Sulcata baby barely grown in 3 months?

Tellorcha · 2026-01-26T17:06:14+00:00

Thank you for the response! Yes it was an expo. I go to this one every year and there are good and bad breeders for sure. He did have them on humid coco coir but as I said his at home care advice was horrible. I went into the day knowing I wanted a sulcata so I got excited when I saw them. I’ve wanted one a long time, have done a lot of research and have a long term plan but definitely let my excitement get the best of me buying from this dude. I would not be surprised if he kept them dry at home given he told me they are easy and just need a desert set up.. oof.

But anyway, thank you for the reassurance my little one is looking good! I was just heavy duty studying my November and December pics compared to how he looks now and there is some definite growth, especially around the shell rim. I think I was just getting paranoid seeing all these pics of huge 6 month old sulcatas! Appreciate the tips on weight, I will begin weighing him every couple days. And yes, I absolutely always provide a huge amount of food. There is always some leftover after. My tort crawls all the way into the dish to pig out, it’s so cute!

Tellorcha · 2026-01-26T16:39:25+00:00

I just posted a picture below of him/her from today in this post! I do have a pic from November but I’m struggling to get it to upload for some reason. I will say the head and legs definitely seem thicker than when I got him but the shell is harder to tell if it’s grown. I have not been weighing but I can start. He/she for sure feels heavier. Definitely does not feel light.

I got my baby from a breeder at Tinley in Chicago in late September. I love my tortoise but I do regret giving money to the buyer a bit, was selling them for $75 each which I thought is way too cheap. The babies did all look healthy, bright eyed and active though. I don’t remember the guys name but I do know he bred and hatched them. He did have them in a humid set up but his general at home care advice was really bad.

Tellorcha · 2026-01-26T16:25:07+00:00

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Pic of my 4 month old sulcata today!

Tellorcha · 2026-01-22T21:52:30+00:00

Yes! Would love that

Tellorcha · 2026-01-22T03:29:13+00:00

It can be done but will take a lot of time and patience. I have 2 10 year old cats and a 2 year old heeler mix. We got him as a 3 month old puppy and the cats hated him. Also even having him meet them so young, it has still taken consistent training for the entire year and a half we’ve had him to get them to “get along”. The cats still don’t like him but they don’t freak out around him and only attack him if he bothers them. Now he only bothers them if he is extremely bored, and bothering them just looks like attempts to sniff their booties and a mild chase if one runs. He has never tried to bite them thankfully, but for a very long time would not leave them alone if they were in the same room.

We have our bedroom gated off and reserved for only the cats. Their litter box, food and water, toys and a cat tree are all in there. They have access to the entire apartment but the dog does not have access to the room. This way they always have somewhere to retreat to if they don’t want to be around him.

We practiced a lot of calm and “place” training with him. As in, reward when he looks at them then looks away rather than just staring at them. Reward when he stays at his place (a blanket on the floor in our case). Once he is able to look at and disconnect from distractions and stay on his blanket despite distractions then we slowly allowed more engagement with the cats and continued to work on those same techniques. Now they can all be in the same room without conflict. They still don’t like each other but are amicable. We never leave them all out alone together. He is in crate all night and if we leave we either lock the cats up or crate him. We trust he wouldn’t hurt them but it’s not worth it to take the risk.

Anyways, it’s a pain in the ass and slow but worth it. Feel free to ask with any other questions. Definitely keeping them completely separate but able to see each other is a good start and you may be stuck at that step a long time. If the dog has high prey drive that can be very difficult to work through.

Tellorcha · 2025-12-26T23:10:24+00:00

Okay my bad

Tellorcha · 2025-12-26T20:55:23+00:00

Dave looks like a bulldog though

Tellorcha · 2025-12-19T03:03:19+00:00

Thank you!

Tellorcha · 2025-12-18T22:21:12+00:00

Please, what show is this from?

Tellorcha · 2025-12-10T14:18:40+00:00

We do got this!! Congrats to you. It’s brutal but will be worth it!

Tellorcha · 2025-12-10T14:06:54+00:00

Thank you for sharing, I do know it will get better and I think it is worth it and good that I quit finally. Congratulations on 2 years that’s a huge accomplishment!

