Age / humidity???!

[J H]

At what age / size does humidity become less important? I live in MN and roxy is 9-10 months old. She is growing fast. I rescued her in April at 183 grams and she is now 435 grams. She was pyramided when I got her and she seems to be smoothing out with new growth. I am just curious when a closed chamber is less important. She is now the size around of a softball and seems healthy and active. Her current enclosure is constantly in the 80% range. Just a question.

 

[Tom]

Pyramiding occurs when they grow in conditions are too dry. I used to think that they reached a certain size and it didn't matter any more, but I was wrong. Overly dry, above ground conditions are not good anytime they are growing.

 

[Anyfoot]

Pyramiding occurs when they grow in conditions are too dry. I used to think that they reached a certain size and it didn't matter any more, but I was wrong. Overly dry, above ground conditions are not good anytime they are growing.

@Tom, do you have a photo anywhere you could show us of a tort that started life perfectly smooth then later in life showed pyramiding please.

 

[Jodie]

Even if they don't pyramid later in life, dry conditions contribute greatly to stones, I am willing to bet. As adults they would burrow, and that would be humid. A humid hide is always going to be important in my opinion.

 

[Speedy-1]

I would agree that humid conditions are an ongoing necessity. I still try to give Speedy his daily soak also. I also spray him down as a means of keeping him from over heating in our dry , triple digit weather. I experimented with this, I keep the spray bottle in the house, so it is 74 degrees. Speedy was laying at the bottom of our steps (a cool spot for him). I shot him with the temp gun and it read 92 degree's . I sprayed him down well , waited a few minutes , and his temp had dropped to 82 ! I felt a 10 degree drop was good , and might be a good reference point when deciding to cool him down ?

 

[Big Charlie]

At some point she will be too big to keep in a closed chamber. Once you put her outside, she won't be getting the same level of humidity unless you live in an extremely humid environment. Charlie was raised in dry conditions, since we didn't know about the importance of humidity, but he did get daily soaks when he was little. He lives outside all the time in dry California conditions. I think burrowing and walking through our sprinklers has helped him get the humidity he needs.