Pyramiding

[Squirts]

Hello so I have a 11 month old sulcata and I'm starting to notice her lil shell is slightly pyramiding. His lil home is all open and I a heat lamp and a sun light on him but the humidity is hard to get it up to about 80-90 so is there something I can do to get it there? I also wet the dirt and the moss that's below the heat light but still doesn't get to be that high. I'm also making a bigger home outside so he can be out side during the day . So how can I also keep the humidity up?

 

[Minority2]

Your indoor enclosure needs to be covered with either a lid or a greenhouse tent. An open tortoise table cannot maintain 80+ humidity if the room the enclosure sits in is not at or above that level.

1. You refer to your tortoise's enclosure as lil home. What are the dimensions of your current enclosure? Young sulcatas require a lot of room.

2. Young tortoises should not spend the majority of their time outdoors. They're often not ready to acclimate to the dry and uncontrollable conditions of outdoor living. 2-4 hours during the warmest periods of the day would be quite enough until they become much older.

3. What are you current basking spot temperature under the heat lamp? What type of bulb is this specifically?

4. What "sun light" are you using? Again, can you specify what the make and model is?

5. Are you using night time heating? What type? What are your nighttime temperatures?

6. How much soakings are you giving your tortoise?

Care sheets you may have read since joining but may still be helpful as a refresher:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/

 

[Tom]

In addition to M2's questions, what size is your tortoise? Your climate will be very good for them to live outside full time in another year or so.

 

[Squirts]

Your indoor enclosure needs to be covered with either a lid or a greenhouse tent. An open tortoise table cannot maintain 80+ humidity if the room the enclosure sits in is not at or above that level.

1. You refer to your tortoise's enclosure as lil home. What are the dimensions of your current enclosure? Young sulcatas require a lot of room.
ANSWER: I'm not sure of the dimensions of the home but when I said lil I meant because it's his home. He actually has a really big enclosure because the last house was to small so we built him a new one.

2. Young tortoises should not spend the majority of their time outdoors. They're often not ready to acclimate to the dry and uncontrollable conditions of outdoor living. 2-4 hours during the warmest periods of the day would be quite enough until they become much older.
ANSWER: yeah I would probably leave him out about 4 house a day to get some good sun and shade.
3. What are you current basking spot temperature under the heat lamp? What type of bulb is this specifically?
ANSWER: It runs between 90-100. I'm not sure if Im spelling it right but it's repti something. I got it on Amazon that a friend that breeds sulcata told me about.

4. What "sun light" are you using? Again, can you specify what the make and model is? It's the same brand " repti" something. And that's is about 50v I want to say. I switch it out every 4 months because I heard it becomes less. And right now that's it's cold I have both lights on .

5. Are you using night time heating? What type? What are your nighttime temperatures?
ANSWER: I use the heating lamp so I turn off the "sun light" so it's just that red light at night.

How much soakings are you giving your tortoise?
ANSWER: I spray him everyday and I were all that mulch looking stuff that I also got from a reptile store everyday. But I soak in a tub for about 30 every other day in the sun. Warm water.
I hope I'm doing what I need to do. But if I have to cover the top of his house I will.

Care sheets you may have read since joining but may still be helpful as a refresher:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/

 

[Squirts]

In addition to M2's questions, what size is your tortoise? Your climate will be very good for them to live outside full time in another year or so.

He's about 6inches right now. I heard when he's 10 I can move him outside full time right?

 

[Minority2]

5. Do not use red bulbs. Tortoises are very sensitive to color and may become tricked into eating things they should not be eating if you continue to use red bulbs. Use a ceramic heat emitter or a reptile heating panel instead.

1. A 6 inch Sulcata should have at least a 6-8 x 3-4 ft enclosure. At 8-10 inches they should be fine if left outside in a escape and predator proof enclosure.

3. Zoo Med, the main brand behind Reptisun, has different types of bulbs under that name. Which one(s) are you specifically using? Please include either a link or picture(s).

Unsafe bulbs such as compact florescent bulbs have been known to harm tortoises. While companies have eventually issued fixes to these products, many old versions of them, practically identical to the new ones, are still being sold in the market to this day. This is why questions like these are so important and must be figured out as early as possible.

