I haven't owned any tortoises, though have cared for many in my time -- I used to work at Petsmart, and I was one of about two of us in the entire petcare department who actually cared about the animals. We had a lot of russians and greeks come through, though we didn't carry anything large like a sulcata. Dr. Carr over at Banfield had a 50yr old sulcata who was a petty cool guy. Have you ever looked at indian/sri lankan star tortoises? The pattern on their carapace is super cool looking, and they also stay small.
-MeowMix