Reptile & Amphibian Forums

a 10 gallon tank and a 40 gallon tank?

If you're getting a hatchling sulcata then I'd say a 10 gallon is good for a month or two .. maybe. If I recall when mine was that small he was super active and a 10 gallon just wouldn't be enough room to be happy. My sulcata is now about 10 inches long (shell length) and would've broken the glass of a 40 gallon long ago with his digging and other antics. (How do I know, because I've had similar sized red eared sliders break glass enclosures and my sulcata is WAY stronger)

Don't take this the wrong way, but since you are asking this question it is most likely that a sulcata is a poor choice for a pet. As you know they are very large animals. Their behaviors are even larger. Large meals, large dumps, large burrows, large amounts of distruction, flying substrate ect ect. If you're not living on an acreage with adequate grazing area I'd seriously recommend another animal. There are many other great desert tortoises; I keep russians as well and enjoy them immensely.

As for what I DID keep my sulcatta in since hatchling, I used one of those large rubbermaid containers from Walmart (~2-3'x1') until approx. 2 years of age, and then moved to a custum made "turtle table" which is about 6' by 4'. I imagine this will work for another year or so and then it's a custom designed room with access to outside grazing in the summer. After that, it'll be a bigger room with grazing and so on...