4. Again, refer to question 3.

6. Recent studies have shown that humidity is a large contributing factor in preventing pyramiding in young tortoise. Many of us generally recommend soaking/bathing young tortoises daily and other supplemental practices to keep pyramiding in check.

Some studies have attributed the first 3 years of a tortoise's life as the most important developmental period of a tortoise's overall growth. Their level of care, the amount of space provided, and their diets during that time period may determine how well they grow in thrive in the future.

 

[Squirts]

5. Do not use red bulbs. Tortoises are very sensitive to color and may become tricked into eating things they should not be eating if you continue to use red bulbs. Use a ceramic heat emitter or a reptile heating panel instead.

1. A 6 inch Sulcata should have at least a 6-8 x 3-4 ft enclosure. At 8-10 inches they should be fine if left outside in a escape and predator proof enclosure.

3. Zoo Med, the main brand behind Reptisun, has different types of bulbs under that name. Which one(s) are you specifically using? Please include either a link or picture(s).

Unsafe bulbs such as compact florescent bulbs have been known to harm tortoises. While companies have eventually issued fixes to these products, many old versions of them, practically identical to the new ones, are still being sold in the market to this day. This is why questions like these are so important and must be figured out as early as possible.

4. Again, refer to question 3.

6. Recent studies have shown that humidity is a large contributing factor in preventing pyramiding in young tortoise. Many of us generally recommend soaking/bathing young tortoises daily and other supplemental practices to keep pyramiding in check.

Some studies have attributed the first 3 years of a tortoise's life as the most important developmental period of a tortoise's overall growth. Their level of care, the amount of space provided, and their diets during that time period may determine how well they grow in thrive in the future.

 

[Squirts]

This is what I bought..

 

[Squirts]

So if that red light isn't good to use which one should I buy

 

[Minority2]

So if that red light isn't good to use which one should I buy

For night time heating use either a ceramic heat emitter or a reptile heating panel. Examples below. Wattage is dependent on amount of space needed for heating:
http://www.reptilebasics.com/rbi-radiant-heat-panels
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=ceramic+heat+emitter

These pet-branded basking bulbs do not provide UV(B) and costs at least 3x or more than a standard incandescent flood bulb would. A simple incandescent flood bulb costs around $1.50-2+ depending on the amount purchased.

You have not included any pictures of a UV(B) bulb. Do you not have one? Did you forget to take a picture of it? Are you not going to use one?

I personally am not a fan of the Fluker's brand or any tortoise pellet food brand that contains color dyes.

 

[Squirts]

For night time heating use either a ceramic heat emitter or a reptile heating panel. Examples below. Wattage is dependent on amount of space needed for heating:
http://www.reptilebasics.com/rbi-radiant-heat-panels
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=ceramic+heat+emitter

These pet-branded basking bulbs do not provide UV(B) and costs at least 3x or more than a standard incandescent flood bulb would. A simple incandescent flood bulb costs around $1.50-2+ depending on the amount purchased.

You have not included any pictures of a UV(B) bulb. Do you not have one? Did you forget to take a picture of it? Are you not going to use one?

I personally am not a fan of the Fluker's brand or any tortoise pellet food brand that contains color dyes.

I thought this one was the UV . I have a friend that showed me all her stuff that she bought for her tortoise that is now 10 years old. If you don't like that brand which brand is best. I went with all the recommendation she gave me because of the fact she has about 4 small tortoise's and a 10 year old .

 

[Minority2]

I thought this one was the UV . I have a friend that showed me all her stuff that she bought for her tortoise that is now 10 years old. If you don't like that brand which brand is best. I went with all the recommendation she gave me because of the fact she has about 4 small tortoise's and a 10 year old .

Some tortoises have been know to be able to survive poor conditions for many years. For example wild caught adult Russian tortoises used to be a very popular classroom pet. They were never given the correct level of care and or provided with anything other than a heat bulb. Some of these tortoises still managed to survive for very long periods; they were most likely not very healthy nor active. However, a greater number of these tortoises often died prematurely because of the incorrect level care and poor conditions. Teachers of these classrooms often replaced these tortoises without considering how the reasons why these tortoises are not living as long as they should be.

