Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I am new to keeping tortoises, I bought two baby Sulcatas in August and now their little heads look all dry. They are still eating and gaining weight, I soak them in lukewarm water twice a week. I keep the basking spot at 120 degrees and the rest of the cage at 80 degrees. I was wonderin is this normal?

I was recommended Monster Tortoise Diet by a friend. Has anybody tried this diet? If it's any good how can I get my tortoises to eat it?

Thanks

Others may disagree, but I believe you are keeping them too hot. There should not be any place in their enclosure that is 120 degrees. EVER. That will dehydrate them in no time at all, even if you soak them regularly. The basking spot should be around 90 degrees or so, and there should be a temperature gradient where they can get to an area that is around 75 or so during the day. You don't say where they are, but I assume they are in the house. If so, you should let the temperature in their enclosure get down to room temperature at night, and then of course the lights should be set to come on in the morning to warm them up.

I Personally don't like using any of the prepared tortoise foods and my opinion is that these are bad for tortoises in the long run. A lot of experienced keepers agree with that. I prefer to feed them as many weeds and grasses as I can find for them, like dandelion, sow thistle, bermuda grass, etc. Flowers, like hibiscus are good too. Apple or pear or berries as a treat once a month or so (at the most) is fine. The weeds and grasses and flowers are the things they feed on naturally in the wild. Lacking the wild foods, I would feed them a variety of green leafy vegies and other vegies like squash. The internet has sites that will give you all kinds of ideas as to what to feed sulactas.

You didn't say how big the enclosure was or kind it is. You would need a very big cage to have that hot of a basking spot and still have a decent temperature gradient. You might want to consider turning your temps down.

I would steer away from anything that claimed to promote rapid growth in your tortoise, which is not what you want. Slow, steady growth will be the healthiest in the long run. Natural graze and plenty of exercise is what you should be aiming for.
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.2 Hermann's Tortoises
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

Thanks for you help, I thought their basking spot might be to high. I am keeping them in a 3ftx2ftx18in home made pen. I live in southern california if that makes any difference.

I got the temps I am using from the guy at the petshop. I have been doing more reading and I have already reset the basking temp to 90. Will that be ok?

Also after weighing my sulcatas I notices that one of them was almost 10 grams more that the other, so I think maybe one might be bullying the other. I am going to seperate them tomorrow.

I have alway heard that commercial diets were no good I just wanted to double check. I feed my tortoises fresh Kale, Collard greens, spinch, turnip greens, mustard greens. I have tons of prickly pear cactus growing in my backyard but i haven't tried feeding them any, will they eat it at their size (3 1/4in.)

Thanks Again

I'm not really experienced with sulcatas, so I'll let someone else help you with fine-tuning your temps--I just wanted to make sure your enclosure wasn't getting too hot. A smaller enclosure makes it hard to get a cooler area if your basking temps are very high. I would also suggest that you construct an outdoor pen of some sort that your sulcatas can use when the weather is warm enough. They'll eventually get too big to keep indoors, anyway. If you have something outdoors for them, they can graze for themselves, and sulcatas should have access to grass or hay. Prickly pear is great for them; if they have trouble eating it at this size, you can peel and dice it up.
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.2 Hermann's Tortoises
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

Well thanks for your help,

I do have an outdoor pen to use in the warmer months. I would have never gotten them if I couldn't have them outside. Their outdoor pin is 6x6x2 with a locking screen top. I can expand it as they grow till they can have free roam of the backyard.

I don't really have tried giving them hay but they won't eat it, I was told to give them timothy hay.

Also my premium life mecury vapor bulb went out this morning, it's the 2nd one in 5 months. anyone know of a better longer lasting bulb?

Thanks Again

I haven't gotten one to last more than 2 months, so you're doing better than me. I love the results, but those bulbs are a pain. I hope they're working on one that is less delicate. Make sure your bulbs aren't knocked around, hang straight, and stay in one fixture--that's what the companies keep telling me, anyway (not that I don't do that already).

Personally, I can't wait until it's warm enough for them to be outside most of the day, so I can go back to using a Reptisun for the summer.
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.2 Hermann's Tortoises
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

I agree that mercury vapor bulbs are delicate and expensive, but in my experince it's extremely hard to beat the results. I started using them with my chameleons. Thankfully I have some friends that own a pet shop so I can usually get a good deal.

Couple of thoughts on your diet and humidity as everyone else has mentioned the basking temp.

First, make sure you have a hiding place for your sulcatta's that has a humidity level of 60% or so. In the wild arid torts burrows and/or hide areas have a high humidity level. This serves two purposes for your little ones. It will help with any potential pyramiding and keep it kee skin, eyes, nasal passages moist.

Now for the diet, kale, spinach, and mustard greens should be fed only very rarely. All have "bad stuff- oxalic acid, amoung others" that is harmful to torts and particularly small, growing ones. Substitute dandelions, fresh grass (bermuda, buffalo, timothy), and various weeds. Cactus pads are excellent for torts and yours will eat it willingly. Burn off any spines and cut into small enough pieces (and dust with calcium powder as you are doing with all that you feed them- you are doing that, right?) You may also want to check out this web-site as it has plenty of excellent information.

www.sulcata-station.com

Good luck.

Thanks for the tips on diet, I will cut back on the spinich, kale, and mustard greens. I do dust their food with calicum, I have been keeping reptiles for 12 years now and I am well aware of the importance of supplementation in captive reptiles.

I do have a hide box in there cage but I have been using pellet bedding so I doubt that it is humid enough. I am thinking about changing bedding though, any suggestions?

Thanks

If you were keeping your tortoise at 80 to 120 F and not seeing any distress you were doing the proper thing. That range gives the Tortoise maximum choice in maintaining it's metabolism. There is a very good reason why you see many posts in the winter that begin 'help, my tortoise shell is going soft...'. I believe that depressed temperatures in the winter is a major player in this. The odds are that the substrate temperatures are even lower than you stated. You are going to get conflicting oppinions on this so I'd suggest you go with whatever gives you the results you are looking for. (an active and alert tortoise)
Everything else mentioned throughout this thred is a good starting point.
On the prepared diet there are a few diets that I'd recommend. I use Mazuri Tortoise Diet for my animals once or twice a week and then there is also Walkabout farms tortoise diet.
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Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

Well other than the dry skin on the head they don't seen to be having any problems. They are very active and alert. they eat like crazy I rarely have to throw out any unfinished food. I have checked their stool and it looks fine to me.

I read about soft shell, when i was doing my research. and because it is too cold for them to be outside i check their shells regularly.

I recently finished paying off my home, I want to pass my home and tortoise on to my kids and grandchildren (getting ahead of myself, don't even have kids yet). Anyways keeping all my pets happy and healthy is very important to me.

Thanks Again

Well, it sounds like you got it worked out nicely... why mess with it?
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Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

Well I was a little concerned about the dry heads, also i am going to seperate them this weekend(if not tonight)I weighed them a couple of days ago and one was 68 grams, and the other was 77 grams so I think one is bullying the other. I was thinking of using these tubs I found at Lowes:

http://www.lowes.com/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=19252-000001569-ST3608.

would it be okay to use these?

Also since the tubs are only 8 inches tall can I get away with using a couple of reptisun for the uva and uvb?

Thanks

nice find on the containers. The sides are steeper and taller than equal size cement mixing tubs. I'd still try with the mercury vapor lights.
Those are nice.
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Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

Cool, I wasn't sure if they would be ok.