Nicco (tentative name) is home!

[edricivan]

I had everything bought before today and setup when I brought him/her home. Temp is constant in the enclosure at 28.5 deg C (without the CHE on), humidity is at 75-80%, it's 35 deg C under the basking lamp.

His carapace is not that smooth, but I'm hoping with some TLC he'll get there.

 

[Jacqui]

He is a cutie. Are you going to try adding plants or other things to give him more security feeling?

 

[edricivan]

He is a cutie. Are you going to try adding plants or other things to give him more security feeling?

I was thinking about that today and I'd love to do that. Wouldn't he just try to eat it all though? What kind of plants do you suggest?

 

[Jacqui]

Yes, but think about it as giving him plants to do natural graze upon, using different muscles then eating human prepared foods plus mental stimulation. Could plant some that hang down into enclosure, that way he won't kill the plants base. Could use growing pots/trays were you plant seeds and let them grow awhile. Once big enough plant the entire tray into the enclosure. If you use several trays and rotate them, you can have an almost continuous supply. Lots of different ways you could do it and huge choices of plants then too.

Maybe a stick/log to walk over/around. Or a nice flat rock.

 

[Speedy-1]

I put a flat piece of flagstone under Speedy's UV lamp , he loves to lay on it and sun himself . He also loves munching on his cuttlebone , which is a great source of calcium . Also have some plastic Ivy type leaves in there that he likes to plow through and hide behind . I took out the logs because he has outgrown them all .

 

[edricivan]

Yes, but think about it as giving him plants to do natural graze upon, using different muscles then eating human prepared foods plus mental stimulation. Could plant some that hang down into enclosure, that way he won't kill the plants base. Could use growing pots/trays were you plant seeds and let them grow awhile. Once big enough plant the entire tray into the enclosure. If you use several trays and rotate them, you can have an almost continuous supply. Lots of different ways you could do it and huge choices of plants then too.

Maybe a stick/log to walk over/around. Or a nice flat rock.

Ah gotcha! I'll definitely look into that. I just gotta be careful not to get something that will cause him to tip over

 

[edricivan]

I put a flat piece of flagstone under Speedy's UV lamp , he loves to lay on it and sun himself . He also loves munching on his cuttlebone , which is a great source of calcium . Also have some plastic Ivy type leaves in there that he likes to plow through and hide behind . I took out the logs because he has outgrown them all .

Yeah I have to wait till next weekend to get some cuttlebone. Right now I'm just gonna have to give him some calc supplements. I like the stone idea, though wouldn't that get too hot?

 

[edricivan]

Took this in the am.

 

[edricivan]

Any tips on how to improve his carapace?

 

[Yvonne G]

All you can do is go over the care sheets for baby sulcatas and set him up like that. I doubt his carapace will do much changing. Once it starts, it continues on that plane. Just do the best you can, and he'll be ok, but never smooth. But that's ok too. I have several pine cone-like tortoises and they're happy and healthy animals.

 

[edricivan]

All you can do is go over the care sheets for baby sulcatas and set him up like that. I doubt his carapace will do much changing. Once it starts, it continues on that plane. Just do the best you can, and he'll be ok, but never smooth. But that's ok too. I have several pine cone-like tortoises and they're happy and healthy animals.

Going over the posts here I reckoned as much, but when I saw them all I felt bad to turn them down a good home just because of a little imperfection. I just hope I can keep the pyramiding at bay (for health reasons of course).

 

[edricivan]

It's Nicco's 4th day with me. A big storm just passed and we got our first morning sunshine in a week. Here he is munching on jute leaves (the breeder I bought him form had him on it)





He missed and started munching on the carpet of our garden. Is this willowherb? I read in tortoisetable it's safe to eat.



Striking a pose before I took him in for his daily soak.

 

[Tom]

Your set up looks great.

Tips for improving the carapace:
1. Daily soaks.
2. Spray the carapace with plain water several times a day. Collected rainwater, distilled or RO water works best for this so you don't get hard water stains.
3. Have the right enclosure with humid hides, which you have already done.

Using a flat rock under the basking lamp will actually make it easier to assess and adjust your basking temperature. You can raise or lower the bulb, or if its a regular incandescent (not a mercury vapor bulb), you can use a rheostat to get the basking temp under the bulb just right.