What I'm trying to say is that the advice you received may very well be outdated information. Recent field and research studies have shown how wrong some of these decades old studies actually were. Instead of listening to someone quoting advice from decades ago you should be listening to people that are constantly experimenting and refining their care practices for the well being of their tortoises. The number of years of owning a tortoise is not experience. The process of going through numerous trial and error experiments while also keeping up with the latest theories and practices of tortoise care is far more valuable than a tortoise owner that may be stuck in the past.

UV(A) rays are not the same as UV(B) rays. Most bulbs have UV(A). Tortoises specifically require UV(B). There is absolutely nothing printed in the package that says it provides UV(B) rays.

This is the type of UV(B) bulb you should be using. T5 HO reptile rated linear florescent bulbs:
http://www.reptilebasics.com/arcadia-desert-12-uvb/arcadia-d3-12-uvb-t5-bulb-46/

Here is a decent t5 HO fixture:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AKKUEV0/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

 

[Squirts]

@Minority2 okay so just to make sure I'm doing this right because this whole time I thought my baby was getting the right lighting. So I need two lights. One that is for the day time that is UVB and a night ceramic light for the night. The temp for night time should be 80-100 with a humidity of 80 or above. And the day time light should be 110w. Should I have both lights on during the day do to my house being cold?

 

[Minority2]

@Minority2 okay so just to make sure I'm doing this right because this whole time I thought my baby was getting the right lighting. So I need two lights. One that is for the day time that is UVB and a night ceramic light for the night. The temp for night time should be 80-100 with a humidity of 80 or above. And the day time light should be 110w. Should I have both lights on during the day do to my house being cold?

1. 1x basking lamp fixture. Temperature directly below the fixture near the substrate level should be approximately 95-100F. 12-14 hour daily cycle.

2. 1-2x linear florescent bulb fixture(s). 1x if you wish to run your UV(B) rated bulb fixture at 12-14 hours. 2x if you wish to only run 1x UV(B) bulb fixture for 4 daily cycles hours while the other 1x ambient lighting florescent fixture is on for the other 8-10 hour daily cycle.

3. 1x ceramic heat emitter or 1x RBI (Reptile Basics Inc) reptile heating panel paired with a thermostat to keep the entire enclosure set for 80F at all times. There shouldn't be high of a fluctuation in temperature levels if you're using a thermostat correctly. The thermostat will also adjust itself to keep your enclosure within the right temperature levels even if the room that houses your enclosure is hot or cold.

If your ambient temperatures are too high (above 90F) it is usually because you are using a very high wattage basking bulb. You'll need to purchase a low enough wattage bulb to where you'll only get 95-100F on the basking spot alone without making the cool side (opposite end of the basking bulb) of the enclosure past 85F. 80F-82F would be a good range to stick with.

4. Keep humidity levels of the entire enclosure above 80% at all times.

Purchase timers and use them for the basking and florescent fixtures.

 

[Squirts]

Okay thanks so much for the advice. I'm going to be purchasing these this week.

 

[Squirts]

@Minority2 sorry to bug you again but I'm purchasing my lights tonight and I was looking into the ones u showed me. I have the clamps already so I wanted to see what lights (UVB) would be best to use. And what heating pad would also be best and the wattage was 75 right?

 

[Minority2]

@Minority2 sorry to bug you again but I'm purchasing my lights tonight and I was looking into the ones u showed me. I have the clamps already so I wanted to see what lights (UVB) would be best to use. And what heating pad would also be best and the wattage was 75 right?

I don't recommend using clamps to hold fixtures together. Clamps will eventually fail. Metal hooks, zip ties, cable clips, and heat resistant adhesive tape is what i usually recommend using to setup lighting and heating fixtures.

Also the actual dimensions of your enclosure is important to know. You'll want the enclosure fully lit during the day. You'll also want a good sized heating panel for night time heating. At 6 inches your sulcata is still young enough to use a basking fixture.

So what exactly is the dimensions of your current enclosure? Is it an open enclosure or closed chamber style enclosure? Do you have any picture(s) we can see in case you want us to help plan out your fixture positions?