Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 2" hatchling sulcata tortoise i purches 2 days ago. So far he is doing very very well other then the little trouble we had when he first got hom(see a few posts below) he is housed in an approx. 3 ft by 2 ft guinea pig cage on mainly life mate litter, one cup of desert blend sand mix, 2 cups soil, and half a cup of play sand. this muxture is workign very very well and he doesnt seem to be slip-sliding his way around at all. the lamps i have for him are about a foot and a half off the floor of the cage, one is a 100w basking lamp that keeps the hot side at a steady 98 degrees, there is a hide on this side for him. the other "cooler" side is about 85 degres and has a UVa/UVB bulb on it(they give off little to no heat) im wondering if this is nessesary(sp?)I have chameleons so i have quite a few laying around. im sure it cant hurt. So far i have offered the tort food every day since hes been here(2 days and counting) and hes taken tiny chomps of a couple of celery leaves,carrot shavings,broccoli leaves,and collard greens. I have some grass growing for him now,but it is not quite ready. i have rabbits,so i have an abundance of timothy hay,should i see if hell eat some? i heard babies usually dont go for it. i think i will try to mush it up and cut it into a mash and see if hell try some. I see alot of commercial tort diets,should i worry about using one of those? I read somehwere to use a good shell moisturizer(vitashell?) and i used it once after i brought the tort home because his shell needed cleaning,and then i applied some. is this harmful? bad? good? lets see what else do i need to ask...sexing,any telltale signs? bathing, i read to give the tort a bath twice a week so he can eliminate and drink then,sound ok? any other pointers or tips,id appreciate so so very much. thanks!

Don't apply any mess to his shell. Warm water and a soft
cat brush will clean anything. Wax just clogs the shell
and junk sticks to it. Toss it out.
Skip the celery and brocoli, concentrate on the collards,
and get turnip greens and mustard greens, also endive and
escarole lettuces. Also you could give green peppers, and
squash, yellow squash and zuchinni squash.
Don't worry about commercial food yet, I started mine on
Mazuri when he was nearing 2 years old. By the way, Teddy
is well over 50 pounds now. That's why I never used soaking
as an opportunity to have him eliminate. Many people do this
and have no problem with it, while torts are small it's
maybe not a problem, other than being gross. But imagine
a 50 pound tortoise or larger in an oversized bathtub of
water taking a dump that would put a horse to shame, and ask
yourself if this is what you can live with. Mine has the
ability to roam about the house and has never had an accident.
Ever. Other than now he's prone to knocking furniture over
which is a different kind of accident than I'm talking about.
Anyways, it's up to you, do whatever you want to.

Obviously a gerbil cage isn't going to be good long term
housing, I think it's too drafty. You ideally want to have
a bigger range of temps than that, more like 75 cool to 100 warm.
I never let mine sleep below 78 degrees at night which I maintained
with ceramic heating. Now at his size he sleeps at 70 lowest.

You sound like a kid to me ( from the comment on the drive that
the passenger wouldn't put the window up, if I was the driver
that person would find themselves on the side of the road looking
for another ride, so I'm assuming you were also just a passenger
and had no say in the matter i.e. a kid) If you're not, sorry
just seemed that way to me. If you are a kid, I hope you have
support on this adventure of having a sulcata, my 11 year old
son cannot even begin to lift my sulcata and he's only 4 yrs. old.
This is a potentially fast growing large animal that can get
expensive quickly and difficult if not impossible to keep for
most people unfortunantly. Taking care of a hatchling is a piece
of cake.
My Sulcata Tortoise Theodore (aka Teddy)

Here's a good type of waterbowl, it won't tip over it's a
plant saucer I get these at Wal-Mart. I've gone through
different sizes as he grew. I always had water available
when he was young.
Also, I told you in the other post where you asked about
sexing, that that was impossible until your tortoise is
about 12 inches long at least, and then maybe. For now,
forget it completely and just name him what you want.
Make sure you're providing calcium via cuttlebone
scrapings onto his food.

My tortoise Teddy

Well,im just an adult actually(i turned 18 a month ago).

So,i should just let him do his thing whenever he needs to rather then in a tub?thats fine with me im just worried how to go about giving him water. The cage he is in is really big(compared to his size atleast)and it is in a corner so 2 of the sides are blocked off so no air can get in. what do you suggest i keep him in then? the temps at night are 80 steady throughout the cage. those veggies and different lettuces(other then greens and reds and romain) can i find those at the regular market?thatd be convenient.Thanks for the help.

I am not new to herps and have been thinking a long long time about this tortoise and what will happen long term.befor ei even purchased him. I will be moving out in a year so by the time hes bigger ill have plenty of space for him.thanks for the advice,and keep it coming. I hope i dont sound too much like a "kid"

I was close, I figured about 16 - no offense, all those
greens are available at a grocery store, I learned about salad
types and lettuces I never heard of before I got my tort.
You'll get to be an expert and the cashier's looking at the stuff
and you can tell her, "that one's escarole" "that's endive"
and they think you're a health freak or something!
Sounds good that he's not got a draft, you gotta be careful
with them when they're small, after they're about 10 pounds
they're more hardy, so I hear. That could be in 2 years or
10 years, just depends, they tend to grow at different rates.
You can let him go in the water or not, mine tends to go
every morning after basking for a while, right under the lamps
where he's laying. Then he was good for the day and I could
let him run about supervised of course. Now thankfully he's
outside in his own building.
Did you come up with a name yet? Take care, niki

i just cant stick with a name! it takes me a little while. im waiting for my boyfriend to come home from california to name him. hes good at that,if it was up to me all my animals would be their species name,im boring like that. this morning i picked up some collared greens,raddichio and romaine at the store and he ate it right up. i also dusted it,and he pooped right there while he was eating. i guess he was excited. i soaked him this morning and saw him drink,so thats relieving. i have a cuttle bone in his home for him, just use the same kind i use for parrots? i had a mini one for parakeets,well see what happens. all looks really well so for,he looks promising.ill get this whole thing down real soon, but everyones got to start somwhere,right?thanks a bunch,everyone.

Niki,
when you say that you have not had an accident with your Sulcata what do you mean? Have you housebroken/litter trained him or do you just have him timed? We have a couple of Leapord hatchlings that I'd love to do the same with. What did you do or how did you start?