Some guidance please!

[Kylohx]

Hi there i have had my sulcata for about a year now I've been keeping him (i hope its a him) In a 4ft vivarium with coco coir as substrate the humidity in the vivarium is always between 60-80% he has a hide box where i keep his substrate very damp in there. I have a heating bulb and a basking bulb keeping the temperatures at 29-30c and underneath his heat it gets to around 40-42 ( i have currently turned his basking bulb off because it gets to that temperature under his ceramic) His cool end sits around 24-26c he has a huge water bowl on one side (nice and safe not deep) He has a UV light also that cycles in a 12 hour period.

I feed him a mixture of grass and weeds about 75% grass 25% weeds usually once a day (a big handful) skipping a day here and there ( fell like I'm overfeeding him) I supplement this with nutrabol once to twice a week.

my questions are.

1. How often should i be feeding him. hes about 5inches from top to bottom. should i cut down to once every 2 days? what amount should i be feeding him when i do?

2. When i got him he was already abit pyramid like. small bumps but symmetrical not a bad case. he's shell always seems to be dry like white lines around hes bumps even tho i soak him for 20-30 mins once sometimes twice a day 5 mins after he's out he looks dried out again ( this is why i have turned the basking bulb off. i was thinking its just drying him out more and the ceramic gets to the right temperature underneath) i really wanna get he's shell nice and flat. i don't want to think he's suffering or not growing properly but could the damage have already been done? ile include a pic of what he looks like now! I have been following all the humidity techniques since i had him and he's shell hasn't seemed to improve. any help will be much appreciated.

 

[Tom]

1. Your diet sounds excellent. I would feed him as much as he wants every day. Pyramiding is caused by growth in conditions that are too dry. It is not caused by food. You could free feed him a horrible diet and he would still grow smooth in the right conditions, or you could feed him the perfect quantity of the best diet in the wrong conditions and he will still pyramid.

2. Sounds like you have too much heat under the bulbs and not enough on the cool end. Your low ambient temps on the cool side will make them need to bask under the desiccating indoor heat lamps even more. I don't know how you are measuring that humidity or where, but it those numbers don't add up with those temps, bulbs and that size enclosure. I think something might be off somewhere. What sort of hygrometer are you using and where is it placed? A pic might help.

We could partially blame this pyramiding on a dry start from the breeder, but it is pretty consistent even including the most recent growth. Maybe some pics would shed some more light on the situation and give us more insight.

 

[Kylohx]

Firstly thanks for the quick reply and im glad to hear back from you. you care sheets are brilliant!

okay ile give him more then ile take some pics of the set up for you soon as i have the time. the hygrometer is attached to the back of the viv near the middle just over to the warm side about half way up from the ground along with the thermostat probe. its a combi one tells temperature and humidity. although i use a temp gun for accurate temp readings. remember i have the basking bulb continuously off atm as i thought it was drying him out. but i will try moving the ceramic further down towards cool end and putting the basking lamp back on at the hot end later. maybe this is the problem i didn't realise cold end was too cold! i did attach pictures of him in the previous post in case you missed them.

Thanks again!

 

[Kylohx]

1. Your diet sounds excellent. I would feed him as much as he wants every day. Pyramiding is caused by growth in conditions that are too dry. It is not caused by food. You could free feed him a horrible diet and he would still grow smooth in the right conditions, or you could feed him the perfect quantity of the best diet in the wrong conditions and he will still pyramid.

2. Sounds like you have too much heat under the bulbs and not enough on the cool end. Your low ambient temps on the cool side will make them need to bask under the desiccating indoor heat lamps even more. I don't know how you are measuring that humidity or where, but it those numbers don't add up with those temps, bulbs and that size enclosure. I think something might be off somewhere. What sort of hygrometer are you using and where is it placed? A pic might help.

We could partially blame this pyramiding on a dry start from the breeder, but it is pretty consistent even including the most recent growth. Maybe some pics would shed some more light on the situation and give us more insight.

Following your guidance i have moved the ceramic down and got the basking bulb back on i also topped up the substrate to try and achieve a more stable 80% humidity ive attached a pic of the warm end and cool end and a panorama of the whole thing. if there's anything i should change. thermometer/hygrometer placement let me know and ile get it sorted! the black probe is the stat controlling my ceramic and the white one is the hygro. thanks again!

 

[Tom]

I hate your water bowl, but everything else looks great.

Try something for me: Get a tape measure and measure how tall your tortoise is. Then go outside and get a rock of about the same height. Put the rock under your basking lamp and let it bake for about two hours in the afternoon. Then use your infrared temp gun to measure the temperature on top of the rock. It should only be around 100. I suspect yours will be hotter. Come back and tell me if I'm right or wrong.

 

[Kylohx]

I hate your water bowl, but everything else looks great.

Try something for me: Get a tape measure and measure how tall your tortoise is. Then go outside and get a rock of about the same height. Put the rock under your basking lamp and let it bake for about two hours in the afternoon. Then use your infrared temp gun to measure the temperature on top of the rock. It should only be around 100. I suspect yours will be hotter. Come back and tell me if I'm right or wrong.

haha! i wanted something he could take a paddle in if he wanted yeah don't worry i took these pics before i adjusted the basking light. i had just re activated it and was undergoing temp tests it was indeed too low but that's been rectified xD thanks for spotting it tho! that is an awesome method too! good eyes! im struggling to keep the humidity up too 80% without spraying it now and then. it keeps dropping to 60%ish think i should add another smaller water bowl in hot area to try increase it?