Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all, I am new to this forum and to the world of tort's. Growing up I had a few box turtles and have 22 snakes currently. My boyfriend and I are looking into buying a Sulcata since I am personally allergic to animals with fur. Anyways, for the time being, we have been educating ourselves on the care for a Sulcata. Before we buy we want to make sure that we have a great enclosure for it. So! I was wondering if I can get suggestions, see pictures of your guy's inside and outside enclosures.

Thanks!
Kyrsten

It's going to have a lot to do with where you live. I personally decided that I won't be able to have a sulcata in my climate, because I would need to house it indoors at least 7 months out of the year, and that doesn't work with an adult sulcata. It's true, there are people out there that keep adults indoors, but you would need basically a whole large room for it, which would need to be well reinforced because they will dig through the drywall/flooring and their defecation/urination will destroy the floor as well as create a disgusting humidity that will destroy the ceilings. I have heard of some people keeping adults in 8'x4' indoor enclosures, however this sounds like torture for an adult sulcata. It would be like keeping an adult box turtle in a 10 gallon tank.

If you live in a climate where the tortoise could live outdoors basically year round, you'll need a huge yard with a well reinforced fence (I've heard of them destroying chainlink and breaking through pretty much everything else), and some sort of barrier dug into the ground to keep them from burrowing out. You will also need a climate-controlled shelter and a steady supply of food (they will usually destroy the grass in the yard in short order).

Sulcatas are great animals if you have the facilities, finances, and patience to work with them, but can I ask why you are drawn to sulcatas as opposed to more manageable tortoises like mediterranean species and red/yellow footed tortoises.

Another thing that did it for me is seeing/hearing how much destruction a tortoise 7lb red foot is capable of. Mine dug halfway through a plywood wall in his enclosure. I can't imagine what a tortoise over 100lb is capable of, let alone the fact that the already sizeable food bill (and aftermath of eating) would be multiplied by ten or twenty.

Not trying to scare you off, but I think these are things that people need to think about early on in the process of deciding what species of tortoise is right for them. I personally feel that Russians are about the ideal pet tortoise, so I have a lot of them.

Wow! is this your enclosure and if so, do you want to adopt my guy? He would love it!