Normal growth? Help me :(

thegame2388

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Got to three days a week, and up the quantity a little bit.

Thanks. He's been pretty much living the life for the past 1.5 years with nothing changed. He's gaining. Just wanted a confirmation from Tom the expert.
 

Oxalis

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3. Enjoy these new pictures.

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Thoughts?
Oh my gosh, what a cutie!! Inquisitive with beautiful eyes! :)
 

thegame2388

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It took me a minute of looking them over, but I see the difference.

You made your lid quite a bit differently than mine. My lids sit like a cap with a rim that sticks over the top of the box. The roof of my lid rests on the weather stripping that rests on the top rim of the box.

With the position of your hinges and the way your lid sits, you are losing more heat and humidity out the top than I am. That coupled with the big heater in a relatively small box. I run that size heater in a 4x8 box. If we had one of those FLIR scopes that sees heat, I bet this would be obvious.

There is nothing wrong with your box or lid articulation. It is just different than mine, and that would likely account for the differences in humidity retention we are seeing.

Hey Tom, I figured I should tag you since you've always been helpful with my rare updates. Well...here's another one! I'll post weight and pictures information later.

Few observations:
1) I recently bought cuttlebone and he seems to love it, and devour it. How much is too much? Should I just him eat the whole thing in one sitting?
2) My tort doesn't burrow whatsoever. Maybe it's our ideal California weather or the ideal paradise I've created inside his night box, but I've never seen burrowing behavior
3) At what point should I just completely remove the humidifier, and other gadgets (except the heater) from his night box and go basic since he's almost 3 years old? Just to make room, you know?
4) To piggy back on that last question, the size of the nightbox is perfect, however, I feel like the entrance might be a little tight perhaps a year from now. Any thoughts?
 

Tom

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Hey Tom, I figured I should tag you since you've always been helpful with my rare updates. Well...here's another one! I'll post weight and pictures information later.

Few observations:
1) I recently bought cuttlebone and he seems to love it, and devour it. How much is too much? Should I just him eat the whole thing in one sitting?
2) My tort doesn't burrow whatsoever. Maybe it's our ideal California weather or the ideal paradise I've created inside his night box, but I've never seen burrowing behavior
3) At what point should I just completely remove the humidifier, and other gadgets (except the heater) from his night box and go basic since he's almost 3 years old? Just to make room, you know?
4) To piggy back on that last question, the size of the nightbox is perfect, however, I feel like the entrance might be a little tight perhaps a year from now. Any thoughts?


What size is he now?

1. I'd let him eat as much cuttle bone as he wants. They have growth spurts and the cutttle bone will insure that he has enough calcium to sustain healthy growth. I buy cuttle bone in 5 pound bulk bags.
2. Thats pretty normal. A lot of them don't dig. …until the day they do.
3. This depends on a lot of factors. Remove whatever gadgets you don't need to maintain the correct conditions inside the box. Mine only have a heater and some sort of bucket or water vessel for humidity one they are about 10".
4. I build my entrance doors big enough to fit an adult. I don't want to build it twice. Sounds like you will have to build it at least twice.
 

thegame2388

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What size is he now?

1. I'd let him eat as much cuttle bone as he wants. They have growth spurts and the cutttle bone will insure that he has enough calcium to sustain healthy growth. I buy cuttle bone in 5 pound bulk bags.
2. Thats pretty normal. A lot of them don't dig. …until the day they do.
3. This depends on a lot of factors. Remove whatever gadgets you don't need to maintain the correct conditions inside the box. Mine only have a heater and some sort of bucket or water vessel for humidity one they are about 10".
4. I build my entrance doors big enough to fit an adult. I don't want to build it twice. Sounds like you will have to build it at least twice.

1. Just checked his weight. He weighs 16.6lbs. Turns 3 years old in late August.
2. Phew.
3. Correction conditions...as in...heat and humidity or just heat? What about the box with all the electrical equipment...I can move that outside or get rid of everything altogether....minus the heater. Is that good?
4. I measured how more room he has to fit. It's about 6-7 inches in width. Perhaps another 1-2 years?
 

