Cc3223
New Member
Long time reptile enthusiast... First time Sully pet parent and this forum has opened my eyes to so many things I was just not aware of.
To be clear--technically I am Cookie's grandma-- as she belongs to my 8 year old daughter. But as she is 8, I'm sure I will be primary care taker for many years [which I am fine with].
We picked up Cookie about a year ago from a pet store, they claimed she was between 3 and 5 years old.
She shows some pyramiding but it seems to have slowed or improved in the time we've had her.
We made many mistakes over this first year, from housing her in our home to have free reign of our dining area during cooler months [messy, dangerous!] to improper subrate as we transitioned her outdoors. [All the pet stores in the area use Timothy hay in their large Sulcata enclosures... It seemed odd to me if that was also to be part of their staple diet as adults... but I couldn't seem to find anything definitive on the topic before discovering this forum.]
I also was told to soak once a month or so... So at first that's all we did.
Despite all this, Cookie survived as we became more educated. It is such a shame proper information is not more readily available.
This forum has helped tremendously.
Cookie now has a beautiful 6x18 outdoor enclosure with Orchid bark substrate. Three months ago we built her a night box [2×4] out of plywood and foam insulation. It contains a pig blanket and a 100 watt ceramic heat emitter which keeps it around 70's at night and 60% humidity. She would have nothing to do with it at first... She liked her other hideaway that she was quickly outgrowing. We tried setting her in the new one but she would just wander out. Many nights as the weather grew colder I would trudge outside to see where she landed for the night... To find her in her small unheated hideaway meant I would have to bring her inside for the night. But one night I went out there and she was not in her spot... I was so happy to lift the top off her night box and see her in there.
Overall I feel good about the improvements we've made. We are learning new things about her and happy to have suggestions.
We are still working on diet-- Mostly its leafy greens and dandelion leaves because I'm scared to forage and bring home stuff with pesticides.
Thank you to everyone who shares experience here.
To be clear--technically I am Cookie's grandma-- as she belongs to my 8 year old daughter. But as she is 8, I'm sure I will be primary care taker for many years [which I am fine with].
We picked up Cookie about a year ago from a pet store, they claimed she was between 3 and 5 years old.
She shows some pyramiding but it seems to have slowed or improved in the time we've had her.
We made many mistakes over this first year, from housing her in our home to have free reign of our dining area during cooler months [messy, dangerous!] to improper subrate as we transitioned her outdoors. [All the pet stores in the area use Timothy hay in their large Sulcata enclosures... It seemed odd to me if that was also to be part of their staple diet as adults... but I couldn't seem to find anything definitive on the topic before discovering this forum.]
I also was told to soak once a month or so... So at first that's all we did.
Despite all this, Cookie survived as we became more educated. It is such a shame proper information is not more readily available.
This forum has helped tremendously.
Cookie now has a beautiful 6x18 outdoor enclosure with Orchid bark substrate. Three months ago we built her a night box [2×4] out of plywood and foam insulation. It contains a pig blanket and a 100 watt ceramic heat emitter which keeps it around 70's at night and 60% humidity. She would have nothing to do with it at first... She liked her other hideaway that she was quickly outgrowing. We tried setting her in the new one but she would just wander out. Many nights as the weather grew colder I would trudge outside to see where she landed for the night... To find her in her small unheated hideaway meant I would have to bring her inside for the night. But one night I went out there and she was not in her spot... I was so happy to lift the top off her night box and see her in there.
Overall I feel good about the improvements we've made. We are learning new things about her and happy to have suggestions.
We are still working on diet-- Mostly its leafy greens and dandelion leaves because I'm scared to forage and bring home stuff with pesticides.
Thank you to everyone who shares experience here.