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The Sulcata tortoise (scientific name: Geochelonesulcata), also known as the sulcata tortoise and the sulcata tortoise, is a very mobile tortoise. The dorsal carapace is high, the top of the head has symmetrical scales, the skull is short, the squamous bones do not meet the parietal bones, the frontal bones do not enter the orbit, and the postorbital bones degenerate or almost disappear; The posterior part of the square bone is usually closed, completely surrounding the stapes; The maxillary bone is almost connected to the yoke bone, and the masticatory surface of the upper jaw has or does not have a central ridge. The dorsal and ventral carapaces are firmly connected by a bony suture by a bridge of the nail. The limbs are stout and cylindrical. Fingers and phalanges not more than 2 segments, clawed, webbed. Odorless glands. Herbivorous and can live in arid environments. It is distributed in Ethiopia, Sudan, Senegal, Mali, Chad and other countries in Africa.

Chinese scientific name: Sucata turtle

Latin scientific name: Geochelonesulcata

Nicknames: Sulcata tortoise, sulcata tortoise

Phylum: Chordates

Class: Reptile

Order: Turtle and turtle order

Suborder: Suborder Curvature Turtle

Family: Tortoiseidae

Genus: Elephant tortoise

Name and date: Miller, 1779

Product Name: AfricanSpurredTortoise

Product Name: GroovedTortoise

Exterior features

With a body length of 83 centimeters and a weight of 105 kilograms, the sulcata turtle is the third largest turtle in the world. dorsal carapace yellowish-brown, juveniles reddish-brown; anterior margin with a notch in the center, without a cervical shield, posterior margin serrate; ventral carapace pale yellow, posterior margin notched darkly; limbs cylindrical with large conical ridges; 5 claws on forelimbs, 4 claws on hind limbs; The tail is short and yellowish. Its appearance is similar to that of a leopard turtle, but it has no fancy ornamentation on its carapace, and is almost a simple bright brown color (including the entire head, limbs, and abdominal carapace). The laryngeal carapace is prominent, some males have distinctly curled marginal shields in front and back, and several conical granular scales on the back of the thighs.

Its appearance is characterized by 2 to 3 thick nodules on both sides of the back thighs, ivory to brown on the head and limbs, and thick scales on the front feet. Some artificially raised individuals with overnourished dorsal carapaces that protruded into lumpy dorsal bulges. Although it does not have bright patterns such as radiation turtles and star turtles, it is a very rugged, dazzling, and game-rich large tortoise. [2]

Habitat

Since the sulcata turtle grows in the southern part of the Sahara Desert in Africa, which is mostly very dry and even has little water to drink all year round, it needs to rely on food to obtain water, and to conserve water in the body by using highly impermeable skin and digging holes in the ground to avoid the sun. In addition, since tortoises belong to deserts and dry grasslands, they mostly start their activities at dusk or early morning to escape the high heat of the day. [1]

Habits

The Sucata turtle is a vegan animal, mainly relying on high-fiber plants, grasses, cacti, lettuce, etc. for food, the species is quite stout, active and very easy to raise, weekday bait with a variety of food supply, and then add a little calcium, phosphorus, vitamins and other nutritional supplements. Excessive supply of animal protein will lead to back augmentation and eventually liver and kidney diseases. [2]

Distribution

It is found in Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan. [4]

Mode of reproduction

Sucata turtles mate during the rainy season, and between September and November, they can lay about 17 to 34 eggs at a time, with a maximum of 6 litters a year, and their incubation time is about 85-170 days, depending on the incubation temperature. The larvae hatch yellow and are about 4.5 to 5.0 cm in size. Because it is prolific and easy to raise, it is already a high-yielding and low-cost reptile pet in the United States. It grows rapidly, eats an amazing amount of food, and is highly active. [5]

Raised in captivity

Feeding temperature

In terms of the setting of the breeding premises, the temperature should be 28-32 °C during the day, and there should be a drying spot with a temperature of 35-38 °C. The temperature at night should be 24-26°C. It is a desert-type animal that adapts to both hot and dry climates. However, the temperature should not exceed 40°C, and if it is too hot, it will splash colder sediment on the shell and secrete a large amount of saliva, and apply saliva to the forearm to cool down. Heated rocks are never used as a heat source. Turtles have very sensitive shells and skin, and any contact with heated rocks can cause severe skin and shell burns. For reptiles, the best source of ground heating is to heat under the container or use a heating pad. However, for a tortoise, basking in the sun is its best source of heat from above. To determine the temperature of the upper heating source, it will not be too high for the size of the vivarium. So a thermostat is particularly important. Generally speaking, a heating lamp and a heating pad will do.

