Sulcata well-started baby vendors

LinzerTorte

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Any recommendations? We had a bad experience with my turtle store dot com (we just lost our beautiful baby Marginated because, in the opinion of two separate exotic vets, she was sold to us prematurely ?).
We’ve decided to switch to sulcatas and would love input. Have looked around for adoptions, but can’t find any available torts. Thanks in advance!
 

Yvonne G

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Before you actually buy/adopt a sulcata please read the threads in our Sulcata section. Keeping a large tortoise in Washington is going to be costly and time consuming. Sulcatas don't understand cold weather, as the part of the world they come from doesn't get cold. So instead of going into their shelter when the start feeling uncomfortable, the shelter under a bush or tall grass and dig down into the earth looking for a more comfortable spot. A sulcata in Washington isn't a "put-it-out-in-the-backyard-and-forget-it type of tortoise.
 

Sarah2020

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Sulcata need space, are very strong and destructive in the wrong area . As mentioned concider the temperature and habitat you can provide. There are breeders on the forum providing well bred tortoise.
 

wellington

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How old was s/he?
Most "exotic" vets know nothing or very little about tortoises. Most hatchlings are sold ounce the yolk sac is gone and closed which isnt at a very old age. Some are shipped not even hatched yet. Approximately a month old maybe a little less.
It's more likely the place you got it from or the breeder has no clue how to properly hatch and then care for the tort the correct newer way and is stuck in the years gone by and still does it the old way.
That said, take the suggestions above and do the research first.
An aquarium only last a very short time for any tortoise. Then they all need much bigger indoor and outdoor space.
 

wellington

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Also majority of hatching hasnt started yet. Around March/April more hatching will he happening. So keep an eye on the for sale thread here.
 

Maggie3fan

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LinzerTorte, I live in Corvallis Oregon. I moved here from the Central Valley in Calif, with 4 Sulcata, I forget how many box turtles and water turtles. I knew it rained here, but I just didn't have a clue. Please read this, written by an expert in the Sulcata species. BUT...he lives in Calf, not the PNW, and I really feel as intelligent and all knowing that he is, living in the PNW just doesn't happen it's experienced


I moved here in May, so clueless, I took the gardeners shack and made it tortoise safe, insulated, heated, correct lighting and basking heat. So I moved in the biggest tort, and the lights failed, it flooded, CHE evidently fell to the plywood floor and was burning when I went out to check on things. Now...not all that stuff happened in the first year. But it DID happen until I had worked thru and fixed all the mistakes. I had to pay someone almost every time. Now my pens are built, my tort shed is dependable, and I have figured out how to feed them here. All my Sulcata have changed, I have one and I have experienced how destructive a big tortoise can be. I have experienced how to keep these beasts in ice snow and rain. Freakin rain, and every Sulcata I have had here goes out in the rain and given a chance every one will play in the sprinkler, and swim.
Anyway, it took 6 or 7 years to be comfortable with how it all is. The reason I just said all this is simple...Sulcata keepers in California make sure their big tortoises have shade water and food. In the PNW, you make sure everyone is locked in every night. In my place I must check out my Sulcata for scat from raccoons, possums and coyotes. Anyhow, I just caution you, Sulcata keeping in the PNW can be challenging, but when it works, it works
100_3487.JPG
 

zovick

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Any recommendations? We had a bad experience with my turtle store dot com (we just lost our beautiful baby Marginated because, in the opinion of two separate exotic vets, she was sold to us prematurely ?).
We’ve decided to switch to sulcatas and would love input. Have looked around for adoptions, but can’t find any available torts. Thanks in advance!
I owned the first four breeding adult sulcata tortoises in the US back in the 1970's, so I am well-qualified to make this statement to you:

If you are successful at finding and raising a baby sulcata, in just a few years you will have a tortoise which has become a 100 to 250 pound behemoth which will require loads of room and lots of food. Additionally, the males frequently become rather nasty and territorial, ramming you at every opportunity (and they can draw blood when doing so). You would be far better off considering a Hermann's Tortoise, a Russian Tortoise, or even another Marginated Tortoise, all of which will not get much over 8-12 inches in size if that large and not eat you out of house and home during the winters when they need to be kept inside. Note that sulcatas do NOT hibernate, so need to be kept warm and fed all through the winter.
 

zovick

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You might also consider a Box Turtle which should do quite well in your area.
 

Yvonne G

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I owned the first four breeding adult sulcata tortoises in the US back in the 1970's, so I am well-qualified to make this statement to you:

Did you know Barbara Jameson and Tinkerbell?
 

Maggie3fan

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LOL...I forgot we used the burned wood to make a better doggie door...here, and Mary Knobbins the Sulcata on that side of the shed, is chewing on that burned hole, and it's getting bigger, and she is also chewing on the plastic used to cover that hole...pest
100_3769.JPG
 

zovick

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Did you know Barbara Jameson and Tinkerbell?
The name is vaguely familiar, but I cannot say for sure. I do recall going to the IT&TS Annual Show at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena in 1972 and there was a very large sulcata on display in a playpen. The tortoise was so large it could just about turn around in the playpen. I never did see the owner, however.
 

LinzerTorte

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Bothell, WA
Before you actually buy/adopt a sulcata please read the threads in our Sulcata section. Keeping a large tortoise in Washington is going to be costly and time consuming. Sulcatas don't understand cold weather, as the part of the world they come from doesn't get cold. So instead of going into their shelter when the start feeling uncomfortable, the shelter under a bush or tall grass and dig down into the earth looking for a more comfortable spot. A sulcata in Washington isn't a "put-it-out-in-the-backyard-and-forget-it type of tortoise.
Thank you for this!!!
 
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