Tortellini the terrible!

TortelliniGabe

New Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2018
Messages
3
Location (City and/or State)
Dewey, Arizona
Hello everyone,
My names Gabe, I live in Dewey, Arizona and just recently (maybe 5 weeks now) acquired a rescue sulcata tortoise from a family friend that did not have the time to dedicate to her. This is our first tortoise and she has quickly become the coolest member of our animal family. Her name is Tortellini The Terrible (haha, kidding its just tortellini) she measures aprox 17" front to back and we believe is 6 - 8 yrs old, due to the rescue situation we are not exactly sure of age. From what I understand before she came to live with our friend she was kept in a very small enclosure and fed a diet of dog food. Since she has come to live with us we have been trying to even out her diet, providing a mixture of timothy and Bermuda hay daily, (witch she doesn't seem to care for, so if anyone has any advise on how we could make that more appealing to her that'd be great) along with hay we provide a mixture of greens usually consisting of romaine, endive and dandelion greens (she loves those) and sometimes a little summer squash or zucchini. We also mix in some mazuri tortoise food since she doesn't seem excited about eating the hay. She has a large out door enclosure with soaking/water dish, burrow and hide and are currently working on expanding the size to include a grass area for grazing (if it ever grows in this Arizona sun) and a heated night box for when winter comes. She loves to roam the yard and check out the chickens and goats, she will also sometimes use the dog door and come hangout with us in the house. because its so hot right now and the rains haven't started yet she gets daily soaks for about 30min sometimes longer if she doesn't want to get out. The picture of her is after one of her soaks, she decided she was going to roam around the bed room a little bit. We'v done a lot of research and found there to be a lot of contradicting information out there so If anyone has any advice for keeping sulcata in Arizona, or just advice in general( things we can try/do better) we are here to learn. Thank you

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wellington

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Soak the hay to soften and then try smearing the soaked mazuri on it. You can actually soak the mazuri and hay together to even more so get that mazuri smell and taste on the hay.
Best not too let her roam the house. Too many things that can't harm them. A nice shade tree is better for her too cool off and even spraying some water under it will help cool it even more.
 

TortelliniGabe

New Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2018
Messages
3
Location (City and/or State)
Dewey, Arizona
Soak the hay to soften and then try smearing the soaked mazuri on it. You can actually soak the mazuri and hay together to even more so get that mazuri smell and taste on the hay.
Best not too let her roam the house. Too many things that can't harm them. A nice shade tree is better for her too cool off and even spraying some water under it will help cool it even more.
Thank you for the advice, never thought to soak the hay but makes sense. Not too much in the way of shade trees where we are except small groupings of pines that i have closed off to her since i read pine is toxic to them. Some smaller bushes though and she enjoys laying under our roses. Will be going to the local nursery this week to see what they have. Thanks agian
 

wellington

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10 Year Member!
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Sep 6, 2011
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Thank you for the advice, never thought to soak the hay but makes sense. Not too much in the way of shade trees where we are except small groupings of pines that i have closed off to her since i read pine is toxic to them. Some smaller bushes though and she enjoys laying under our roses. Will be going to the local nursery this week to see what they have. Thanks agian
Not sure what grows good there besides cactus lol but Rose of Sharon's, hibiscus, mulberry fruitless is better, all are edible too. If you can find tall enough ones she won't be able to reach the leaves and flowers too ruin the trees but you can still feed to her. Check here for safe plants, bushes and trees
https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/
 

TortelliniGabe

New Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2018
Messages
3
Location (City and/or State)
Dewey, Arizona
Not sure what grows good there besides cactus lol but Rose of Sharon's, hibiscus, mulberry fruitless is better, all are edible too. If you can find tall enough ones she won't be able to reach the leaves and flowers too ruin the trees but you can still feed to her. Check here for safe plants, bushes and trees
https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/
Thanks for the link! DIdnt know they could have rose of sharon, I have 5 potted trimmings growing nicely will have to add them to her enclosure once they are large enough
 
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