Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been wanting a sulcatta for about a year now, and have been doing my reasearch. I finally got a baby this morning at a reptile show, and he is now roaming his temporary indoor enclusure. I have a 4x4 enclosed outdoor cage that I kept my eastern box turtles in, but he will be moved into it soon, since there arent any more box turtles in there. To day i ordered him some Tortoise Pasture Seed Mix, from sucatafood.com, and also got a pack of there immuno bost. mY questions are, he his about 60 days old right now, how long should I wait untill I move him outside. The cage is enclosed, so no predators can get to him, but insects (ants, earwigs, centipedes, etc) get into the cage, and live in the soil. I have the seed mix coming from sulcattafood.com, but what other types of platns should I add to his diet. Thanks in advance, and Ill post some pics of the little guy soon.

SCOOTER, DESTROYER OF FLOWER BEDS....

Thats a unique shell, 3 extra scutes that I can see, thats caused by incubation temps being too high if I remember correctly. I don't think it will cause any health problems but I'm sure someone that knows more about it than me will chime in.

i didnt even know that he had exttra scues, thats one thing I had never read about. Can someone else chime in, and let me knkow if this will cause any long term effects to him. He eats like a champ, and is very active.

Yes, the extra scutes are caused by either irregular incubation temperatures, excessively high incubation temperatures, or insufficient incubation humidity. The insufficient humidity factor often renders hatchlings of a smaller than normal size as well. Keep in mind these factors can all work in combination. Despite the unusual appearance of the animal, I've seen wild adult animals with such deformities (the world doesn't always offer perfect conditions, afterall), and such would suggest that such deformity is not necessarily a hindrance to survival. With hatchlings, the key is to simply keep them safe from predators. If you follow a variety of internet sources and streamline your own method, your tortoise should do fine. So long as he is eating greens (dandelion, sow thistle, grasses, lettuce, etc.), getting plenty of calcium, and given the ability to thermoregulate and roam a large space without succumbing to boredom, he should be fine.

T.G.

Well, he eats like a champ, and I ordered the seed mix from sulcatafood.com, and untill that gets here, he has been eating hibiscuc, timothy hay, dandlions, grass, and squash. He was the largest, and most active of the 3 tortises that I had to choose from, and he stays in a 20l when Im not home, but when Im at home, he is either in the yard with me, or is walking around on my desk eating and exploring.