Funny story...I have 2 large sulcata's that live outside most of the year. they are both around 16 inches and around 50 lbs. Neither has ever shown interest in burrowing untill this summer. One had dug about a 10 foot deep burrow unber my storage shed and spends most of her time there. Now that we are having cold nights here in Georgia with lows in the 40's I had to somehow coax her out. I went a week with trying different foods to get her to come out with no luck, so last Saturday i made the decision to go in! After some digging and me wedging myself in the whole I was able to slowly shimmy her out. It was quite a sight when my wife saw me covered in dirt, dust and ants holding my very stubborn sulcata! Take heed all of you young sulcata owners, you too will soon have such fun adventures when those little ones are relandscaping your yards!
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Went in after her!
Replies (4)
Great story!!!
I'm so glad my 2 years old burrow is only like 2 feet deep!! ha ha
Well for now anyway.
My 4 year old hasn't quite got the "burrowing" thing down just yet--I wish he would since he would be able to thermo regulate his body temps better than I can with dog igloos and misters during the summer.
Oh just you just wait. Only one of mine burrow and she didn't show any interest until literally one day I couldn't find her in their pen and went behind my storage shed (in the pen) and there was a perfectly dug out burrow. She did it rather quickly, in about a day. Weird thing is she spends a great deal of time in it, sometimes up to 3 weeks before coming out to feed. Just a pain when the temps dropped and I had to get her out. Just in time too, two days later and we are in the low 30's now.
The testimony of a truly dedicated sulcata keeper! LOL
You should've gotten your wife to take a picture of you getting the tortoise out of there. Priceless!!
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PHRatz
Yeah, I had to go after my seventy five pound male when he decided to dig under the tool shed one winter evening a few years ago. I went in head first and turned him around. This was a mistake, as when I placed my hands on his rear to pull him forward, he lunged forward and knocked my glasses off. I was so upset, I nearly returned the blow. After twenty minutes, I was able to get him from the hole. I was ofcourse covered in dirt down to my knees.
They can be real trouble makers at that size. I can only imagine how difficult he's going to be when he reaches one hundred and fifty pounds and I'm pressing into my early forties, or even worse when he's 175 and I'm in my seventies.
T.G.