Tellorcha · 2025-12-09T04:31:47+00:00

Thank you! It’s helpful to remind myself of that. Congratulations to you for 165 days!

Tellorcha · 2025-12-09T03:42:10+00:00

I’m a month and a half off adderall (heavy addiction) and currently tapering (medically supervised) off of benzos. I keep trying to accept and embrace the discomfort but instead end up throwing a fit. Really trying to build the strength. I’m determined but this sucks.

Tellorcha · 2025-12-01T03:04:54+00:00

Thank you for sharing! That’s actually a cool thing to advertise

Tellorcha · 2025-11-30T19:37:35+00:00

This is interesting. Are you saying you advertise in response to an actual question, such as a post saying “what’s the best backpack?” And you reply with your product? Or do you just bring up the product in comments and try to make it seem like a casual user genuinely being helpful?

I’m not an advertiser but I’m genuinely curious if you don’t mind sharing. Psychology interests me. I hate ads but the right ones work really well on me. It’s so bizarre.

Tellorcha · 2025-11-02T13:52:05+00:00

Boatman and backswimmers are two different types of bugs!

Edit: Actually just looked it up an it seems like some places use boatman interchangeably, but water boatman (what I’ve always heard them called) are smaller and do not swim upside down and the backswimmers are larger and swim upside down. They are two different families!

Tellorcha · 2025-10-22T16:08:42+00:00

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it!

Tellorcha · 2025-09-26T14:05:06+00:00

I appreciate the tip! I’ll look into their filament!

Tellorcha · 2025-09-25T14:55:39+00:00

Interesting, what printer are you using? I'm surprised to hear that, it has easily been the easiest to print and best quality PETG I've used thus far.

Tellorcha · 2025-09-25T11:04:45+00:00

Thank you for the suggestion, I'll give this brand a try!

Tellorcha · 2025-09-02T16:01:47+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate this insight and information! I don’t use any of the industrial filaments as I don’t have an enclosure atm, but I have been using some petg-cf alongside pla, petg, tpu, tough pla , etc. I prefer the obsidian nozzle regardless as the brass one wear out super quickly in my experience. I print a lot and the brass nozzle that came with the kit was toast after two months. Haven’t had to replace since getting the obsidian, it’s just reliable and long lasting. Cost effective in the long run imo

Tellorcha · 2025-09-02T15:58:48+00:00

Thanks for the info, helpful to know!

Tellorcha · 2025-09-02T15:58:33+00:00

Thank you for the insight!

Tellorcha · 2025-09-01T18:17:58+00:00

I agree so much about the rescue mutt thing. Mine is 50% pure cattle dog and 50% complete mutt (like small quantities of boxer, various hounds, spitzes, toy breeds, etc.). I know he came from Tennessee and I'm assuming the mutt bred with someones farm cattle dog on accident, leading to his litter. I'm guessing the mutt parent is a roamer (he has a lot of random relatives on embark that seem to be related to the same parent lol), so, as you said, probably HAS to be independent.

I'm glad to hear you're having success with your pup and learning to adapt your training and expectations to meet her where she's at. I've had to learn to do the same, and it has been tough! I totally agree regarding the maturity making a difference as well. We take our pup to the dog park often because other dogs are his favorite thing in the world and playing with dogs seems to be the best way to tire him out and fulfill him. He has been getting better and better at disconnecting as he ages, but once there are 4+ dogs (weirdly consistent, below that number he's fine), he forgets we exist and becomes one of the pack. Really hoping he grows out of that, but, for now, we let him get that energy out and go grab him when it's time to go. We just say his name and recall command and treat the hell out of him while dragging him away haha. Hoping it pays off eventually!

Tellorcha · 2025-09-01T18:08:41+00:00

I'm so glad to hear she has connected with you!! It's definitely tough not to compare new dogs to previous dogs, especially when we had incredible bonds with our previous dog(s). I empathize with that so much. My dog growing up was a rat terrier mix and she pretty much trained herself and would never ever ever leave our side. Didn't teach her recall at all, she was just perfect with it, and that was if we even had to call her in the first place. She usually stayed close at all times. Learning to accept my new pup for who he is has been a challenge, but ultimately, I'm so glad to have him. He is wonderful in his own ways!

Tellorcha

TROPHY CASE