The best substrate for the summer is newspaper, because it excretes a lot, even if the amount of feces of a young turtle less than 30 cm is comparable to that of an adult turtle. Therefore, the newspaper underneath is a good way to clean up, and it also ensures the health of the turtle. If you want to warm it in winter, it is best to use a wooden board as a substrate, you can make it hollow, and put water in the pit under it. The terrarium should definitely be ventilated, and it can generally be dry. The substrate can also be made of hay, which is easy to maintain, and even if it is eaten by mistake, it is okay and contains cellulose. [5]

Food feeding

The diet consists mainly of kale, mustard, dandelion, and high fibrous grass similar to the dark green lettuce. They eat a variety of fruits like carrots, melons, apples, beans, peas, apricots, peaches and strawberries. Do not feed lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage or rhubarb. Those high-fiber foods are an absolute must for Sue on a regular basis, which is good for the turtle's growth and stomach. Vitamins and crushed eggshells or crushed oysters (found in turtle food) are added to their food once a week. Leave the cuttlefish bone in its nest and they will chew it to replenish calcium.

Sukka can eat from morning to dusk. Tortoises usually rely on the water in their food to maintain adequate water content in their bodies. In addition, due to its adaptation to the environment in which it is produced, Sucata can survive even with very little water. But to make sure they have the right amount of water in their bodies, it's best to bathe once a week.

A bath once a week (adult turtle) is a must, and drinking water is allowed. Rinse once with antiseptic soap after soaking. Baby turtles bathe three times a week, twice a week when they are teenagers. The basin should be large enough to soak in its entirety, but shallow enough so that it does not become flooded. Although sucata requires a dry environment, it can still be raised in a damp place. [5]

Medical care

Sucata turtle is native to the southern Sahara Desert in Africa, inhabits the desert periphery and savanna and other open and dry areas, because of the difficulty of obtaining water, so it has evolved some special mechanisms for water retention, such as its bladder opens in the side wall of the cloaca and is not connected to the ureter, and the urine produced by the kidney is directly discharged into the cloaca by the small ureter on the inside of the back of the kidney, and then flows back to the heart-shaped bladder between the two kidneys. Therefore, the urine stored in the bladder at this time has a lower osmotic pressure than plasma, and after the bladder wall reabsorbs the water in the urine, it can form urine with osmotic pressure such as plasma, and when it encounters a water source, the tortoise will seize the opportunity to sip a large amount of water, and at the same time discharge the concentrated urine that has accumulated in the body for a long time.

Amphibious and aquatic turtles, on the other hand, have a poor ability to store and concentrate urine, and some amphibious turtles reabsorb water from the bladder only when they are dehydrated and account for 10%-12% of their body mass. Tortoise bladder has a strong ability to store and concentrate urine, which may be the cause of stone formation, while turtles and terrhizomes are less likely to occur. When the tortoise water intake is insufficient, the urine is easy to stay in the bladder, and constantly carry out the action of concentration, and the concentration of some ions that can form crystals in the urine gradually reaches saturation, because the urine is polyionic, when the urine reaches the saturation point, many active charged ions will interact, if the ingested food at this time contains a large number of substances that are easy to form crystals, such as calcium, phosphorus, oxalic acid and protein, the ions in the urine will form crystals due to supersaturation, and the crystals slowly accumulate and accumulate, and finally form stones. Generally, stones often have more than two different components, with calcium-containing compounds accounting for a larger proportion, such as calcium phosphate and calcium oxalate, while magnesium ammonium phosphate and urate are also common stone components.

Sometimes the stone forming substances have different chemical compositions but similar crystal structures, and the two can stack each other to accelerate the formation of stones, such as calcium oxalate and uric acid crystals. In this case, calcium phosphate accounted for 46% (tricalcium phosphate, 10% dicalcium phosphate), calcium oxalate accounted for 30%, and magnesium ammonium phosphate accounted for 20%. Turtles need calcium in the process of growth and development, especially the Sucata tortoise is the largest inland tortoise in addition to the Aldabra tortoise and the Galapagos tortoise, the two island tortoises, the demand for calcium is more important, but if you give too much calcium, or due to insufficient sunlight and insufficient vitamin D intake and calcium absorption is worse, it is easy to increase urinary calcium, and because the Sucata tortoise is strong and large, if the owner feeds a large amount of food is rich in phosphorus and oxalic acid vegetables and fruits, At this time, calcium phosphate and calcium oxalate stones are easy to form. [5]

Male and female

The sexual maturity of the sulcata turtle is generally more than 20 years, the male is earlier than the female, and the adult female is larger than the male, and can generally be about 1/3 larger. Adult males have long and thick tails, while females have thin and short tails; Males have depressed ventral carapaces, while males have flater ventions; The laxative cavity of the male is farther from the end of the ventral carapace, while the female is closer. In addition, females generally have fewer spots on their dorsal carapaces, showing the characteristics of white sukkada turtles, while males have gray spots on each dorsal carapace, but they will gradually disappear as they grow up. In the wild, sulcata turtles generally mate in September and October, usually after the rainy season, and lay eggs in March-April of the following year. At this time, the male sulcata turtle will become very irritable, and they will fight each other for territory and the female by ramming their opponents' bodies. During mating, the male will chase the female, circle around her, and finally lie on the tail end of the female to insert the mating. In the spring of the following year, the female sucata will dig a burrow and lay 15~30 eggs before burying them. After about three months of incubation (temperature 27~30 degrees), the baby turtle breaks out of its shell. The baby turtle will have a yolk that has just come out of the shell, so be careful not to break it, and wait until it absorbs the yolk on its own before it can feed normally