Sullies home improvement

[Evy]

Hi guys I did some changes inside the indoor enclosure for my sullies. Now, they have more space to walk and to explore a bit. My husband fixed a second floor when they can sleep at night or just exercise since they love to climb a lot.
Under the second floor is humid

Then we have the warm area under the lamps


Water and food are always available and then the second floor where is less hot and they can sleep there or under since there are more hiding places to pick from. Under the two ramps, under the second level as well as the top.





We live in San Diego and it's hot in the summer for example today inside of my house was about 79 degrees. Do I need to have a light that says for basking ? The double lamp has uv and the red light.
Comments and input are greatly appreciated.





My loves:
Husband
2 dogs Blue and Baxter
3 sulcatas Donatello, Penny, and Charlie.

---

By the way I would like to put some plants there but it's warm inside the enclosure so I am afraid that they would die. Any suggestion about it? Are fake decorations bad idea?
Also, I'm going to get some flat rocks for the warm or basking area.




My loves:
Husband
2 dogs Blue and Baxter
3 sulcatas Donatello, Penny, and Charlie.

 

[cemmons12]

Not to be a jerk or anything, but that tank wont last you very long. Sulcatas get big pretty fast and out grow small cages. I hope you have read through Tom's threads about raising Sulcata's. They are very important to read in my opinion.

 

[Dizisdalife]

Yes you still need a basking spot. You can use a regular spotlight in a ceramic fixture. I suggest that you get a temp gun to accurately measure the spot temp and adjust the height of the light accordingly. Since you have 3 tortoises they will compete for the basking spot. In fact, they will compete for the best of everything, basking, sleeping, food, water, exercise....Only one of them will get the best and the other two will get less.

I noticed that one of your tortoises is showing signs of pyramiding. Probably the humidity level is way too low. All those lights dry the air out in that small space so you are going to have to add moisture to balance out the effect that they have. Much has been written here on the Forum about humidity levels and how to achieve the correct ones.

San Diego is a great place to keep sulcatas. You shold be able to set up an outdoor pen for them to get natural sunshine and exercise. I would start out by taking them out for an hour each day and then increas the time as they get bigger. By the time they are 6 - 8 inches you should have them in an outdoor pen for most of the day. In your case, you will want to have 3 seperate pens.

 

[Evy]

Thank you guys for your comments. I do have an outside enclosure 8x8 foot and they live it. They spend a lot of time there when I'm home.
I'll work on the basking spot soon as we'll as the humidity level.


My loves:
Husband
2 dogs Blue and Baxter
3 sulcatas Donatello, Penny, and Charlie.

---

Yes you still need a basking spot. You can use a regular spotlight in a ceramic fixture. I suggest that you get a temp gun to accurately measure the spot temp and adjust the height of the light accordingly. Since you have 3 tortoises they will compete for the basking spot. In fact, they will compete for the best of everything, basking, sleeping, food, water, exercise....Only one of them will get the best and the other two will get less.

I noticed that one of your tortoises is showing signs of pyramiding. Probably the humidity level is way too low. All those lights dry the air out in that small space so you are going to have to add moisture to balance out the effect that they have. Much has been written here on the Forum about humidity levels and how to achieve the correct ones.

San Diego is a great place to keep sulcatas. You shold be able to set up an outdoor pen for them to get natural sunshine and exercise. I would start out by taking them out for an hour each day and then increas the time as they get bigger. By the time they are 6 - 8 inches you should have them in an outdoor pen for most of the day. In your case, you will want to have 3 seperate pens.

You mention about one of my sullies signs of pyramiding could you sort point me to the one. The one on the left, middle or the one by itself?
Thank you


My loves:
Husband
2 dogs Blue and Baxter
3 sulcatas Donatello, Penny, and Charlie.

 

[EllieN]

The one on the right has a little pyramiding, and you can't tell very well about the other two because of the resolution of the photos and the lighting.

 

[Wewt]

I love how you have a little ramp for them to climb on! I'm sure you've noticed how much they love climbing over stuff. Very cute baby enclosure!

