Re: is a sulcata good for me/ long post

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Posted by Georgia on September 17, 2000 at 19:25:07:

In Reply to: Re: is a sulcata good for me posted by Eric T. on September 16, 2000 at 13:48:06:

: :My Sulcata, Skippy, is a small yearling- so he isn't hard to handle yet.
: My daily routine is like this- morning feeding of various greens and hays, change the water in the water dish, do some minor habitat cleaning. Then by evening I check to see if he needs any more food. On warm days I try to take him outside to get some natural sunlight.
: I have noticed that Skippy prefers to eat in the morning and evening. During the heat of the day he rests in a shady spot.

Well we have two sulcatas. The female is about fours yrs. and we had her since she was smaller than the palm of my hand. She is now 14 lbs. We weren't sure she was female until we acquired our 28 lb. male this past June. Buzzy was kept with her sibling in a small four foot fiberglass pool, indoors until a year ago. We made a hide spot for them and an open area for them all in the same four foot pool. We used rabbit pellets for ground cover then. They had heat blanket and lamp for warmth and they were taken outside daily for exposure to sun light and grass grazing. The daily care of the little ones was time consuming. Unfortunately we lost one to an awful accident with one of our dogs. Dogs don't mix with torts, were learned the hard way and are extremely cautious now. The sulcatas are both housed outdoor 24/7, year round. We live in S. Calif. They each have a dogloo of their own. Each is equipped with heat lamp and pig blanket (blanket for winter only). There are thermometers hanging in each house to check the temp..done early morning and late evening. Evening time the doors are partially covered or totally covered depending on the weather. Since we both work and the kids go to school, depending on the time of year, there are timers to turn on and turn off the heat lamps and blankets. Their house ground cover is timothy hay and is cleaned out daily for poop. The hay changing varies. With our female it is almost weekly. She urinates more in her house than he does. Usually it averages to about every two weeks. Their houses get a good scrubb down monthly or sooner if needed. Tonka the male is larger than the female, we have had to keep them separated and they get supervised visits. He is twice her size and pursues her a lot. He has flipped her once but she gave it right back to him. He has rammed her a couple of times and again she gave it back. I was proud of our little girl. Hence the surpervision. They both have large plant pot saucers for water/soaking. Her's cleaned once a day, his can be several times a day. He poops everywhere and even there. The poop is picked up on a twice daily basis as is the dogs. Our son hates that chore. There are three separate areas that our sulcatas are kept in. The total back yard is available to them based on a rotation system. The total square feet of grazing grass area is approximately 3000. There is some cement patio area (covered patio) and walkways they lay on to sun bath . The separations are the dog run, which after a through inspection they are allowed to graze in when the dogs aren't in there. My husband comes home for lunch, brings in the dogs and has Tonka follow him into the dog run. Water by then needs cleaning and the large saucer goes with Tonka. Buzzy in kept in the main area. The area that Tonka sleeps in and starts out his morning is separated from Buzzy's area by large wood beams used in building houses. Two stacked on top of each other. The dog run has six foot chain link fence with privacy slats and then a five foot fence, secuity is very important. Tonka can't move the beams and the dogs can't reach the torts! When we come home in the evening they have their visitation time and after, Buzzy goes into the dog run to graze and Tonka roams, grazes the main area and then heads home when he is ready to go to bed. He has to be lifted over the beams for now. We have to come up with some idea for separation for the cooler months. Tonka's house will have to be moved up under the covered patio where Buzzy's is currently. We're still thinking....? The walk ways and patio have to be hosed off with high powered nuzzle to remove stain from poop and caked on uriates that has had time to dry during the day. Our sulcatas eat grass, hibicus leaves and flowers. The lower branches of the twenty foot hibiscus hedge are stripped of their leaves frequently and the torts, especially Tonka can even climb up on the branches to bring them to ground level to clean them of their leaves. We grow cactus and aloe which they eat. We had a pasture of clovers and grasses which has to be replanted and beamed off so that they are given limited access to. You see Tonka pulled everything up by the roots while our neighbor watched them for a week that we were out of town. They eat mulberry leaves from our neighbors yard and on occasion I give them store bought greens. Our two are a different as night and day. Tonka is an early raiser and constantly on the move. Buzzy is a late riser and slow mover. They both are friendly although Tonka likes people to know he can defend himself. He will ram you if your not paying attention. They both love to be hand fed and love to have their heads and chins rubbed. Tonka loves to play in and with the sprinkler. We take them once a year to the vet for a check up and stool check. They gather a lot of attention at the vets. Everybody wants to see them. They are a lot of work, they can smell if you don't keep them cleaned up and they can draw flies. They have to be watched. They don't hibernate either. This is a year round lifetime commitment and we knew that going into it. BUT they are great and we love them. Long post sorry.

