Reptile & Amphibian Forums

First is do you house your males and females seperately or together? If together is there a breeding season or will the males bother the female often?
Second is how often do you feed veggies to your adults? Mine are housed inside right now on good grass hay. Your input is greatly appreciated.

I've never owned any female sulcatas (believe me, I've tried, but all I seem capable of raising is males; I purchased one sulcata, my first, twelve years ago; I then purchased a group of five seven years ago; all of them turned out to be male), but I keep my males together on two acres of land in South Texas. Fighting is generally limited, especially when they are well fed, though occasional separation is necessary. I would assume that some degree of separation between the sexes is necessary, as a constantly gravid female is not a healthy female, nor will her hatchlings be healthy.

As for the question of feeding, I generally offer food two days on, two days off. However, every other day also works according to several of my friends. Keep in mind that these tortoises come from an arid landscape, where food is often scarce as rain falls an average of six to eight inches per year. Sudan and Mauritania have regularly been in the news as having fickle precipitation, and some areas do not receive rain for years at a time. Now, this does not mean that you should starve your animals (I feel that refusing food for over one week is unacceptable); however, it does mean that with proper care, it is very unlikely that a sulcata will starve. More important than frequency is dietary constituents. Make sure your giants have plenty of grass and alfalfa hay during the winter months and plenty of natural graze during the summer, spring, and fall. Also remember that these animals eat a great deal. I've seen my males take down six heads of romain lettuce and ten pounds of zuchini in a single sitting, then resume browsing on winter grass, bermuda, and dandelion afterwards.

T.G.

Thanks for the info. The two sulcatas I'm dealing with, I am currently keeping seperate. The female has had 7 months of health issues so she doesn't need harassment of any kind. She is makeing good progress and is actually doing darn well considering what she's been through. She needs exercise for her back legs now and the male is in the larger area so I was wondering if she could be in there. Sounds like a bad idea.
As for feeding I guess I'm doing it about right. The male does eat alot and neither have been well cared for until recently. I let them have all the grass hay they want and feed veggies about every two or three days. I have seen the girl eatting her hay now too. I appreciate your help as I was sorta dumped these tortoises and I have a two year old but that's alot different than two 50 plus pounders!! I guess I'm not doing too bad. Thanks again.