Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all.
I picked up a nice Sulcata today from the West Palm Beach Alternative pet show (long ride from my house :yawns anyway. Right now he, or she (no idea how to tell) is in a Rubbermaid container. Roughly as long as a 20Gallon tank, but wider. It's only temp. He's about 10 inches in length. I'd like to transform one side of my room and give it to him. (by one side I mean what used to be the guest room side, I knocked out the wall a long time ago to join it with my room) I can staple-gun wire across where the wall used to be, and attatch it as well to the support posts. After that I'm not sure what to do. The floor is cement (tore up the carpet a while ago too, too hard to clean with so many birds) The room is maybe 15 to 20 square feet with a small closet. I'd like to only transform half the room at first, and expand the barrier as he grows up.
If anyone can give me some tips I'd be much appreciative. For substrate, can I use Kaytee Aspen? I use it for all my small mammals. Mostly what I need to know is how to set up a basking spot.. and what the recommended types of bulbs and wattages are.

This is how I kept mine inside until he just had to stay out
24/7/365 in his own building/cottage. Made of 2 ft. melamine
with a melamine floor and door so he could go in/out - I fed
him on newspaper outside on the linoleum floor and he could
wander a bit (till he flipped the piano bench that's when he
needed to have his own house). Lights are on a screen which
sits inside a track.
1. Don't use chicken wire or any type of wire, your tortoise will
hurt itself - they try to go through things they can see through.

2. You can't keep him where he will get drafts and get ill - that's
what will happen if you keep him on the floor.

3. You MUST have UV lighting - preferably in the form of a mercury
heat bulb (not a cheap reptile light in a pet shop - they must
have the UV to convert calcium into D3 or their shells will get
soft and they'll die.). In this old pic I was using a 160 flood
watt bulb (in the dome with the neck extension - it's a large
bulb), currently outside in his cottage he's got a 250 watt flood.

- I got mine from full spectru solutions within 3 days of ordering it.
you can use a different type or source but you really must have this.

Link is below for you.

Kaytee aspen is fine, that's what I use. For me it just got too
dusty and stinky to keep a large tortoise inside - plus the
logistics of carrying him outdoors to his pen became tricky if
almost dangerous as he got so heavy.

Full Spectrum Solutions

Here's what it looked like in a corner of the house.
8 ft. long by 6 ft. deep, 2 ft. high.

I've also listed my link and you can see more pics. of
my tortoise.

Theodore my Sulcata (aka Teddy)

these accomodations are for winter weather care when he could
not be outside - which is where they need to spend most of
their time in the spring/summer/fall. I provided mine a house
to go into all the time, but not until this year did he get a
suitable building that would provide heat and he could stay in
during the winter. I had always brought him inside to sleep
even in the summer until this year. They may survive if kept
indoors all of the time, but there's a big difference between
merely surviving and actually thriving in an outdoor facility that
provides opportunity to graze and bask in the real sunlight.

For winter heating - I've also used 150 watt garage light bulbs
to give the heat a boost that the single UV light alone will
not provide in a large area. Thats' what my other lights are
that aren't the UV bulb. You will need to experiment with wattage
and amount of domes you need to provide a suitable basking temperature
of air temperature about 100 degrees F in the area you are
using as a basking source and approx. 110-120 degrees basking temp
when a thermometer is layed at the height of his shell under the
lamps. Of course this will only work in an area the size you
are describing and I provided mine. That's because there must
be enough space to get to room temperature when desired and out
of the hot areas. Not something that can be done in most of
the little containers people keep theirs in.
Sulcata - Teddy

You have a fabulous set up!!!