Keeping a Fulcata- African Spurred Tortoise?

Question

I have recently moved to central Florida and will in the next couple of months have a house with a good sized back yard and would like to add an interesting outdoor pet or two.  A local adoption society has a Fulcata Tortoise that I am seriously considering.  I have been doing some research, but as usual, am getting conflicting info so I would like to ask the Reptile folks in here a few questions:

One site says that this tortoise cannot live outdoors with temps under 70F.  A lot of Florida nights are 70 or less and the days in the winter can also only be 60-65.  Is this okay?  If not, it would not be a problem to provide an outside heat source in the form of lamps or solar activated warming mats for nights/cloudy days.

Another site says that this tortoise being a desert animal is prone to respiratory infections in a humid setting.  Being that Florida is always humid-  is this also okay?  The animal for adoption is already in Florida, so I assume it's already experiencing humidity unless it's being kept inside an air conditioned building in which they're providing a heat source

Info also says lots of greens and fiber but no protein- says Hay, grass, cactus, some flowers, yucca.  Can anyone else provide me a good diet to support this tortoise?

Last question- as it would be a fenced outdoor enclosure I'm thinking about including an Iguana and maybe a couple of Guinea Pigs to cut the grass.  The pigs would be Frontlined to eliminate any bugs.  I also don't see any conflict between Guinea Pigs and these reptiles as they would also be 2-3 possibly related female pigs who should show no interest in a couple of big crawlers.  Pigs might also share the burrowing hole for the tortoise if they get along.

Any suggestions or more info would really be welcome.  I've never had the opportunity to do this stuff with rescue critters outdoors in a climate that supports them.  Also I found this great local rescue that has all of the animals above available to me.  

~As soon as I get the house!
~Research first!!!

Thanks in advance

reptiles · Accepted Answer

There its not much of a problem but I'll give you A hand

A Sulcata tortoise  should bee housed outside so you have 2 choices

1  build a outdoor enclosure

2 let it roam free

I recommend building a large outdoor enclosure   because you can  the temperatures can not drop/raise harshly and humidity stays controlled

A Sulcata tortoise can grow up to 25 - 30 inches and up to 200 pounds so the enclosure will have to be large at least  90"L     45"W    25"H   that will be proper

But baby Sulcatas that are about 3"-5" do better in a indoor tortoise table

If you don't want to build an outdoor enclosure you can let it roam free but you must provide shelter for the night try a plastic little dog house or a large cardboard box

And Guinea pigs would be okay with the Sulcata but there's a high chance they could escape under the house or many other ways  the low tempatures of Florida wouldn't really bother your Sulcata they will dig under their substrate for warmth

you should feed your Sulcata a proper diet in order to avoid  pryamiding which is a sickness that effects the tortoise shell

So you won't have much of a problem

Edit:       okay that's great and yeah asking them  would help allot and good job on the chicken wire  woh good luck with your new Sulcata

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Keeping a Fulcata- African Spurred Tortoise?

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