Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It's been a fast year so far - it's already June and it's up to 114-115 degrees today!! AY YI YI

And I have to say that "50" has increased her burrow from 10feet to approx. 15ft. Very impressed with our girls excavating capabilites this year! We are thankful she picked up on this impressive skill as we know she can keep herself cool by staying down in the burrow during the hottest parts of the day. Oh and did I menton her burrow is right under a drip system--smart tortoise!! So that drip does help keep her burrow moist.

I'm hoping the younger one "Mocha" starts digging--

It'd be interesting to see mine dig burrows, but I hope that never happens. The only digging my big dude does is by the back of the house to cool off(throwing sand on his back) and thats only when I leave him outside the pen and he wants in his dog house. Looks like a happy, healthy sulcata. The only thing is the slight pyramiding, but thats with every captive-raised sulcata. The only way you'd see a perfect sulcata without pyramiding is if you went to South Africa, and see them in the wild.

You should have seen her pyramiding 3 years ago--Major improvement compared to when I first got her!

I threw her outside and said "Be a tortoise"....she's a lot of fun...and has a great personality. I'm actually very happy that she did dig a burrow, like I said it get so darn hot and I know they are much cooler 14 feet below the earth and especially over one of my tree drips!

I was at the San Diego Wild Animal Park this summer and saw a couple of them without pyramiding! Didn't get a chance to ask a keeper what they did though...wish I had

Busch Gardens Tampa has some really nice, smooth ones. A friend of mine who owns a pet store in Seminole, FL use to have a pair that I would swear were wild caught, they were that smooth. He doesn't have any history on them, they were just given to him. He just recently sold them for $600 each because he got tired of looking for food for them.

tired of looking for food??!! They eat grass for gosh sake!! I could understand having a hard time finding grass if you live in AZ, but how is grass to find in FL!

Yes I've seen a few captive breed and raised Sulcatas that are very smooth. It's not hard, just let them be torts!!
Her pyramiding has drastically improved over the past 3 year since I obtained her, and really I should say "She's growing into them more so it's less obvious"....
And we are in AZ! So when she's not grazing on my grass, she gets grass hay/timothy hay.

He had maybe an acre-big back yard. I went there a few times and there was practially no grass there, plus they pretty much destroyed the backyard. I would have killed to have his female, because she was about the same size as my big boy. Oh, someone jumped our fence the other night. I don't know if they were trying to steal the tortoises or break in or what. I have a fence all around my yard, but the frontyard and backyard are separated. I have 4 dogs in total: two chihuahuas that live inside and a pit bull in the front yard, and a boxer in the back yard. Well I woke up because all the dogs were barking. I went into the backyard to investigate. The boxer is the most easy going dog I've ever seen. He's about 90 pounds, but he is a big baby. Anyway, the boxer was attacking this guy. Whoever it was jumped the fence and took off through the neighbor's yard, and I called the cops, who scoped the area, but they didn't find anyone. I wonder if he'll go into the backyard again!

WOW! Your tort is so awesome. I can't wait for mine to get that big! :-P

Thanks link-tortus, sorry a little late on reply back! She's a lot of fun and they do grow quickly.

Many sulcatas raised here in south florida have perfect shells. Some indian star breeders swear that a humid hide is just as important to proper shell development as diet and sunlight. I let mine burrow, because the temp/humidity gradient in a burrow cannot be duplicated. Add a steady diet of grass and weeds and natural sunlight and you'll get a nice smooth shell. Mine was adopted from up north, so he has some pyramiding, but I have already seen improvement in just a few months. I wish I had taken a height measurement when I got him. His shell looks more domed than it used to.
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-Jake

0.1 juvie L.t. annulata
1.1 adult/subadult L.g. californiae
0.2 adult Pseudemys nelsoni
1.0 sub adult Geochelone sulcata
0.1 mexican double yellowheaded amazon parrot