New tort in town and totally lost!

[sulcatasweety]

Hi all! My son received a sulcata for his birthday from family members . Being that he's ten I know I will end up taking care of him or her, which is fine because I'm honestly in LOVE with our newest member . Here's my problem(s). I've noticed turbo is pyramiding ! I'm mortified because everything I read says that's bad. I feed turbo a varied diet and he gets about 6-8 hrs sunlight a day and can graze on Bermuda while he is outside. I've been soaking turbo every other day and his tort table stays at 72% humidity. What am I doing wrong? Oh and I've recently found him eating cat poo(gag). What is up with that? I know it can't be good. Any help really appreciated!

 

[jjsull33]

Try soaking him daily for 20-30 min rather than every other, and give him a humid hide in his enclosure that is close to 100% humidity so he can get select hides that are more humid if he chooses to nap or sleep for the night there. Someone with sulcata will come by soon and give you more info, or you can look up the user "Tom" and read the links in his signature, they are great reads for raising sulcata.

 

[sulcatasweety]

Thanks so much! I will try that and see if it helps.

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome.

Where are you? Your climate will help determine some of the advice you get.

Your tortoise should not have access to cat poop. Do your best to pick it up before you turn him loose.

Pyramiding is caused by growth in conditions that are too dry. If you are in a dry climate, then letting him run around outside for 6-8 hours a day is going to make it worse. Also, stopping pyramiding in progress is much more difficult than preventing it, so it will take a long time of the correct conditions for you to see improvement.

What is the indoor enclosure like? What size? How are you heating and lighting it?

 

[Laura]

how long have you had it? its possible it was occurring Before you got him.

 

[sulcatasweety]

Well in in northwest Oklahoma and its pretty dry here. His indoor tortoise table which was made by a friend is smaller than I'd like. It measures two feet by five feet with a second story loft. I know it's too small but currently it's what I have. I do have a CHE and a UVB light in there all g with a basking rock and "watering hole" Tom thank you for thinking about the climate. I suppose it is too dry for him outside on most days. Today I left him out for quite a while because we had a storm last night and it was at 75% humidity and didn't get over 80 degrees. I've begun soaking him twice a day for twenty or so minutes. And I've only had him for a month. He was slightly pyramided when we received him and have visited the pet store he came from. His tank mate seems to be pyramiding also as they were kept in a ten gallon tank on cedar chips and no humidifier. I guess I've received bad advise from them because they never told me that his environment needed to be this way. They said I could just keep him in the back yard, which is why my family thought it would make a good gift [PENSIVE FACE]

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I really love this Lil guy but I'm starting to think I'm in over my head. And I feel horrible but I'm wondering if maybe a Russian might be a little easier for me as I only have a little less than half an acre fenced in. Will this be big enough for turbo to roam?