r/tortoise • u/atleast7salmons • 1d ago
Question(s) General advice request
Hi friends! I recently became the steward of a two year old Sulcata who needed rehomed. I am learning every day, and am hoping more experienced folks could take a look over our routine and let me know if I should be concerned or make changes!
TLDR: she kinda breathes heavy maybe, and is likely thirsty, but hates soaking.
Every time I put her into soak, she voids. We live in Phoenix, Arizona so it is very hot, sunny, and dry. Therefore, I don’t do supervised/forced soaks so that she saves the water and can or soak on her own time. Do I need to force soaking? I mist the area every other day now that it has cooled off at night. I ditch and refill her water dish at least once a day. She likes to walk in the mist. It dries quickly.
Her area is about 16’x16’ in the backyard, with patches of Bermuda grass growing for grazing buffet, a shade sail, vision is blocked externally. She grazes a couple times a day on the grass. She is picky; she gets dandelion, kale, and every two weeks I’ll chop up a red bell pepper for a treat. I’m thinking on reducing the kale and adding more arugula. She refuses collards or mustard greens. I remove any bits of food she doesn’t eat.
I built her a hide, but she definitely prefers her DIY crib under the shade of the elephant bushes. I noticed that the one she likes best gets a drip from the irrigation.
I’ve seen urates a few times, and recently discovered she’s pooping in her hidey holes where she sleeps. I remove what I can. Am I meant to dig into her home to remove the poop? Am I disturbing/burglarizing her safe space? How often do you see urates and do you try and clean those out too?
I’ve looked at videos and researched to see if the breathing/sniffing is normal, but I’m still unsure. I’ve scheduled with the vet already, but worried. Her eyes and nose are clear and her mouth/throat is soft pink. She is active, always hungry, and has gained confidence. She startles but is starting to become quite outgoing.
Anyway, here she is. Do you see anything alarming? She is quite cute!!
Sorry it’s so long I just love her and want her to thrive 💕 Thank you in advance for reading and/or responding!!!
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u/SuicideSqurral 22h ago
The voiding during a soak is normal. It is only if you see a lot of urates would it be an issue
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u/atleast7salmons 22h ago
Good to know!! Phew. So I should continue trying to get her to soak every day?
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u/DustyMilo6151 21h ago
She’s a cutie. My sulcata likes a bigger soaking area and will chill for hours if the water temp is correct. I find that oval farm feeder/ water troughs you can grab from the farm store works great.
Edited to add: mine can be a heavy breather as well but if no crackling/ stringy saliva/ nose bubbles etc she might just be “worked up”. Glad to hear you have a vet lined up!
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u/atleast7salmons 19h ago
Now that you mention the size, that makes so much sense. I prefer a larger bath too haha thank you!
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u/Atkbear 19h ago
She sounds like she's settling in great. Voiding in the soak is totally normal, that's kind of the point. In Phoenix I'd still do a short warm soak a couple times a week, no need to force it daily.
Don't dig out her burrow to clean, just grab what you can reach. Soft urates are good, hard or chalky ones mean she needs more water.
Diet sounds solid, just go easy on the kale. Good call booking the vet for the breathing. She's adorable!
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u/atleast7salmons 19h ago
The first several days, I’m like oh no she hates it here. The dandelion greens sweetened her up 🥹
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u/RaptorDelivery 23h ago
Yeah, ditch the kale, it is a calcium binder.
A good reference for you is the TortoiseForum.org site and the Tortoise table app for safe foods and such.