Re: Buying a African spured Tortoise

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Posted by Terry on March 27, 2001 at 18:58:35:

In Reply to: Buying a African spured Tortoise posted by Jonathan Twomley on March 26, 2001 at 22:53:42:

If you live in Arizona, then it's a pretty good climate to house a sulcata outdoors.
But there are a few things to keep in mind.

Although these tortoises like it hot and dry, they should always have plenty of shade available too. They need shady areas to retreat to during the day and a dry shelter for the night and wet/chilly weather.

I house my bigger sulcatas outdoors year round, I live in Hawaii. The smaller sulcata, just a baby, goes out during the day and comes in at night.His enclosure is 12'-6', he's around 3" !

Small sulcatas, around 6" and under don't have the body mass to tolerate cold night time temperatures. So it's safer to bring them in in the late afternoon.

I wouldn't house your sulcata on "dirt".
Sulcatas are grazing herbivores, they spend much of the day grazing on grasses, clovers, vetches, edible weeds and plants.
An outdoor sulcata housed on plain dirt won't be a very happy tortoise.
The stools of a sulcata that's on a mainly grazing diet are very heavy in grass content and dry up in the sun quickly.

If you're building an enclosure, make it as big as possible, the sulcata will quickly outgrow it.
The enclosure should have sunny and shady areas,it should be planted with grasses and other edible weeds.
And there must be a shelter.

Or give the tortoise the whole yard to roam in.
My bigger sulcatas have the whole yard, make sure the yard is escape proof though!
They have an 8'-6' shed to sleep in and for shelter.
Around 5-6pm every evening they all go back to the shed to sleep. In rainy weather they choose to stay in the shed also, only coming out when it's cleared up.

I grow some of my sulcatas food.
They get loads of red hibiscus flowers every morning from 10 large hibiscus bushes. They also get the hibiscus leaves, when I trim the plants.I grow the hibiscus out of their area, or they'd destroy the whole plants.
They also get mulberry leaves from a mulberry tree in my yard.
I grow spineless Opuntia cactus and they get that every week to 10 days.
They also spend most of the day grazing on grasses and weeds/clovers etc.

I do give them some store bought leafy greens, Endive, Romaine, escarole, chicory....
But not too much, most of their food is from right here in the yard.

In Arizona it will be easy to grow hibiscus and Opuntia cactus. Even if you grow the spineless variety of Opuntia, you'll still need to scrub off the tiny spikes before giving it to the tortoise. I slice the pads up, after I've scrubed the spikes off.

For enclosure ideas and lists of edible plants
Try this web site:

http://www.turtlecafe.net/habitats.htm

For lots of info on sulcatas go to the web site linked below.
Hope this helps.
Terry.

Sulcata Station

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: If you live in Arizona, then it's a pretty good climate to house a sulcata outdoors. : But there are a few things to keep in mind. : Although these tortoises like it hot and dry, they should always have plenty of shade available too. They need shady areas to retreat to during the day and a dry shelter for the night and wet/chilly weather. : I house my bigger sulcatas outdoors year round, I live in Hawaii. The smaller sulcata, just a baby, goes out during the day and comes in at night.His enclosure is 12'-6', he's around 3" ! : Small sulcatas, around 6" and under don't have the body mass to tolerate cold night time temperatures. So it's safer to bring them in in the late afternoon. : I wouldn't house your sulcata on "dirt". : Sulcatas are grazing herbivores, they spend much of the day grazing on grasses, clovers, vetches, edible weeds and plants. : An outdoor sulcata housed on plain dirt won't be a very happy tortoise. : The stools of a sulcata that's on a mainly grazing diet are very heavy in grass content and dry up in the sun quickly. : If you're building an enclosure, make it as big as possible, the sulcata will quickly outgrow it. : The enclosure should have sunny and shady areas,it should be planted with grasses and other edible weeds. : And there must be a shelter. : Or give the tortoise the whole yard to roam in. : My bigger sulcatas have the whole yard, make sure the yard is escape proof though! : They have an 8'-6' shed to sleep in and for shelter. : Around 5-6pm every evening they all go back to the shed to sleep. In rainy weather they choose to stay in the shed also, only coming out when it's cleared up. : I grow some of my sulcatas food. : They get loads of red hibiscus flowers every morning from 10 large hibiscus bushes. They also get the hibiscus leaves, when I trim the plants.I grow the hibiscus out of their area, or they'd destroy the whole plants. : They also get mulberry leaves from a mulberry tree in my yard. : I grow spineless Opuntia cactus and they get that every week to 10 days. : They also spend most of the day grazing on grasses and weeds/clovers etc. : I do give them some store bought leafy greens, Endive, Romaine, escarole, chicory.... : But not too much, most of their food is from right here in the yard. : In Arizona it will be easy to grow hibiscus and Opuntia cactus. Even if you grow the spineless variety of Opuntia, you'll still need to scrub off the tiny spikes before giving it to the tortoise. I slice the pads up, after I've scrubed the spikes off. : For enclosure ideas and lists of edible plants : Try this web site: : http://www.turtlecafe.net/habitats.htm : For lots of info on sulcatas go to the web site linked below. : Hope this helps. : Terry.

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