Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey guys..ive never been on this forum before, so hello! lol...well i was searching through a local adoption center(Arrowhead Reptile Rescue)'s list of animals needed for adoption (rescue) looking for lizards...but i found a sulcatta and im very interested in this species...i have plenty of reptile background, mostly lizards, a few very small tortoises and water turtles...nothing compared to a sulcatta...i was wondering before i think about adopting this majestic species, if my future cage plans will be sufficientit is a medium sized tortoise, only like 20 inches i think, possibly more)

Indoor caging: 4 ft by 4 ft cage, made of wood, with plenty of grasses and vegetation available, 2 stories, (well kind of!) and a burrow

Outdoor caging: a 7 ft cage by 4 ft cage, complete with all the heating and burrows and vegatation needed...

i know the outdoor cage seems a bit small, but i was thinking that if i let the tortoise free roam a bit (with supervision of course) every day, would this be ok?

thanks, please tell me if this is ok and give any other comments and suggestions...
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~David - KDRKreatures
1.2 Bearded dragons (Ralph, Artemis, Cheech)
1.0 Veiled Chameleon (Chiquito)

KDRKreatures-Home Page
My Email

np
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~David - KDRKreatures
1.2 Bearded dragons (Ralph, Artemis, Cheech)
1.0 Veiled Chameleon (Chiquito)

KDRKreatures-Home Page
My Email

Well go to the link below for info on this species. I have heard it is the best site for sulcatas. Good luck
Sulcata station

Both enclosures you mentioned seem awfully small for a sulcata that size. He's going to eventually be twice that. If you imagine the tortoise in the indoor enclosure, he's only going to have room to move one body length in any direction, and only a little bit more in the outdoor enclosure. Will you really be able to dedicate a couple of hours each and every day for outdoor monitoring? I wouldn't deny anyone the pleasure of owning a sulcata, but I think you need to be a bit more prepared enclosure-wise before adopting. Click on the link to the old archived forum and look for posts from Niki. She owns Teddy who is about that size. She posts lots of photos of his indoor and outdoor pens. That's the size you should be aiming for. Good luck.

Hi, thanks for your nice words about Teddy. He's doing well, just
getting bigger and heavier! ugh! Think of taking a gallon of milk
and holding it with one arm, now add 5 more gallons to that, I have
nice muscles in my arms! lol! He's just been his normal self hanging
around outside. We saw our first Loggerhead Sea Turtle last week
in the wild this year, she was swimming around the pier for 15
minutes. Girl, I tell you I have a trillion turtle/sea turtle things
in my house! What's Virgil doing, bet he goes on a growth spurt
this summer! niki

Virgil IS growing like a weed it seems. Still no competition for the Tedward, but obviously larger. We've had a cold spell here the past couple of weeks and it's only been in the 60's so he hasn't been outside a great deal yet. His personal hibiscus produced its first flower of the season and he promptly chomped it down. I've also had an excellent dandelion harvest this spring. He's sporting lots of white lines!

I hadn't noticed that you posted after the forum moved, that's why I sent the original poster to the archives. Very nice of you to accomodate him in the new forum. Like I told him, I wouldn't deny anyone the pleasure of a sulcata. Being prepared just makes it easier and much more enjoyable.

6'X 8' with shredded newspaper as bedding, 2 X 150 watt garage lights,
1 X 160 watt Active UV light and door.
Temperature range basking 125 F. down to room temperature. This
will be hard to do for a large size (don't consider them a medium,
this is a destructive giant!) tort covering it's entire body at
basking temps will be impossible with only a few feet and still
have a cool/normal temp area available.
Maintaining burrows and grazing indoors will work for small torts,
maintaining your sanity is what you're looking for with a giant!
Cleanliness (thus the newspaper, shredded, free, and absorbant
for big messes!), feeding and indoor maintenance is your goal until
you can get them outside - as much as possible! If you live in
a poor climate for sulcatas consider this carefully, anybody can
tell you they have sulcatas in a cold area, but you'll also find
out they're very small. I can tell you how easy it would be to
keep a herd of rhinos in Alaska for example, but fail to mention
that they're the size of gerbils. So watch the advice you take.

