Sulcata hatchling temporary enclosure.

amazzen

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Joined
Aug 3, 2019
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3
Location (City and/or State)
Manchester,nj
My little Babe hatched near the end of June. She's really cute and active. She also sleeps a lot. Her enclosure is a plastic tub filled with clean dirt. I sent for tort seeds, which I'm growing in the enclosure for her food. I added parsley seeds to the mix. I mist it 3-4x a day. I plan to use the same set up in a larger enclosure. 40"x20". Is this ok? I'm posting pictures. DSC08099.JPG
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Maro2Bear

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Glenn Dale, Maryland, USA
Greetings

I would suggest a nice dark humid hide for your Sully to retreat to in your enclosure.

From @Tom ’s care sheet:

Humid Hide Boxes:
This offers the tortoise a more humid place to retreat to and sleep and can simulate some of the more damp micro-climates they might utilize in the wild. It is as simple as getting a $2 black dishwashing tub from Walmart, flipping it upside down and cutting out a small door hole. I keep the substrate under the tub more damp than the surrounding substrate and it works great. You can also use plastic shoe boxes. Some people like to put sphagnum moss in their hides or attach a sponge to the top. This is all fine, but I usually don't bother. This is a short paragraph, but this is a very important detail that should not be overlooked.
 

Tom

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Hello and welcome @amazzen

Some constructive criticism:
  • Both of those enclosures are too small. I recommend a minimum of 24x48" for tiny hatchlings, and if you get a well started baby and raise it right, they will outgrow it in a month or three.
  • You can't maintain the correct temperatures and humidity with an open topped enclosure. Low sided tubs like that are even worse. You need a closed chamber.
  • Those clamps always fail. Best case is broken glass and a live electrical socket in your tortoises enclosure. Worse case is your whole house burns down. Maybe your neighbor's too. Get better, heavy duty fixtures and hang them from over head.
  • I don't see any night heat in your enclosure. This tropical species needs warm temps 24/7.
  • I don't see any UV in your set up. Does the tortoise also have an outdoor enclosure for sunshine?
  • I don't see a water dish.
  • You need a humid hide, like what Mark was talking about.
All of this is explained better here:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/

Your questions and conversation are welcome.
 

amazzen

New Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2019
Messages
3
Location (City and/or State)
Manchester,nj
Thank you for your suggestions. The light in the temporary shelter is UV. I also have an outdoor shelter. I'm in the process of making a hinged lid for it with a hasp lock. It will have a layer of screening and a layer of chicken wire. The bottom of this enclosure is lined with chicken wire. Until the lid is complete I put old screens on it and hold them down with garden tools. My tort is in it only when I am home, so I can keep an eye on it. On nice days, it's outside from 2-6 hours a day. I give it a shallow bowl of water every day, but remove when it's finished soaking. This is to prevent drowning. The outside shelter is 40x88. I'll enclose pictures. DSC08109.JPG DSC08110.JPG DSC08111.JPG DSC08112.JPG DSC08113.JPG
 

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