 

[wellington]

Agree with cemmons12, even with the second level, that cage is way too small. Also, if the lights are going through glass or plastic, and one of the bulbs is for a uvb light, it's not going through, it doesn't go through glass or plastic. Also, do not use a coil bulb of any type, they cause eye problems. From what I can tell, they all look to have some pyramiding. Toms threads are below in my post. Please read them if you haven't. Also, be prepared to set each one of them in their own enclosure. Sullies preferred to live alone. At some point there maybe some bullying going on, if not already. At that point they will have to be separated. Bullying can be as minor as one tort walking away from food when another shows up.

 

[mainey34]

First of all, how old are your sulcatas? All 3 of them have pyramiding going on. Looks like you have tried your best to provide proper housing, but got some hiccups along the way.no big deal...the red light you provide. I wish they would stop making them. It just makes things look red, right? Some of their foods look red... also seems like there is already bullying going on. You will probably have to seperate them. Were they temp sexed? The other thing i would like to add is everyone always blames pyramiding on humidity, sure it has something to do with it. But there is a combination of things that play a role in pyramiding...exercise, hydration, humidity, natural sunlight, and a good diet. Ok, i notice your humidity is what? And what is your temp? And what are you feeding? You are keeping them outdoors, thats good. Do you soak? And how often?

 

[Evy]

First of all, how old are your sulcatas? All 3 of them have pyramiding going on. Looks like you have tried your best to provide proper housing, but got some hiccups along the way.no big deal...the red light you provide. I wish they would stop making them. It just makes things look red, right? Some of their foods look red... also seems like there is already bullying going on. You will probably have to seperate them. Were they temp sexed? The other thing i would like to add is everyone always blames pyramiding on humidity, sure it has something to do with it. But there is a combination of things that play a role in pyramiding...exercise, hydration, humidity, natural sunlight, and a good diet. Ok, i notice your humidity is what? And what is your temp? And what are you feeding? You are keeping them outdoors, thats good. Do you soak? And how often?

I got them 1 month ago from the pet store named Pet Kingdom". I didn't great info from them regarding the correct care to start with. They said they where 3 months old when I got them and they were better in groups that's why I got 3. But as I read I discovered that they are loners and also are possible aggressors. As well as the correct care of them, such as light, humidity, temperatures, the diet, and the basking spot. I started the outside enclosure 2 weeks ago to provide natural sun and the feeding of a mix diet little by little cause they only ate lettuce and nothing else even if I offered. The light temperature is 85 F, humidity don't yet since I'm waiting for my gun thermometer to arrive but for now I have it well moisturize. Regarding exercise the have a 8X8 outside enclosure and the love to walk around. I hope answer everything. Thank's for your input.

 

[mainey34]

Just a couple you missed they are important...you should be soaking them daily. If you can, 2x's daily. As far as your temps go your all around temp should be 85, your warm temp should be 90-95, and basking should be 105-110. This is what we measure a temp gun with. I dont know that they have a humidity gun. They have gages you can place in your tank for that. Your humidity should be 80% and above. Have you got a good diet plan? Did you check out tortoiselibrary.com ?

 

[pfara]

Ooh.. I'm surprised no one noticed that the ramps have no sides/guard rails. That could be a huge flipping hazard.

 

[Evy]

They get soak daily but I should do twice a day as well. They are okay with the ramps. I assisted them and show them how to use them. They got pretty good at it. Thanks for the concern. I still monitor them.



My loves:
Husband
2 dogs Blue and Baxter
3 sulcatas Donatello, Penny, and Charlie.

---

Mainey34, I confuse about where to put the basking spot. The light itself makes it 84-87 all around then under the light is a 95-98. Where should I put the other one? And does that going to affect my all around temperature ?

I mentioned before that I'm giving them a combination of greens and adding more and mixing it too.


My loves:
Husband
2 dogs Blue and Baxter
3 sulcatas Donatello, Penny, and Charlie.

 

[mainey34]

Sorry to confuse you. You should have a basking spot on the other end of the enclosure.
Sorry, you did mention about the greens..

 

[Evy]

[SMILING FACE WITH OPEN MOUTH]Thank you for all your input.


My loves:
Husband
2 dogs Blue and Baxter
3 sulcatas Donatello, Penny, and Charlie.