Ok...
I've read all 36 pages of Tom's Eradicating Pyramiding threads, including most of the links. In response to this I am changing the way I house Marshell over this weekend. He will still be in the same enclosure, a Rubbermaid tub with around 4' x 2' dimensions. I will still use the infrared heat bulb in the clip on light fixture over the open end of the tub. His water dish will be the same plastic Chinese takeout container with aquarium gravel in the bottom to make it shallower. I also left his favorite log hide in there but buried it so that only the top inch or so is showing. Hopefully he will dig that out and use it again in the new wet setup since that was his favorite place to hang.
I have removed the Timothy hay and sand and replaced it with a pretty deep layer of peat moss, orchid bark and coconut fiber. I took out his little grass hut and put in a plastic dish tub turned upside down and buried flush with the bottom of the Rubbermaid. It has nothing but the coconut inside. I also rummaged around in the garage and found an old piece of glass from a coffee table and placed it over 2/3rds of one end of the tub.
At the moment I am getting temperature readings of 82-89F halfway between the substrate and the glass top. The humidity at the same level is 30-45%. The temperature inside the humid hide buried in the coconut is reading 78F at the moment so I've put a shop light with an incandescent bulb over it to raise the temperatures a little more. I made sure the substrate was relatively deep so he can burrow down into it and it will retain the heat better. His basking area now has a small slate tile in addition to the flat black stones he is used to from the previous dry setup. I am getting temperature readings in the mid-90s here. This is on the open side of the new setup.
The weather here is starting to perk up nicely and I put him out once the sun is shining on his outdoor enclosure on the weekends and when I get home from work on weekdays. Once the shade of the house covers his area we bring him inside and soak him in a tepid bath for about 1/2 an hour so he can poop and fed him some sort of greens and weeds mix before tucking him in for the night.
His feeding pattern has been sporadic at best but that will be rectified. I have no idea what he weighed when we got him but he's 4.5 oz at the moment after his soak and he's around 2 years old. I'm hoping to see a growth spurt now that it seems I'm on the right track after stumbling across the forum.
I have been operating under the mistaken idea that they eat mainly hay this past year since I got him. Mainly I have been relying on the Timothy hay substrate to be his main source of food and would change it out monthly with fresh hay that I'd cut into small inch long sections so it was more of a size he could tackle.
He has gotten Dandelion greens about every other week or so, very occasional cactus pads, some kale or some other dark leafy greens scattered here and there. I've consistently fed up to 3 or 4 soaked Mazuri pellets sprinkled with calcium and D3 on either Saturday or Sunday nights as a treat every week so at least there's that. I've also thrown in occasional treats such as sweet potato, squash, a slice of radish with the tops, parsley, garden flowers (gazania, zinnia, hibiscus, etc.), rose and hibiscus leaves, various weeds from the back yard here and there and occasional celery hearts or cucumber slices.
A closeup look of pre-conversion Marshell's carapace can be found on his introduction thread at-
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Hello-all-you-happy-people#axzz1nRXbz5vN
I've read all 36 pages of Tom's Eradicating Pyramiding threads, including most of the links. In response to this I am changing the way I house Marshell over this weekend. He will still be in the same enclosure, a Rubbermaid tub with around 4' x 2' dimensions. I will still use the infrared heat bulb in the clip on light fixture over the open end of the tub. His water dish will be the same plastic Chinese takeout container with aquarium gravel in the bottom to make it shallower. I also left his favorite log hide in there but buried it so that only the top inch or so is showing. Hopefully he will dig that out and use it again in the new wet setup since that was his favorite place to hang.
I have removed the Timothy hay and sand and replaced it with a pretty deep layer of peat moss, orchid bark and coconut fiber. I took out his little grass hut and put in a plastic dish tub turned upside down and buried flush with the bottom of the Rubbermaid. It has nothing but the coconut inside. I also rummaged around in the garage and found an old piece of glass from a coffee table and placed it over 2/3rds of one end of the tub.
At the moment I am getting temperature readings of 82-89F halfway between the substrate and the glass top. The humidity at the same level is 30-45%. The temperature inside the humid hide buried in the coconut is reading 78F at the moment so I've put a shop light with an incandescent bulb over it to raise the temperatures a little more. I made sure the substrate was relatively deep so he can burrow down into it and it will retain the heat better. His basking area now has a small slate tile in addition to the flat black stones he is used to from the previous dry setup. I am getting temperature readings in the mid-90s here. This is on the open side of the new setup.
The weather here is starting to perk up nicely and I put him out once the sun is shining on his outdoor enclosure on the weekends and when I get home from work on weekdays. Once the shade of the house covers his area we bring him inside and soak him in a tepid bath for about 1/2 an hour so he can poop and fed him some sort of greens and weeds mix before tucking him in for the night.
His feeding pattern has been sporadic at best but that will be rectified. I have no idea what he weighed when we got him but he's 4.5 oz at the moment after his soak and he's around 2 years old. I'm hoping to see a growth spurt now that it seems I'm on the right track after stumbling across the forum.
I have been operating under the mistaken idea that they eat mainly hay this past year since I got him. Mainly I have been relying on the Timothy hay substrate to be his main source of food and would change it out monthly with fresh hay that I'd cut into small inch long sections so it was more of a size he could tackle.
He has gotten Dandelion greens about every other week or so, very occasional cactus pads, some kale or some other dark leafy greens scattered here and there. I've consistently fed up to 3 or 4 soaked Mazuri pellets sprinkled with calcium and D3 on either Saturday or Sunday nights as a treat every week so at least there's that. I've also thrown in occasional treats such as sweet potato, squash, a slice of radish with the tops, parsley, garden flowers (gazania, zinnia, hibiscus, etc.), rose and hibiscus leaves, various weeds from the back yard here and there and occasional celery hearts or cucumber slices.
A closeup look of pre-conversion Marshell's carapace can be found on his introduction thread at-
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Hello-all-you-happy-people#axzz1nRXbz5vN
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