Baby Sulcata Beginning to Pyrimid???

[Tortoise Man]

My Baby Sulcata and maybe my baby Leopard seem to be on the road to some bad pyramiding. This is nothing that can't be fixed, but the problem is I don't know HOW to fix it. What am I doing wrong. I have a fogger that I use a couple times a day, I have them in a window where they get the real sunlight, I have a UVB light where they get the artificial sunlight, and I feed them a variety of Kale, ROMAINE lettuce, grass, a little bit of weeds, and some different kinds of hand picked flowers that they really love. I also soak 1 time a week at the least. Here are some pics

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Hi and welcome. First of all they should be soaked daily for about 15 minutes. That's seriously important in the fight against pyramiding. It does look to me like the Sulcata is starting to pyramid...
I personality believe there are 4 things necessary to prevent pyramiding...
1. An excellent varied diet.
2. Lots of exercise; in the wild they walk about 20 miles a day. Take those babies outside and let them run around.
3. 80% humidity. number 1 in prevention
4. Fresh UVB bulb and try to get some real sun.
The glass in windows prevents the UVB rays from coming in... I'm going to see if I can find Tom's directions for a closed chamber. I suggest that's how you keep them...

/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/

/threads/african-spurred-tortoise-sulcata-care-sheet.52524/

 

[lismar79]

Yes, you also need to have a water dish in the enclosure, if you do not already. Soaking often is so very important.

 

[Tortoise Man]

Ok thanks. I do have a water dish and they are right next to a window. It's just night time where I am. I open the window every morning for a while and they get a good amount of sunlight a day

 

[lismar79]

If you have a window screen, even with window open, a lot of the uv rays get filtered out by the screen. Just an fyi.

 

[wellington]

Humidity is a big one you are missing. You can't get it high enough with an open top enclosure. Some of Toms threads are below in my post for the proper raising of leopards and sulcatas, temps and humidity.

 

[Tortoise Man]

Yeah thanks. I'm still workin on the humidity part, but I'm getting there.

 

[Tom]

Sunshine through a window is ineffective and possibly dangerous.

Housing tortoises in pairs is a mistake.

Mixing species is a mistake.

Low sided sweater boxes are worst case scenario for housing baby leopards and sulcatas since they do nothing to hold in the much needed warm moist air.


You need to:
1. Soak and spray their shells daily.
2. Make them each a proper outdoor enclosure.
3. Separate them right away.
4. Lean much more on the weeds, leaves grass and succulents, and less on grocery store foods. If you must use grocery store foods, use much more variety, and lean toward endive and escarole instead of kale and romaine. Its all here: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/
5. Make a couple of nice big closed chambers. You could do a single 4x8' and divide it in the middle for them. Then you'd still have just one enclosure to take care of, but they'd be separated. You will never stop the pyramiding in your current enclosure.
6. What sort of indoor UV are you currently using? The coil types can sometimes burn their eyes.

Please read these:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/pairs.34837/

 

[Tortoise Man]

Ok Thanks. I have decided to set them up in a 55 gallon fish tank with a stand outside. What things would be absolutely necessary for this to happen. I have the usual things like bark and a hut and I will try to separate them if possible.

 

[Tom]

Outside in a 55 gallon fish tank? I would not recommend that.

Separating "if possible"? Of course its possible. You just need to set up another enclosure.

 

[leigti]

Very cute babies. where do you live? Would they have access to outdoors you're around? I think the fish tank outside would cause them to get very overheated very quickly. And they still wouldn't get much UV. They would need a lower sided enclosure. There are some pictures of hatchling enclosures on this forum. And then for indoors use the closed chamber that they are talking about. Separating them now while they're small will be easy. from all I have read it sounds like increased humidity would be the number one step. Good luck and take all the advice offered here and your little babies will be fine.

 

[Tortoise Man]

Ok. My final decision is to set up an outdoor enclosure. I will have the tortoises separated with one on each side of the enclosure. I will build the enclosure with several 2 by 4 pieces of wood. Any suggestions do what is necessary for this to happen besides the obvious things like a water dish, a hut, a food dish or rock