Re: questions about our new sulcatta

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Posted by Justin on December 28, 2001 at 08:46:43:

In Reply to: questions about our new sulcatta posted by curt kelly on December 27, 2001 at 23:46:59:

: *The first question I have is about diet. I was planning on feeding her once a day for two days and then not feeding her the next day. Is this right? I have been feeding her romain lettuce, collard greens, and green beans. I have also plan on giving her a calcium supliment twice a week. Is this good so far?

I feed mine 5 days a week, it works well when they are young. As food goes, feed endive, escarole, raddichio, chicory, dandelion greens, a little bit of squash and grass. Stay away from green beans and lettuce. For calcium use cuttlebone, the stuff used for birds.

: *The next question is "how fast do these things grow? Right now she is about 3 or 4 inches.

They can grow to 15 inches in five years.

: * The next question is about the lighting. I have a regular tub light, a heat/uv light, and one of those red night lights. Are those red night lights useless? Right now I am giving her light and the heat light from 9am to 7pm. The red light from 7pm to midnight. Is this good?

Buy an active uv, leave it on for 12-15 hours a day, and throw the rest away, unless you keep your house below 68 degrees. In that case use the red one at night.

: *The next qustion is about when they get BIG. Right now we live in a apartment but we are buying a house next year. It is my understanding that it will need a full room when it gets big. One more problem. We live in Detroit. Right now there is about an inch of snow on the ground so it's safe to say that this sucker will have to spend a lot of time indoors. I was planning on building something for her in the basement for the winter and somthing on the back of the garage for the summer. Will this make our tortoise happy?

Not as happy as you moving South. Florida and California are nice this time of year.

: Thank you and please bare with us. I know these are basic questions but we have to start somewhere. Thanks

Follow Ups:

Re: questions about our new sulcatta SNAPPER 12/29/01 (2)
- I'd love to see a photo of him. n/p Lisa and Virgil 12/29/01 (1)
  - Ditto. n/p EJ 12/29/01 (0)

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: : *The first question I have is about diet. I was planning on feeding her once a day for two days and then not feeding her the next day. Is this right? I have been feeding her romain lettuce, collard greens, and green beans. I have also plan on giving her a calcium supliment twice a week. Is this good so far? : I feed mine 5 days a week, it works well when they are young. As food goes, feed endive, escarole, raddichio, chicory, dandelion greens, a little bit of squash and grass. Stay away from green beans and lettuce. For calcium use cuttlebone, the stuff used for birds. : : *The next question is "how fast do these things grow? Right now she is about 3 or 4 inches. : They can grow to 15 inches in five years. : : * The next question is about the lighting. I have a regular tub light, a heat/uv light, and one of those red night lights. Are those red night lights useless? Right now I am giving her light and the heat light from 9am to 7pm. The red light from 7pm to midnight. Is this good? : Buy an active uv, leave it on for 12-15 hours a day, and throw the rest away, unless you keep your house below 68 degrees. In that case use the red one at night. : : *The next qustion is about when they get BIG. Right now we live in a apartment but we are buying a house next year. It is my understanding that it will need a full room when it gets big. One more problem. We live in Detroit. Right now there is about an inch of snow on the ground so it's safe to say that this sucker will have to spend a lot of time indoors. I was planning on building something for her in the basement for the winter and somthing on the back of the garage for the summer. Will this make our tortoise happy? : Not as happy as you moving South. Florida and California are nice this time of year. : : Thank you and please bare with us. I know these are basic questions but we have to start somewhere. Thanks

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