Is this good calcium for baby hermanns?

[Eligperales]

Thank you for everyone on this forum! Is this calcium good fro 2 month baby Hermanns tort? Any other suggestions?

 

[Eligperales]

Thank you for everyone on this forum! Is this calcium good fro 2 month baby Hermanns tort? Any other suggestions?

 

[TeamZissou]

No, it is not. All Repashy products are too high in vitamin A levels to be safe for small tortoises. Avoid it at all costs.

There are many companies that have pure calcium carbonate supplements, here's one made by Rep-Cal. With or without D3 doesn't matter much. Make sure you have proper UV lighting.



For a vitamin supplement, use Rep-Cal Herptivite. This is a very safe supplement and has been used for decades by tortoise keepers without issue.



Put the supplements on the tortoise's food a few times per week. Though, both are safe and could be used every day.

Read this care sheet and compare your setup to what is recommended:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Tom]

In addition to what TeamZissou said, I noticed that you are using the clamps on your clamp lamps. Those clamps always fail and they should not be used. Hang the lamps from over head instead. This will also allow you to adjust them up or down to get the correct temperature under them.

I see four fixtures plus the florescent tube. What is in those four fixtures? Its bright over on that end of the enclosure, but it looks like more light is needed in the rest of the enclosure.

There are four elements to heating and lighting:

1. Basking bulb. I use 65 watt incandescent floods from the hardware store. Some people will need bigger, or smaller wattage bulbs. Let your thermometer be your guide. I run them on a timer for about 12 hours and adjust the height to get the correct basking temp under them. I also like to use a flat rock of some sort directly under the bulb. You need to check the temp with a thermometer directly under the bulb and get it to around 95-100F (36-37C).
2. Ambient heat maintenance. I use ceramic heating elements or radiant heat panels set on thermostats to maintain ambient above 80 degrees day and night for tropical species. In most cases you'd only need day heat for a temperate species like Testudo or DT, as long as your house stays above 60F (15-16C) at night.
3. Ambient light. I use LEDs for this purpose. Something in the 5000-6500K color range will look the best. Most bulbs at the store are in the 2500K range and they look yellowish. Strip or screw-in LED bulb types are both fine.
4. UV. If you can get your tortoise outside for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, you won't need indoor UV. In colder climates, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height. 5.0 bulbs make almost no UV. I like the 12% HO bulbs from Arcadia. You need a meter to check this: https://www.solarmeter.com/model65.html A good UV bulb only needs to run for 2-3 hours mid day. You need the basking bulb and the ambient lighting to be on at least 12 hours a day.

Also, it is going to be exceedingly difficult to maintain heat and humidity in a low sided open table like that. A closed chamber would make your life much easier, and the tortoise's life better. He's already got significant pyramiding and this is exactly what causes it. Every day that goes by in these overly dry conditions makes it a little worse and it is irreversible. You can't undo pyramiding that has already happened, but you can stop it from continuing to get worse.

 

[Eligperales]

No, it is not. All Repashy products are too high in vitamin A levels to be safe for small tortoises. Avoid it at all costs.

There are many companies that have pure calcium carbonate supplements, here's one made by Rep-Cal. With or without D3 doesn't matter much. Make sure you have proper UV lighting.

View attachment 344211

For a vitamin supplement, use Rep-Cal Herptivite. This is a very safe supplement and has been used for decades by tortoise keepers without issue.

View attachment 344208

Put the supplements on the tortoise's food a few times per week. Though, both are safe and could be used every day.

Read this care sheet and compare your setup to what is recommended:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

Do I use both of these?? And can I add them to their food everyday?

 

[Eligperales]

In addition to what TeamZissou said, I noticed that you are using the clamps on your clamp lamps. Those clamps always fail and they should not be used. Hang the lamps from over head instead. This will also allow you to adjust them up or down to get the correct temperature under them.

I see four fixtures plus the florescent tube. What is in those four fixtures? Its bright over on that end of the enclosure, but it looks like more light is needed in the rest of the enclosure.

