A few questions.

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remitort071312

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My sulcata is 4mths old weighing 57 grams is that ok?! Also her shell seems a little soft but it always has since I got her. She eats very well. All her temps are great , she gets a lot of exercise outdoors. I take her outside for at least a half to an hour and a half 4 or more times a week it just depends on my schedule with work and school. She was very dehydrated when I got her so I soaked her 2-3 times a day and I'm still scared so I still soak her that much daily. She seems very active and happy but I'm very worried about soft shell/ shell rot, pyramiding, and MBD. I understand that since she's not outdoors all the time she will have a small degree of pyramiding but I'm still worried about other problems. Also she has no smell or sores on her shell, and I'm using a 100W MVB bulb for a strict 6a-6p schedule.

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Here is her enclosure and hide not the best pics but you get the idea

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wellington

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The shell should harden up soon. Get him out in the sun as much as possible, that will help to harden it. The pyramiding comes from dehydration and too dry of an environment. What is your humidity? Check out the threads below in my post. They will help a lot in how to raise a healthy smooth sulcata.
 

remitort071312

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wellington said:
The shell should harden up soon. Get him out in the sun as much as possible, that will help to harden it. The pyramiding comes from dehydration and too dry of an environment. What is your humidity? Check out the threads below in my post. They will help a lot in how to raise a healthy smooth sulcata.

Humidity is around 60-70 I'm just worried I'm doing something wrong, is her weight ok? 😣
 

Dizisdalife

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The weight is OK. I have never seen a weight chart for babies. They really vary in size. 57 grams seems about right. Keep monitoring his weight and as long as he is gaining and growing you are probably OK. Babies will have a soft shell. But not squishy. Squishy could be a problem. Calcium and sunshine will eventually harden that shell.

The best way to avoid pyramiding in babies is to keep them humid. Your enclosure seems like it can hold moisture pretty well. The one thing that I am not seeing is a CHE to keep the temperature steady at night. I used one attached to a thermostat so that the temperature stayed in the 80 - 85* range. The substrate was moist and in the plastic hide the humidity was about 90%. When the MVB was on I had to spray to sides of the enclosure, the substrate, and my tortoise regularly to neutralize the drying effect of the light.

If you are concerned about your tortoise pyramiding I suggest reading Tom's sticky on How To Raise Hatchlings and Babies, and then follow it to the best of your ability. A year or so from now you will be so glad that you did.
 

remitort071312

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Dizisdalife said:
The weight is OK. I have never seen a weight chart for babies. They really vary in size. 57 grams seems about right. Keep monitoring his weight and as long as he is gaining and growing you are probably OK. Babies will have a soft shell. But not squishy. Squishy could be a problem. Calcium and sunshine will eventually harden that shell.

The best way to avoid pyramiding in babies is to keep them humid. Your enclosure seems like it can hold moisture pretty well. The one thing that I am not seeing is a CHE to keep the temperature steady at night. I used one attached to a thermostat so that the temperature stayed in the 80 - 85* range. The substrate was moist and in the plastic hide the humidity was about 90%. When the MVB was on I had to spray to sides of the enclosure, the substrate, and my tortoise regularly to neutralize the drying effect of the light.

If you are concerned about your tortoise pyramiding I suggest reading Tom's sticky on How To Raise Hatchlings and Babies, and then follow it to the best of your ability. A year or so from now you will be so glad that you did.

i have a heat light that i switch over at night i move the mvb bulb out of the way and put the heat light in its place. and i also spray the substrate and her to keep it from drying out and the heat at night in her enclosure is in the 80-85 range as well. I scrape cuddle bone over her food as well.
 
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