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long post - good story of the WORK involved! n/p Niki 09/18/00 (0)

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: : :My Sulcata, Skippy, is a small yearling- so he isn't hard to handle yet. : : My daily routine is like this- morning feeding of various greens and hays, change the water in the water dish, do some minor habitat cleaning. Then by evening I check to see if he needs any more food. On warm days I try to take him outside to get some natural sunlight. : : I have noticed that Skippy prefers to eat in the morning and evening. During the heat of the day he rests in a shady spot. : : Well we have two sulcatas. The female is about fours yrs. and we had her since she was smaller than the palm of my hand. She is now 14 lbs. We weren't sure she was female until we acquired our 28 lb. male this past June. Buzzy was kept with her sibling in a small four foot fiberglass pool, indoors until a year ago. We made a hide spot for them and an open area for them all in the same four foot pool. We used rabbit pellets for ground cover then. They had heat blanket and lamp for warmth and they were taken outside daily for exposure to sun light and grass grazing. The daily care of the little ones was time consuming. Unfortunately we lost one to an awful accident with one of our dogs. Dogs don't mix with torts, were learned the hard way and are extremely cautious now. The sulcatas are both housed outdoor 24/7, year round. We live in S. Calif. They each have a dogloo of their own. Each is equipped with heat lamp and pig blanket (blanket for winter only). There are thermometers hanging in each house to check the temp..done early morning and late evening. Evening time the doors are partially covered or totally covered depending on the weather. Since we both work and the kids go to school, depending on the time of year, there are timers to turn on and turn off the heat lamps and blankets. Their house ground cover is timothy hay and is cleaned out daily for poop. The hay changing varies. With our female it is almost weekly. She urinates more in her house than he does. Usually it averages to about every two weeks. Their houses get a good scrubb down monthly or sooner if needed. Tonka the male is larger than the female, we have had to keep them separated and they get supervised visits. He is twice her size and pursues her a lot. He has flipped her once but she gave it right back to him. He has rammed her a couple of times and again she gave it back. I was proud of our little girl. Hence the surpervision. They both have large plant pot saucers for water/soaking. Her's cleaned once a day, his can be several times a day. He poops everywhere and even there. The poop is picked up on a twice daily basis as is the dogs. Our son hates that chore. There are three separate areas that our sulcatas are kept in. The total back yard is available to them based on a rotation system. The total square feet of grazing grass area is approximately 3000. There is some cement patio area (covered patio) and walkways they lay on to sun bath . The separations are the dog run, which after a through inspection they are allowed to graze in when the dogs aren't in there. My husband comes home for lunch, brings in the dogs and has Tonka follow him into the dog run. Water by then needs cleaning and the large saucer goes with Tonka. Buzzy in kept in the main area. The area that Tonka sleeps in and starts out his morning is separated from Buzzy's area by large wood beams used in building houses. Two stacked on top of each other. The dog run has six foot chain link fence with privacy slats and then a five foot fence, secuity is very important. Tonka can't move the beams and the dogs can't reach the torts! When we come home in the evening they have their visitation time and after, Buzzy goes into the dog run to graze and Tonka roams, grazes the main area and then heads home when he is ready to go to bed. He has to be lifted over the beams for now. We have to come up with some idea for separation for the cooler months. Tonka's house will have to be moved up under the covered patio where Buzzy's is currently. We're still thinking....? The walk ways and patio have to be hosed off with high powered nuzzle to remove stain from poop and caked on uriates that has had time to dry during the day. Our sulcatas eat grass, hibicus leaves and flowers. The lower branches of the twenty foot hibiscus hedge are stripped of their leaves frequently and the torts, especially Tonka can even climb up on the branches to bring them to ground level to clean them of their leaves. We grow cactus and aloe which they eat. We had a pasture of clovers and grasses which has to be replanted and beamed off so that they are given limited access to. You see Tonka pulled everything up by the roots while our neighbor watched them for a week that we were out of town. They eat mulberry leaves from our neighbors yard and on occasion I give them store bought greens. Our two are a different as night and day. Tonka is an early raiser and constantly on the move. Buzzy is a late riser and slow mover. They both are friendly although Tonka likes people to know he can defend himself. He will ram you if your not paying attention. They both love to be hand fed and love to have their heads and chins rubbed. Tonka loves to play in and with the sprinkler. We take them once a year to the vet for a check up and stool check. They gather a lot of attention at the vets. Everybody wants to see them. They are a lot of work, they can smell if you don't keep them cleaned up and they can draw flies. They have to be watched. They don't hibernate either. This is a year round lifetime commitment and we knew that going into it. BUT they are great and we love them. Long post sorry.

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