Tom

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1. Just checked his weight. He weighs 16.6lbs. Turns 3 years old in late August.
2. Phew.
3. Correction conditions...as in...heat and humidity or just heat? What about the box with all the electrical equipment...I can move that outside or get rid of everything altogether....minus the heater. Is that good?
4. I measured how more room he has to fit. It's about 6-7 inches in width. Perhaps another 1-2 years?

I make my doors 16" all and 26" wide for a sulcata. Only an exceptionally large male will not fit through that.
 

thegame2388

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I make my doors 16" all and 26" wide for a sulcata. Only an exceptionally large male will not fit through that.


16" tall and 26" wide? I'll go back and check mine. I think I can upgrade if needed.

But apart from that, what do you think about removing the humidifier?
 

Tom

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But apart from that, what do you think about removing the humidifier?

If you are able to maintain the desired humidity without t, then I think you are fine. Check humidity levels for a few days with the humidifier off and see what you get. If its too low, keep the unit in there and running as you have been. If humidity in your night box stays high enough with more passive methods, like water tubs on shelves for example, then you won't need to run it.
 

thegame2388

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If you are able to maintain the desired humidity without t, then I think you are fine. Check humidity levels for a few days with the humidifier off and see what you get. If its too low, keep the unit in there and running as you have been. If humidity in your night box stays high enough with more passive methods, like water tubs on shelves for example, then you won't need to run it.

For a 3 year old, what's the correct amount? Not to mention, he's only in the nightbox from about 6pm-11am....so I have it on a timer, and I have the damn reptifogger pointed right at the usual corner he sleeps at, so I don't need to have the entire ambient humidity set at 80% or whatever.

But, let's say in general, what would you like the humidity to be while he sleeps? 60%?
 

thegame2388

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Picture update: turns 3 in late August while weighing 16.6lbs or 7568g. Say cheese!
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Tom

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I like 60-80%. If what you are doing is working well, why are you changing things?
 

thegame2388

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I like 60-80%. If what you are doing is working well, why are you changing things?

To be honest, it's just to make room and remove things I don't need. Just expecting him to get bigger in the next year or so. I've been doing it well for nearly 3 years so I'm pretty happy.
 

Tom

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To be honest, it's just to make room and remove things I don't need. Just expecting him to get bigger in the next year or so. I've been doing it well for nearly 3 years so I'm pretty happy.

I used to think that once they reached a certain size that pyramiding was not a concern. I was wrong. If what you are doing is working, I would not want to change it much. Conditions are so dry here, and SoCal grown tortoises can be recognized by their growth patterns. If you want to remove the humidifier, I would check your humidity levels with what you are doing now, and then find a different way to keep it close to that.
 

thegame2388

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I used to think that once they reached a certain size that pyramiding was not a concern. I was wrong. If what you are doing is working, I would not want to change it much. Conditions are so dry here, and SoCal grown tortoises can be recognized by their growth patterns. If you want to remove the humidifier, I would check your humidity levels with what you are doing now, and then find a different way to keep it close to that.

Hmm and what if I told you that what I was doing now was to not care so much about humidity? Like 10-30% level....but I'll try my best to keep that sucker up. At night for sure. I'll have another major update in 3-4 months.
 

Tom

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Hmm and what if I told you that what I was doing now was to not care so much about humidity? Like 10-30% level....but I'll try my best to keep that sucker up. At night for sure. I'll have another major update in 3-4 months.

Sometimes that works for people. That why I said: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Sometimes sulcatas reach a certain size and the growth starts to smooth out, even though conditions are dry and have not changed. We see this with tortoises in the Phoenix AZ area sometimes. Something about that climate there just agrees with tortoises. Here in SoCal, we get the rough growth lines on the sides of the tortoise, like on yours and mine.
 

Gillian M

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I think he looks fine: nothing to worry about.
 

thegame2388

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I think he looks fine: nothing to worry about.

Thank you. And while I've set the Reptifogger to 40% inside his enclosure, I've actually pointed the fogger hose right in the corner where he sleeps. That way, it'll be 40% ambient humidity, but he himself will be moist throughout the night.
 

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Can you share information about what he eats each days for a week in details? Im just curious :D
 

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