Not to steal your thread or anything but I am also concerned of the babies shells I just got. They are Russians and will be a year old in December. Is this normal shell growth for a baby or is it starting to pyramid ? The breeder said she mists once a week which concerns me also I don't think they were soaked enough. I soak them a lot and mist their enclosure have soaking dishes and live plants in it as well to help with humidity.
I never let them roam my house I was afraid it was pyramiding i don't believe she had her humidity correctly hopefully I can stop it and it'll smooth out a little I am also going to put a humidifier in the room with their enclosure to help out and will test what their humidity is at today
I was just curious since she didn't take the best care of them if they were pyramiding .
soaking the substrate and having a soaking dish still doesn't do it for me I need high humidity I have red foot yearlings and Russian yearlings . For me best is using a humidifier that my husband hooked up into an automatic humidity mister into the red foots enclosure and my humidity stays in the 80s. I would honestly invest some money and get a reptile fogger mister they have them at all pet stores and reptile shops they are pricey that's why we made our own but having an automatic humidity mister works wonders that's just my opinion from my expierence with my torties I live in a very dry state humidity is 20% outside today so we now hooked another humidifier up into the Russians to get their humidity higher and I will check it with my hygrometer soon
I'm going to but in on this post toI just checked and my substrate is dry on top nice and wet at bottom I like adding humidifiers because I live in Colorado very dry here I like having them for my skin, I hooked up a humidifier to my red foots keeps my enclosure in the 80s for humidity so I'm going to do that with my Russian yearlings .i can't give them 12 hrs of sun right now cuz winter but anytime it's sunny and warm their outside in their outdoor enclosure . They will live outside in the warm months. Their doing really good very healthy this was the girls 2nd clutch so I don't think she knows exactly what to do yet I will have to send her your post cuz I don't know how to explain it to her . Thank you guys for your great advice helps a lot
go to the Russian care section and print out the care sheet for hatchling Russians. There's also ones for adults. Give them to her. Because obviously she is keeping them to dry. Mistine won't do a darn thing. And especially in Colorado where it is so dry year round. And the heating and air conditioning we use in our houses also make it dry. That's why I suggest some sort of covered enclosure for adults or babies. It is easier to control humidity and temperature.
Yes that is a great idea to give them to her without coming off rude! Colorado is very dry I have humidifiers in my rooms. Thank you I didn't know if they needed the high humidity like my red foot yearlings , I heard to treat yearlings-2 year olds like hatchlings? Hers are very pyramided right now bad,mine have stopped does not seem to be getting worse. They get great care all day I am caring for them I am home all day everyday (stay at home mom) fresh food good size enclosure ( will need to be bigger when they grow ) and they have outdoor enclosure as well so they get a lot of exercise . I do not let them walk around my house I have 3 dogs 2 cats and 2 monster toddlers haha.every day I'm learning more and more from this forum it's helping me become a better tortoise owner thank you allI'm going to but in on this post to
Just remember that with the Mediterranean species like Russian Greeks and Herman's you are not going for the super high humidity's like you would be with Leopard say or even the red foots. 50 to 70% would be just fine for Mediterranean species hatchlings.
Sometimes I think a little too much emphasis is put on pyramiding, it makes people expect something like a bowling ball smoothness to their tortoises shell. If you provide the proper hydration and humidity levels, the proper diet, proper room for exercise than your tortoise will be fine. You will not see a bowling ball Smoove tortoise in the wild.
Oh your good I didn't need advice on the red foots just the baby Russians and Leigti helped me a lot with my questions now I can rest easy tonight ☺️Thank you both so much I learned a lot about caring for pyramiding on this thread
. Thank you Maggie3fan and Leigti for helping me out and answering all my questions! I feel so much better after this threadI just checked and my substrate is dry on top nice and wet at bottom I like adding humidifiers because I live in Colorado very dry here I like having them for my skin, I hooked up a humidifier to my red foots keeps my enclosure in the 80s for humidity so I'm going to do that with my Russian yearlings .i can't give them 12 hrs of sun right now cuz winter but anytime it's sunny and warm their outside in their outdoor enclosure . They will live outside in the warm months. Their doing really good very healthy this was the girls 2nd clutch so I don't think she knows exactly what to do yet I will have to send her your post cuz I don't know how to explain it to her . Thank you guys for your great advice helps a lot
Oh yes of coarse they have their light on for 12 hrs but Suns always best
their outside today it's 70 here in Colorado been a gorgeous fall
How bigs your enclosure? That's so cute! My red foot enclosure is 7ftX 6ft Its deff like finding a needle in the hay stack! Here's a picture of my red foot enclosureThanks
I just got two yearling redfoots yesterday and their about 3inches and they haven't stopped eating but my girl foxy was like that when I got her she was being picky . It takes months for them to starve , make sure she's hydrated and she'll be good . Tortoises hate change so it does take them a bit to get comfortable in their new area. Mine go to sleep in their hide every night I don't put them in there they go on their own I have their hide with moss and I keep it tiny bit moist like in the wild when they burrow somewhere to sleep its humid so I tried recreating that for them and they love their hide
i made mine really big even though mine are small 3inches , so I wouldn't have to build another when they got bigger they don't like change and I want them to be comfortable in their home , in the spring it'll have a tortoise door leading out to their outdoor enclosure so they can go in and out whenever
Casper chowing down on some strawberries today .. Have u tried strawberries ? My red foots love them
Here's Wendy doing all better now she just had some dinner and now off to exploring
. The Russians babies I got had a little pyramiding going on when I got them and it has stopped, I looked at the lady's remainder babies she has for sale and their pyramiding is so horrible now I feel bad for the babies I don't know how to tell her in a nice way that she's not taking care of them correctly. I've never seen babies with such bad pyramiding before their not even a year old yet . I screen shot a picture of one of her babies that's still for sale, you can see how bad their pyramiding is 
We got a few different conversations about different tortoises on here so its little confusing lol I do not know anything about caring for sulcatas or Hermans wish I did though
I believe they moved it to my own thread now so no more confusion , didn't mean to hijack someone's post and you did help me you gave great advice it's neat learning about different species . I found the different species section I didn't know they had that awesome