Difficulty in keeping big sulcatas is the lifting required, I
assume you're an adult man. Plus you're looking at some bucks
to buy heads (not leaf pieces) of lettuces to supplement if
needed. You can also successfully use a zoo food by Purina called
Mazuri for Tortoises to supplement feed also, I use this for mine.

20' X 20' and just adequate with lots of roaming in the rest of
the yard. This area alone is not enough to feed himself on,
thus I supplement with additional grazing in the yard, and daily
he gets a head of some type of lettuce (variety during the week
endive,escarole, etc.) and a daily feeding of Mazuri in the house,
this is his routine, he also gets a small feeding of Mazuri just
prior to going to bed inside (he always sleeps inside regardless)
now. Water bowl is made available in the morning and after he
drinks (usually 5 days a week) I remove it.

my 10 yr. old son will some day aquire him permanently! Right
now he's a great pet for him - though he can't lift him anymore!
My husband helps me with caring for Teddy if I need it.
Compared to lizards, snakes and other pets, the Sulcata Tortoise
is like a member of the family (more than a dog even since we
know he'll be around much longer!) and a royal pain sometimes!
Good luck in your decision, remember it's up for adoption for
a reason, many are put up for adoption because they are difficult
to keep. With some more planning on your part, it should work
out, this is a great animal. niki

np

thanks to everyone else also...im gonna start building my enclosures...but niki, do you have some kinda of instructions on how you made your enclosures? like the materials needed etc..Those are quite impressive!!!!! THANKS so MUCH!
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~David - KDRKreatures
1.2 Bearded dragons (Ralph, Artemis, Cheech)
1.0 Veiled Chameleon (Chiquito)

KDRKreatures-Home Page
My Email

There's a great forum here also called caging and habitat (something
like that!) and I sometimes like to check that one too.
My indoor enclosure is made of white melamine complete with a
bottom also and waterproofed with aquarium sealant in all edges
and connections. Melamine is VERY heavy, but durable and generally
scratch resistant. Like countertop material, same stuff.

The outside house (wired for plugs and lights and has an outdoor drainage
system so it won't flood) is made of excess building material when
we built this house new, same shingles and paint! lol! It's just
made of plywood though (we tried the concrete mixture of hardi-plank
our house is made of on the back but it was difficult to cut).
The inside is lined with linoleum - spare pieces can be picked up
at any home improvement store. Caulk makes it waterprooof inside
and the shingles are overlapped - there are two sides to the top
that can be lifted and secured open for cleaning and to get that
rascal out of there! The outside pen is 7 panels of dog kennel
fencing at 6' X 10 ' approx. $60 each and lined inside with 12"
pressure treated wood screwed together, outside is lined with two
layers of brick - though he never digs - if they have a house
(elevate it so it won't fill with rain, mine's got a lot of
stones around it for a "ramp" effect plus keeps ants away) - they
don't tend to dig much. I have a large and small tarp that I use
if it gets very very hot. You might could find some old stuff on
how we did it on the caging forum archives.

My husband (a German perfectionist) made everything and I (also
German and hyper perfectionist)lol! simply watch, he's into
construction type business and I'm an all-trades inspector -
building, electrical etc... so I tend to just watch! lol!

wow!!! thats amazing...those cages are awesome!! do you tihnk you could like email me some info or anything...lol!! wow!!

dmlove660@yahoo.com
or just click on the link thing at the bottom...

THANKS SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!
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~David - KDRKreatures
1.2 Bearded dragons (Ralph, Artemis, Cheech)
1.0 Veiled Chameleon (Chiquito)

KDRKreatures-Home Page
My Email

Niki (who lives not too far from me) gave my wife and I Teddy's old cage when he outgrew it. It's 8'x2.5'x2.5' and heavy as heck, but very nice. It's now housing my wife's bearded dragons.

Melamine is sturdy and can be waterproofed, but DANG is it heavy (I helped Niki's husband carry in the new cage parts and it was insanely heavy, but also very nice and attractive for use in your house).

My dad, who built the houses my parents live in now from the ground up, designing every single detail, was very impressed with how this cage we have (teddy's baby cage) was built. He owns every tool in the world and can build anything you ask him to, so I was quite impressed. If Niki's husband remembers his plans for either of those cages, maybe they can be published.