There are four elements to heating and lighting:

1. Basking bulb. I use 65 watt incandescent floods from the hardware store. Some people will need bigger, or smaller wattage bulbs. Let your thermometer be your guide. I run them on a timer for about 12 hours and adjust the height to get the correct basking temp under them. I also like to use a flat rock of some sort directly under the bulb. You need to check the temp with a thermometer directly under the bulb and get it to around 95-100F (36-37C).
2. Ambient heat maintenance. I use ceramic heating elements or radiant heat panels set on thermostats to maintain ambient above 80 degrees day and night for tropical species. In most cases you'd only need day heat for a temperate species like Testudo or DT, as long as your house stays above 60F (15-16C) at night.
3. Ambient light. I use LEDs for this purpose. Something in the 5000-6500K color range will look the best. Most bulbs at the store are in the 2500K range and they look yellowish. Strip or screw-in LED bulb types are both fine.
4. UV. If you can get your tortoise outside for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, you won't need indoor UV. In colder climates, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height. 5.0 bulbs make almost no UV. I like the 12% HO bulbs from Arcadia. You need a meter to check this: https://www.solarmeter.com/model65.html A good UV bulb only needs to run for 2-3 hours mid day. You need the basking bulb and the ambient lighting to be on at least 12 hours a day.

Also, it is going to be exceedingly difficult to maintain heat and humidity in a low sided open table like that. A closed chamber would make your life much easier, and the tortoise's life better. He's already got significant pyramiding and this is exactly what causes it. Every day that goes by in these overly dry conditions makes it a little worse and it is irreversible. You can't undo pyramiding that has already happened, but you can stop it from continuing to get worse.

I use Basking bulb 65 watt incandescent floods from the hardware store, CHE for heat ( there’s too because it can get below 60 in our home it’s for back up) and 12% HO bulbs from Arcadia of UV. I am struggling to find stip LED for ambient light any links please?

I got a small humidifier that will add some to the cooler side and the top of the table is able to be closed how much humidity can there be?

 

[Tom]

I use Basking bulb 65 watt incandescent floods from the hardware store, CHE for heat ( there’s too because it can get below 60 in our home it’s for back up) and 12% HO bulbs from Arcadia of UV. I am struggling to find stip LED for ambient light any links please?

I got a small humidifier that will add some to the cooler side and the top of the table is able to be closed how much humidity can there be?

You can use any type of LED. The screw-in type round bulbs are fine too. I use the under cabinet mount types from Home Depot and attach them to the ceiling of the enclosures.

You can run the humidifier in the room, but I would not blow it directly into the enclosure. Under normal circumstances with a humid hide and damp substrate, 50-70% should prevent pyramiding. When trying to stop pyramiding that is already in progress, I'd go to 80% or more, soak daily, and spray the carapace with RO or distilled water several times a day. You won't be able to stop it with an open topped enclosure.

 

[Eligperales]

You can use any type of LED. The screw-in type round bulbs are fine too. I use the under cabinet mount types from Home Depot and attach them to the ceiling of the enclosures.

You can run the humidifier in the room, but I would not blow it directly into the enclosure. Under normal circumstances with a humid hide and damp substrate, 50-70% should prevent pyramiding. When trying to stop pyramiding that is already in progress, I'd go to 80% or more, soak daily, and spray the carapace with RO or distilled water several times a day. You won't be able to stop it with an open topped enclosure.

Okay thank you I’ll do this!

 

[MenagerieGrl]

And the calcium supplement every couple of days, maybe twice a week...

 

[jeff kushner]

"He's already got significant pyramiding"

At 2 months.....I wouldn't have even thought it could show up so early, but it does. Wow!



Kudo's to Elig...for being a proactive owner!!!! When you are figuring out his enclosure with the pro advice above, keep this in mind. When we do smoke tests for Smoke evacuation control systems, hot air will climb stairs faster than I can run, even in my best day......the heat in your enclosure is leaving nearly as fast & guess what's it's taking with it....yup, all the moisture just as fast. So any safe means of capturing that, as Tom said, will make your job of maintaining temps/humidity SO MUCH easier, you will kick yourself<LOL>...I did anyway and I'm a HVAC guy so I knew but was lazy for a while.

Cool looking turtle!