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[soquile]

I have a 5 year old female sulcata that is about 35-40 lbs. Great shell and lives outdoors all year round with my desert tortoise. My desert is hibernating and my sulcata has a heat regulated doghouse that she comes and goes as she pleases. She sleeps in there at night and munches grass all day. Well I was supposed to get another desert tort from Texas from a friend that had to move from a house to an appt. The tort was trasnported here via car and my roommate had her in a box. Since she was hibernating and did not have a burrow of her own I said to put her out in the laundry room so she could hibernate naturally and I would put her in the backyard when she woke up. Well I decided to peek in the box to see how big she was (supposed to be the same size and age as my desert tort. We she is the same size but not a desert tort but a sulcata! Now this girl is 7 years old (two years older than mine) and maybe weights 8 lbs. I can only assume that from being put in a box from Nov-Mar each year with no food or water has caused her to be much smaller. I put her in the doghouse with my other one and am hoping that she will follow the lead of eating and returning (although I will check to make sure she gets in the house each night till she picks it up). Do you think that there is any reason that she can't be outside? Do you think that she will eventually catch up on size and weight. Any special things I can do for her or just let her eat naturally. She has minimal pyramiding, is just small. Thank you for any replys and sorry for the long story!

[animal kingdom2]

Wow, what  a surprise, eh?  As far as catching up on the growth: she may still be smaller than others her age, but as long as she is getting the right diet and inh appropriate temps etc. (AZ is pretty warm this winter, eh?), she should be able to grow from here on out.  Even if/when we get colder around here, she has a warm and safe place to go to to help with her metabolism, so I would not hesitate to keep her outside with your other one.  Keep on providing fresh water and a variety of good healthy food, and she will do just fine.