 

[edricivan]

Your set up looks great.

Tips for improving the carapace:
1. Daily soaks.
2. Spray the carapace with plain water several times a day. Collected rainwater, distilled or RO water works best for this so you don't get hard water stains.
3. Have the right enclosure with humid hides, which you have already done.

Using a flat rock under the basking lamp will actually make it easier to assess and adjust your basking temperature. You can raise or lower the bulb, or if its a regular incandescent (not a mercury vapor bulb), you can use a rheostat to get the basking temp under the bulb just right.

1. check thanks to your care sheet 2.0
2. check. We have a filtration system for our house drinking water, I'm not sure it's RO though. Is this ok?
3. check thanks to your enclosure thread

I'm using a 100W Exo terra basking bulb (non UV), unfortunately there's no rheostat available here but I already have one on the way from the US. I'll grab a flat rock on the way home later.

I'm currently using an infrared thermometer. I'm at 100 deg basking spot (left), 82.4 warm side(middle), 80 cool side (right). As for the night time temp I have the CHE on a timer to go on for 15 minutes every hour until my reptile thermostat arrives.

 

[Tom]

2. check. We have a filtration system for our house drinking water, I'm not sure it's RO though. Is this ok?

Any drinkable water is okay, but if it has a high mineral content it will begin to leave behind hard water stains over time. Rainwater, distilled and RO have very low mineral contents and they don't leave hard water stains on the carapace. This is just a cosmetic thing, and not harmful to the tortoise. I just prefer them to not have hard water stains.

 

[edricivan]

Any drinkable water is okay, but if it has a high mineral content it will begin to leave behind hard water stains over time. Rainwater, distilled and RO have very low mineral contents and they don't leave hard water stains on the carapace. This is just a cosmetic thing, and not harmful to the tortoise. I just prefer them to not have hard water stains.

Gotcha! Distilled it is.

 

[edricivan]

Your set up looks great.

Tips for improving the carapace:
1. Daily soaks.
2. Spray the carapace with plain water several times a day. Collected rainwater, distilled or RO water works best for this so you don't get hard water stains.
3. Have the right enclosure with humid hides, which you have already done.

Using a flat rock under the basking lamp will actually make it easier to assess and adjust your basking temperature. You can raise or lower the bulb, or if its a regular incandescent (not a mercury vapor bulb), you can use a rheostat to get the basking temp under the bulb just right.

I've decided to spend the latter part of my Saturday reading the "End of Pyramiding" thread. I'm currently on page 17 lol. I just noticed that Nicco's carapace (who is currently 3 months old) is similar to your Daisy's when you got her. Do you have an updated photo? I'm curious to see how changing her living conditions improved her carapace as an adult.

 

[edricivan]

He's getting more settled I think. He gets 1 hour of sunlight and 30 mins of forced soaking per day. But he still prefers to soak a lot and/or stay under his basking lamp. He's learned to use the humid hide. I used @Tom 's way of putting him in every night at light's out the first week.

Consistent conditions:
Basking temp: 37deg C
Warm temp: 29-30 deg c
Cool side: 28-9 deg C
Night temp: 29 deg C

Diet: Grasses and weeds. 2 Mazuri pellets 3x per week with calc supplement.

I should really get a scale.He already looks like he got bigger.

 

[franz_see]

Love your setup it's actually similar to mine - 3 main temp zones, each one has its own hide, water, food, etc.

Some tips you can add in the future once you have the time:
1. deeper substrate so that hey can start burying himself
2. add grass in. if the grass is lower than his beak, he'll graze on it, if it's taller than his shell, he will sleep underneath (and most likely unroot it )

 

[edricivan]

Love your setup it's actually similar to mine - 3 main temp zones, each one has its own hide, water, food, etc.

Some tips you can add in the future once you have the time:
1. deeper substrate so that hey can start burying himself
2. add grass in. if the grass is lower than his beak, he'll graze on it, if it's taller than his shell, he will sleep underneath (and most likely unroot it )

I think when the time comes to replace the coco peat (how long does that take?) I'll make it deeper this time. As for the grass I'm currently growing some, if they take i'll add them in