kristel
New Member
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2014
- Messages
- 23
This is Leonidas, we are assuming it's a he for now. I have posted a little bit about him but would like to get a little bit more feedback now that I've set up his new home properly and have measured him and have him eating a varied diet.
According to the lady who was selling him at the Reptile expo, he is about 7 months old. He is 3.5" and weights 76g.
From what it looks like, is that he is starting to pyramid a little, probably based on the way he was raised at the pet centre.
Here is a better picture of his scutes. Don't mind the white stuff on his face - leftover calcium powder from when he was eating. As you can see there is a little bit of pyramiding but I think it's nothing major and as long as I keep him in a humid environment he should grow smoother.
I can't get a picture embedded for the last one but it's a picture of his enclosure. I've been able to keep the RH inside above 50% at all times with the help of a plexiglass cover over the tortoise table. In the humid hid box temps are 85-87F with RH between 85-95%. The basking spot has been recorded between 98-105F but the humidity here does go lower (I cut a hole in the plexiglass to allow UVB to get in). I have 2 heat emitters to keep the humid box at the correct temp, a CHE and an infrared one that I will replace with a CHE once I get a chance... I already had the lamp and wanted to keep the heat consistent for now while I get the second CHE. I also have a thermostat attached to both heat lamps with the probe inside his humid box (temps don't go below 85F) and the temp around the area is about 87-90F when the heat is on, once the temps dip to about 84, the heat turns back on.
I'm trying to prevent further pyramiding, and I'm trying to get him to sleep in his humid box at night. I had been successful before but recently he seems to wake up from me moving him, and then walk right out and proceed to the less humid rock house on the other side of the enclosure. The humidity there isn't as high as the humid box and I'm wondering if that is a problem if I don't want him to pyramid. Maybe I just need to continually move him to the humid box at the end of the night in hopes he'll want to stay there eventually.
I soak him for ~10 min everyday in the morning after he eats in warm to pretty warm water and mist him as well. He soaks while I mist his entire enclosure for the day. He is eating well and drinking water when I bathe him and I've seen him drink from his saucer too, and has been pooping every 2-4 days. He is being fed a variety of leafy greens (dandelion, spring mix without spinach, collard greens, spider plant, gerbera leaves) with a sprinkle of Ca with D3 and without D3 on alternating days. I only get to feed him once a day because by the time I get home it's already lights out and he's fast asleep.
I'm planning to increase the variety of his diet by creating my own indoor garden (going to be growing weeds, grasses and petunias indoors, as well as a couple of succulents I recently bought).
Should I be worried that he doesn't like to sleep in his humid hide considering he's already got a bit of pyramiding going on or should I just let him sleep where he wants to?
Thanks for reading this god-awful long post! Plus you get to see our little tort, such a cutie!
PS, I have since moved the infrared light closer to the humid hide box to keep it warm. Basking spot is on the left side near the rock cave, which he likes to climb.
According to the lady who was selling him at the Reptile expo, he is about 7 months old. He is 3.5" and weights 76g.
From what it looks like, is that he is starting to pyramid a little, probably based on the way he was raised at the pet centre.
Here is a better picture of his scutes. Don't mind the white stuff on his face - leftover calcium powder from when he was eating. As you can see there is a little bit of pyramiding but I think it's nothing major and as long as I keep him in a humid environment he should grow smoother.
I can't get a picture embedded for the last one but it's a picture of his enclosure. I've been able to keep the RH inside above 50% at all times with the help of a plexiglass cover over the tortoise table. In the humid hid box temps are 85-87F with RH between 85-95%. The basking spot has been recorded between 98-105F but the humidity here does go lower (I cut a hole in the plexiglass to allow UVB to get in). I have 2 heat emitters to keep the humid box at the correct temp, a CHE and an infrared one that I will replace with a CHE once I get a chance... I already had the lamp and wanted to keep the heat consistent for now while I get the second CHE. I also have a thermostat attached to both heat lamps with the probe inside his humid box (temps don't go below 85F) and the temp around the area is about 87-90F when the heat is on, once the temps dip to about 84, the heat turns back on.
I'm trying to prevent further pyramiding, and I'm trying to get him to sleep in his humid box at night. I had been successful before but recently he seems to wake up from me moving him, and then walk right out and proceed to the less humid rock house on the other side of the enclosure. The humidity there isn't as high as the humid box and I'm wondering if that is a problem if I don't want him to pyramid. Maybe I just need to continually move him to the humid box at the end of the night in hopes he'll want to stay there eventually.
I soak him for ~10 min everyday in the morning after he eats in warm to pretty warm water and mist him as well. He soaks while I mist his entire enclosure for the day. He is eating well and drinking water when I bathe him and I've seen him drink from his saucer too, and has been pooping every 2-4 days. He is being fed a variety of leafy greens (dandelion, spring mix without spinach, collard greens, spider plant, gerbera leaves) with a sprinkle of Ca with D3 and without D3 on alternating days. I only get to feed him once a day because by the time I get home it's already lights out and he's fast asleep.
I'm planning to increase the variety of his diet by creating my own indoor garden (going to be growing weeds, grasses and petunias indoors, as well as a couple of succulents I recently bought).
Should I be worried that he doesn't like to sleep in his humid hide considering he's already got a bit of pyramiding going on or should I just let him sleep where he wants to?
Thanks for reading this god-awful long post! Plus you get to see our little tort, such a cutie!
PS, I have since moved the infrared light closer to the humid hide box to keep it warm. Basking spot is on the left side near the rock cave, which he likes to climb.
. He chooses where he wants to sleep.
