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Atlas / Library / Testudinidae / African spurred tortoise (Sulcata)
Intermediate (huge adult)Diurnal · active nowCITES II
Testudinidae

African spurred tortoise (Sulcata)

Centrochelys sulcataเต่าซูคาต้า

Traceable. The figures above appear in the page we cite, which we opened on 10 Aug 2026. That means you can check them, not that we have confirmed they are right. reptifiles.com

Photograph: Bernard DUPONT · CC BY-SA

Photographed by an observer on iNaturalist and published under a Creative Commons licence; the photographer and the licence are named under the image. It is not an animal of ours, and no animal was handled by us to produce it.

14:00
Day

Drag the sun. African spurred tortoise (Sulcata) is diurnal, so what it is doing changes with the light. The sheet states a night temperature, and the rail follows it.

Burrowing · warm · humidFrom the sheet: 27–32°C, humidity 80%

The way of life is written in this sheet, word for word. The climate words summarise the two figures above them, they do not add to them.

CITES II is a global listing and holds in every country. National law is not global, and we hold no national wildlife law for any country, Thailand included. Check your own authority before buying or selling.

Check your setup against this sheet I keep one 102 plants usable with this species
Back to the globe My keep

https://keepr.pet/husbandry/en/centrochelys-sulcata

‹ All husbandry guides
Temperature27–32 °C
Humidity80 %
Diet1 days

The numbers

Temperature

152025303540 °C
27–32°Cool side
21–23°Night
Warm side: not in our data

The cool side, 27–32°C, dropping to 21–23°C at night. This sheet states the cool side only. It gives no warm side or basking figure, so the hot end is not in our data. Same scale on every sheet here, so two species compare by eye.

The sheet statescool 27-32 °C / night 21-23 °C

Humidity

80%Target RH

The sheet statesJuveniles: always >80%, higher at night. Adults are more resilient to drying out and are kept in a dry, well ventilated enclosure, with a humid hide always available (the burrow they dig in the wild)

UVB

T5 12%UVI 4–6

The sheet statesArcadia T5 HO Desert 12% or Zoo Med T5 HO ReptiSun 10.0 at 9-12″ /23-31cm (mesh), 14-16″ / 36-41cm (no mesh); Arcadia T5 HO Dragon 14% at 10-13″ / 25-33cm (mesh), 15-20″ / 38-51cm (no mesh); achieve a UVI of between 4.0 – 6.0 in the basking area

Enclosure
juvenile under 10″/25cm: 7'L x 3.5'W x 2.5'H, or 24.5 square feet of floor space; adult: at least equivalent to 20'L x 10'W x 4'H (300 square feet)

Identity

Family / Order
Testudinidae / Testudines
Origin
Temperament
Bold, powerful digger

Enclosure and conditions

Temperature
cool 27–32 °C / night 21–23 °C
Humidity
>80% (juveniles), higher at night

What your climate adds

This sheet states a range to hold. Your local climate decides how much work holding it is. Pick the nearest city: nothing is sent anywhere, the choice stays in this browser.

Diet

Feeding rhythm

every 1 dAs the sheet states
28Meals in 28 days

Twenty-eight days, one row. Each band is a meal window.

Why

The windows widen as they go because the interval is a range: four meals after a 10–14 day cycle land anywhere between day 40 and day 56.

The sheet statesSulcata tortoises are herbivores, which means that they eat plants. Young and growing sulcata tortoises should be given as much as they can eat every day. Once they near adulthood, this should be reduced to a limited quantity (roughly the same size as their shell) daily to prevent obesity

Behaviour and handling

HandlingTolerates but heavy; not a lap pet
HousingOne per pen; males combat
NoteWill dig burrows metres long

Reproduction

Sexing
Male: longer tail, concave plastron, larger
Breeding
Egg-layer; digs nest; 15–30 eggs

When to see a vet

P

Good to know

  • Third-largest tortoise on Earth and the largest mainland species.

Common questions

How big does it really get?

Very big: 60 to 80 cm and often 40 to 80 kg. Most people underestimate this and end up having to rehome it.

Can it live in an apartment?

Honestly, no. An adult needs a garden it can graze and dig in, with a solid shelter.

Does it dig?

Constantly, and it will tunnel under fences and walls. Sink your barrier deep or you will be chasing it down the soi.

How long does it live?

Seventy years or more, so this is a decision for the whole family.

What it needs

A thermometerbecause temp — cool 27-32 °C / night 21-23 °C
A way to check the night figurebecause temp — cool 27-32 °C / night 21-23 °C
A hygrometerbecause humidity — Juveniles: always >80%, higher at night. Adults are more resilient to drying out and are kept in a dry, well ventilated enclosure, with a humid hide always available (the burrow they dig in the wild)
UVB 12-12% (T5), stated as requiredbecause uvb — Arcadia T5 HO Desert 12% or Zoo Med T5 HO ReptiSun 10.0 at 9-12″ /23-31cm (mesh), 14-16″ / 36-41cm (no mesh); Arcadia T5 HO Dragon 14% at 10-13″ / 25-33cm (mesh), 15-20″ / 38-51cm (no mesh); achieve a UVI of between 4.0 - 6.0 in the basking area
Not stated: The heat sourcethis sheet names only the cool side: « cool 27-32 °C / night 21-23 °C »
Not stated: The size of the enclosurethis sheet describes the enclosure without a figure: « juvenile under 10″/25cm: 7'L x 3.5'W x 2.5'H, or 24.5 square feet of floor space »

Every line above is deduced from a value this sheet states, and names which one. Nothing here is a general recommendation. What the sheet does not state is listed too, rather than left out: a kit that looks complete is worse than one that names its gap.

Sources

The Tortoise Table — Sulcatareptifiles.com — lu le 2026-08-04

Others in this group

Russian TortoiseTestudo horsfieldiiHermann's tortoiseTestudo hermanniGreek TortoiseTestudo graecaEgyptian TortoiseTestudo kleinmanniLeopard tortoiseStigmochelys pardalisRed-footed tortoiseChelonoidis carbonariusYellow-footed TortoiseChelonoidis denticulatusElongated tortoiseIndotestudo elongata

What this sheet states

77%
TemperatureHumidityEnclosure sizeActivityOriginDietSourcesUVB

This sheet states 5 of 7 of the fields this product runs on. What is missing turns something off: enclosure size audit, the diet section. We show the gap rather than fill it with a plausible number.

UVB is measured but does not count: it is absent from 421 of 678 sheets, and on most of them that is not a gap, since a nocturnal snake's sheet has no reason to state a UV index. Counting it would call the library incomplete without cause.