grass seed around, but the birds were pretty hungry so I may not have any grass. Bob's pen is cinder block stacked 3 high with wooden stakes pounded in. Bob gets on his back legs and balances on his butt and pushes and pushes until he gets the top block loose then pushes it off and climbs out over the 2 remaining blocks. He is so smart and he knows exactly what he's doing...He just so causes trouble!

 

[galvinkaos]

i'm in arizona so i don't need quite the elaborate enclosure as you do in

What part of AZ? We have a couple places in Bullhead City. I only grow crabcrass, but not intentionally.

Dawna

 

[aktech23]

I'm in tempe. i have no idea how we end up with so much grass. it gets too much water, but now i see it will be useful.
it grows like this 52 weeks a year.
tortimer will not be able to knock his walls down because there will be ground on the back side. so I wonder how high he will be able to climb.

maggie, maybe you can get pieces of rebar, and pound them through the holes into the ground, then fill the holes in the blocks in with with dirt or rocks.
that or make stakes out of 2x4's that you can pound into the ground.

ideally you would have to cement them together.

 

[dcoolguy68]

I've seen some pretty nice enclosures on this website and I was wondering where people got those rocks and flat rocks, and other decorations. My turtles home is so plain. Any ideas? Thanks, so far his home is a box of wonton soups lol.

Are you near a river bed or natural area or river? some of my best rocks in my yard are from the colorado river or the mohave desert, including some lava rock my son picked up for extra credit when they were studying volcanoes. I love to collect "cool" looking rocks and bring them home. Kinda annoys my husband when I fill the floor of the boat with rocks though.

Dawna

I live in Los Angeles the closest body of water to me is the Santa Monica beach or Venice beach. The L.A river isn't so great lol.

 

[galvinkaos]

I live in Los Angeles the closest body of water to me is the Santa Monica beach or Venice beach. The L.A river isn't so great lol.

LOL, I know that first hand. I live in Temple City. There is a couple of places out this way. Fish canyon or Eaton canyon, but I think they frown on you rehoming their rocks. We go to AZ quite a bit and I collect them there.

Dawna

 

[carrilac]

It's always something with him. He has bitten me and drawn blood not because he's mean but because he thinks I'm the food goddess and he's just biting to get food. Their brains are not developed they're prehistoric and to him I'm food or I have food. I have surprised him awake from a nap and that startled him and made him ram me, he's almost knocked me to the ground by ramming me and it's only going to get worse with him getting bigger. He's a powerful animal now. So I've been bruised and had my legs hurt by him. Believe me, it really isn't the fun you think it's going to be.

Maggie, I really want to thank you for your post! I highlighted the parts of your post that really hit home for me... Occasionally I consider getting a sulcata. I'm in San Diego and everyone is always telling that we have the perfect climate for one. No lie, I've had 3 people try to talk me into them when I've told them about my love of tortoises. You've brought up issues that I would have never been able to imagine. As a mother of 2 young children age 3 & 4 that love to play in their small back yard, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your candor.
Thank you

 

[brittbritt101]

I live on 12 acres of land and I was going to fence off about 1/2 acre at first until they get much bigger and extend it if I need to. I knew what I was getting into when I purchased them. I researched them a lot. I just wanted some opinions on what people did to keep them warm during cold nights since I have never owned any type of tortoise and since I don't know anyone local that has them either. I feel better now that I have gotten some ideas. I think next year we will start working on the outdoor pen little by little so when it is time for them to go outside I won't have to dish out so much money at one time. I have already planted several plots of white clover dandelions, and even 3 Spineless Prickly Pear Cactus plants and I live on a field so hay is not hard to come by. Thanks everyone for the ideas

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Well, you are certainly much more prepared then I was. Here's a couple of pictures to give you an idea how I keep Bob. He has to be inside for about 7 months due to rain and snow... here's the outside of his shed; then inside it's really well insulated and the ambient temp stays between 80 and 85 degrees. You can see the heater that does the job. It's sitting on top of his sleeping box. He has always slept in there. I believe that they like a smaller safe place to sleep in. Inside in one corner is an Osborn pig blanket that's on a rheostat. It's shaped like a triangle and fits nicely in there. Bob goes to bed on his own every night around 7. I used to have a black light hanging in there but he got too tall and was bumping it. I have a hanging UVB light in one corner of the shed, it's a 250 watt Trex bulb. The plant is just in there to protect it from freezing, it usually lives in my carport.
So I think that's about it. I use the cinder block to make his pen but I'm not sure that's the best way to go. I wish I could make something more permanent. My sister has her pens separated using wooden fences and I think that's the best way...I hope these pictures have helped you...