leopard hide / pyramiding

[fordohio]

Titus is 3 now. The time has come for a new hide for our tortoise. He has outgrown his old one. I wanted to see what some of you are using for your indoor hides.

His table humidity in the winter time is around 16%. I have read about some people using sponges inside the hides. But can't find any info on how much humidity the Leopards like. Would like to know if people are doing this for Leopards

Titus is showing some pyramiding. His shell is hard though. I'm not sure why he is pyramiding. It could be he is gaining too much weight. Last January he weight in just over 1 pound. One year later 2 lbs 12 ounces.

In his enclosure we use timothy hay for as his base. We put it in there dry. We feed him Mazuri sometimes and spring mix other times. Since June, when we noticed how fast he is gaining weight. We have cut back his foods by at least half. I know now that he is getting older he is also eating the timothy hay. But it doesn't seem to disapear fast enough to think he is eating an extreme amount of it.

His temps are 95 hot to 70 cold side. Night time temps 80-70.

 

[jblayza]

Maybe some pics to show his size can help to gather ideas on what you may be able to use as a hide. I myself dont use a sponge, just a storage container with substrate that i mist for humidity. I just recently became a tortoise owner so I'm no expert, but i didn't seem to get much feedback on my thread either so I'll just offer my opinion.

 

[Greg T]

For my larger Leo, I found an easy hide - a rubbermaid container. I found a good sized one at the store and cut out one side of it for an entrance. I had to cut the entrance bigger a few times before she decided it was a good hide to use. I'm not sure if color makes a difference, but she preferred her older blue hide to the new bright green one for some reason. I don't do much with the humidity since it stays high in Houston anyway. She was pyramided when I got her, but my smaller ones are doing well with no signs of pyramiding. They will go in hides, but prefer to simply stick themselves into a corner at night.

Hope this helps.

 

[reptylefreek]

The sponge thing works real well. I do it for my leopard gecko. You just staple or nail a sponge to the top of the hide and wet it when it gets dry. Dont glue it, it doesn't hold. If the temps are at a good level it will create a good amount of humidity. The sponge drys out in a few days and you can leave it dry for a few days so it doesn't get to wet. My sulcata Marlin grew out of his old hide so just for sh*ts and giggles we took an old fedora hat and cut a opening out and i just soak the hat and put it back in his cage and that creates humidity. Wetting the substrate works, but my house isn't humid so it tends to dry out faster. Oh and Marlin likes a hide that is dark in color, i suppose that has to do with how dark it gets inside. If you have a container that is bright colored then light it up with a bulb its not gonna get very dark in there

 

[jblayza]

Good point about letting the sponge dry out Jessica, that will help to avoid the harboring of bacteria.