Thomas's Health Status, Looking for advice

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kevinwestlife

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Hello everyone,
I am a little concerned with my Sulcata, Thomas's health status.
Thomas is now 14 months old, but is also a little bit over 3 inch long and weighs only 105 grams. This appears to be a lot smaller than the norm based on other threads posted on this forum. When I bought Thomas from a Pet Store in last November, the store attendant told me he/she was around 6-months old. Of course, there's always a possibility that her information of off and now I really hope that's the case...

Anyway, below are how I have been keeping Thomas since I got him:
Enclosure: 10 Gallon Glass Tank with Reptile Carpet as bedding, heating light provided during the day to keep the temperature over 80 degrees (I never really measured the temperature so it could be over 85 as well, but definitely over 80).

At night heating is provided by a heating Pad stuck on one side of the glass tank (pic attached)

I have the privilege to live in Tampa, FL, so haven't been really using the UVB bulb a lot (although I did buy one), but rather taking Thomas out for a Sunbath on a regular basis. On weekends I usually let him out for over 2 to 3 hours, and during the week I mostly to 15 mins a day.

In terms of his diet, in the first 3 months I didn't do a lot research as I should have, so I was feeding him red-leaf lettuce only. Then I started adding Timothy Hay to his food plate, by mixing the hay with lettuce using a blender. (it took him a while to accept the new diet). About two weeks ago I discovered that I can buy small package of fresh wheat grass from a local grocery, so now his diet is composed of:
Red-leaf lettuce, Wheat Grass, and small amount of broccoli and carrot, all mixed together with a blender. Calcium has been added to his food plate at least once a week since I bought him.

Except for the transition period when timothy hay was just added to his diet, Thomas has always showed a great appetite and it only appears to get better and better as I continue to improve his diet.

As some of you may remember a couple of weeks ago I took him to visit a local vet as he was once bitten by a dog of my neighbor's (and thanks god the injury was okay according to the vet). The Vet said Thomas does look smaller than the norm, probably because of the lack of heat, and suggest me to add more diversity to his diet, such as watermelon, strawberry and even eggs. I asked wouldn't high-protein food cause him pyramiding? The doc said as long as the Sulcata is still young and the high-protein food is only supplied in small amount, everything should be fine.

Anyway, thanks for reading my long background introduction and let me now get to the point:) I'd highly appreciate if someone could advice me on any of the following questions that are really bothering me:
1, Is Thomas really considered extraordinarily small for his age?
2, Are there anything I'm doing to his diet or enclosure terribly wrong?
3, Am I giving him enough exposure to Sunshine?
4, I live in an apartment so I am not able to plant grasses as many of you do, so other than the wheat grass which I am already feeding him with, are there any other sources where I can get freshly grown grass?
5, I plan to soon replace his bedding with some dirt so that he has something he can dig. Any suggestions on where can I get the dirt? I assume it should not be too dry and better not fertilized?
6. Do anybody see signs of pyramiding?

Hope you still have the patience to click on the photos:)

Many thanks,
Yihuan
 

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wellington

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The aquarium and the stuff the vet told you to feed needs to go. He needs a much bigger enclosure, better if its outside except for night time. He also needs humidity
Read Toms threads below for temps, humidity. The carpet also has to go. Coconut coir, dirt or cypress mulch instead. The diet should consist of broad leaf greens, weeds, flowers, grasses, etc. check out the tortoisetable.org for edible food items.
 
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