Baby Sulcata won't eat much food

[JoshGoldberg]

Where do you live Josh? Unless the inside of your house is 90% humidity, there is no way your enclosure humidity is that high in an open topped enclosure.

Those tortoise houses are too small and they can't stand up to moisture.

I hate to be discouraging and its really cool that you put in this effort, but that enclosure is not going to work well and your pyramiding will continue to get worse. I'm sorry to give such bad news when you are trying so hard, but believe me, I did it wrong for a lot of years. I've tried it so many ways and open tops just are not going to work very well. They can't hold in humidity and heat. Having the lights outside and on top creates a chimney effect that draws your heat and humidity up and out of the enclosure to be replaced by cooler drier room air.

You may feel frustrated right now, but that is nothing compared to how bad you will feel years from now looking at a lumpy tortoise and knowing that you could have stopped it. I speak from experience here. It sucks.

Also remember that stopping pyramiding in progress is a lot harder than preventing pyramiding in the first place.

So what housing do you recommend? And I live in salt lake city Utah

 

[JoshGoldberg]

I have been spraying it with water, and if I need to shall I get a humidifier?

 

[JoshGoldberg]

I just saw Ur post on open topped enclosure and I can most likely get a peice of acrylic, remove one side of the enclosure put that in its place make the sides come up more and add a roof that is also removable as my lights have a hook to bw hooked on by string, would this work?

 

[DawnH]

Brand new surroundings! 100 percent eco earth substrate with 90 percent humidity all around and 100 percent humidity in the hide, grass seads planted randomly with a cuttlefish bone, soaking dish and a hard eating surface to wear down her beak, do I need anything else?View attachment 135534 

The substrate doesn't even look moist, and you are still working with an open top, so I highly doubt that is 90% humidity. What type of gauge are you using? Her shell is talking to you. She needs that humidity to be smooth.

 

[DawnH]

View attachment 135498 is her shell Pyramiding?

Yes

 

[JoshGoldberg]

The substrate doesn't even look moist, and you are still working with an open top, so I highly doubt that is 90% humidity. What type of gauge are you using? Her shell is talking to you. She needs that humidity to be smooth.

Yes, it's quite moist, if you squeeze it between your fingers water drips out, quite a bit as well

 

[Tom]

So what housing do you recommend? And I live in salt lake city Utah

I asked where you live, because if it was Florida or Louisiana and the windows were open, you might have high humidity in the room. In UT, no such luck.

I recommend closed chambers. Here are some links:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/closed-chambers.32333/

 

[JoshGoldberg]

The substrate doesn't even look moist, and you are still working with an open top, so I highly doubt that is 90% humidity. What type of gauge are you using? Her shell is talking to you. She needs that humidity to be smooth.

I am In the process of making some of the sides taller, adding a glass front and making it closed in. But that will take time so for now I am spraying the substrate every 30 minutes that,I am awake

 

[JoshGoldberg]

I asked where you live, because if it was Florida or Louisiana and the windows were open, you might have high humidity in the room. In UT, no such luck.

I recommend closed chambers. Here are some links:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/closed-chambers.32333/

I have read them, would it be possible to turn my open top into a closed top? I have how I will attempt to do this above ^

 

[Tom]

That will help, but you still have the problem of the small size, the wood that will rot and leak and the poor design. I'm sorry man. I hate that those enclosures are on the market. People like you that have great intentions and really want to do the right thing for their tortoise buy those things and unfortunately they just don't work well. I would take it back and use the money to buy a big horse trough from a feed store or a really big plastic bin from the hardware store. These will give your tortoise more space and be easier to close in. That will last until you can get a proper closed chamber built. Once you have the closed chamber built, life will be easy for you and better for your tortoise.

 

[JoshGoldberg]

That will help, but you still have the problem of the small size, the wood that will rot and leak and the poor design. I'm sorry man. I hate that those enclosures are on the market. People like you that have great intentions and really want to do the right thing for their tortoise buy those things and unfortunately they just don't work well. I would take it back and use the money to buy a big horse trough from a feed store or a really big plastic bin from the hardware store. These will give your tortoise more space and be easier to close in. That will last until you can get a proper closed chamber built. Once you have the closed chamber built, life will be easy for you and better for your tortoise.

Would wood waterproofer work? We have a tub in the Garage...

 

[Tom]

Would wood waterproofer work? We have a tub in the Garage...

No. The fumes are bad initially, and none of those products are meant to be continually wet.

 

[DawnH]

No. The fumes are bad initially, and none of those products are meant to be continually wet.

Not to mention that does not add any more space for her.