Mama Longneck
New Member
Hi there Tom. I'm a new owner of a juvenile sulcata (2ysr old). After reading just a few of your posts I've come to trust your advice far more than the often contradictory information I gather from googling tortoise related things. I've only owned Little Foot for about 3 weeks. She (obviously I don't actually know the sex yet, just an educated guess based off of temperment) has some pyramiding already and I was wondering if you can tell me if there is a way to reverse it at all or at least prevent it from getting worse. From what I gather from you it's due to dehydration or insufficient humidity. I live in Phoenix, Az so although I have plenty of heat, it's very arid so I am currently trying to create the humidity for her myself. I give her shallow bath time almost every day, temping the water to ensure it's 90-100 degrees when I pour it in, and letting her soak until she wants out (5-20 min). The majority of her enclosure substrate is ZooMed Eco Earth coco fiber with some cypress mulch over coconut fiber carpet. Part of the enclosure is a wooden hutch which is just the coconut carpet for her natural rock slab for food and water dish to remain mostly substrate free. Her hide away rock cave is in the hutch as well, but I put substrate within in it as I feared she wasn't getting enough humidity without it. I keep the all substrate moist, but not dripping or soppy. She hates being misted so I stopped but not sure if that's the right decision. I have a large dirt backyard that she spends at least 2 hours a day roaming (and most of the day 3x a week on my days off). And now she has developed some whitening color above her eyes. I think that might also be a sign of too low humidity but am not sure. Sorry to go on a whole diatribe, I just wanted to give you enough info about her living conditions in case you think there is anything I'm doing wrong or should be modifying in any way. I also bought ReptaidXL Immune Support supplement but am not sure how often I should be giving it to her as it's highly concentrated and I have read varying suggestions on the frequency. She also has cuttlebone that disinterests her completely, haha. I just read your suggestion of the MineralAll supplement and plan on purchasing that as well. I make and feed her a "salad" of Timothy hay with assorted leafy greens and alternating veggies, sprinkling on calcium powder 2-3x a week. I'm trying to take great care with all non hay/grass food as to make sure she processes the right amount of calcium and doesn't get too much phosphorus. But she tends to just pick out the non hay parts, and I don't know how to get her to eat more hay (just providing her with the hay doesn't work). And I chop up the hay in a seemingly unsuccessful attempt to make it more appealing to her. I am in the process of growing some different grasses/weeds as well as flowers for her but that will take a bit of time since I'm too paranoid about pesticides/fertilizers from anything I'm not growing from seeds myself.
Little Foot is just about 5 inches from end to end of her shell (not including legs or head when sticking out) and weighs around 1.5 lbs. She lives completely outdoors. Should she indoors at all (in an enclosure of course, not just roaming the house). I do have a second bedroom I can dedicate to her. I want to get a closed chamber per your suggestion but I'm a bit ignorant and don't know exactly what that would be or how I would make it. Can I keep it outside if I maintain temp and humidity? I get home from work after dark so she is already asleep and I don't like waking her up to move her inside. Is that a mistake?
I attached some pix to show the pyramiding (I'm growing increasingly concerned about it) and the whiteness above her eyes.
Thanks Tom!
Little Foot is just about 5 inches from end to end of her shell (not including legs or head when sticking out) and weighs around 1.5 lbs. She lives completely outdoors. Should she indoors at all (in an enclosure of course, not just roaming the house). I do have a second bedroom I can dedicate to her. I want to get a closed chamber per your suggestion but I'm a bit ignorant and don't know exactly what that would be or how I would make it. Can I keep it outside if I maintain temp and humidity? I get home from work after dark so she is already asleep and I don't like waking her up to move her inside. Is that a mistake?
I attached some pix to show the pyramiding (I'm growing increasingly concerned about it) and the whiteness above her eyes.
Thanks Tom!