Question about Franklin's shell

[Jessica5]

Hello all,

My golden greek tortoise, Franklin, is about 3 years old and I have a few questions about his shell growth. I am concerned he is pyramiding by the looks of his shell. I provide a shallow dish of water in his tank, soak him every other day, provide him with calcium and calcium with D3, UVB lighting, natural sunlight when possible (I live in Wisconsin), provide him a balanced diet including mixed greens and tortoise pellets, and mist his cage with water to ensure humidity. I am not sure what else I can do to prevent shell pyramiding so any tips would be much appreciated!

Thanks!
Jessica

 

[Tim Carlisle]

Does Franklin's cage have a humidity gauge? What's the humidity level? Some folks here (myself included) will rub in a little extra virgin coconut oil (or derivative thereof) in between the scutes to retain moisture. The idea is that over time, the pyramiding will diminish.

 

[Jessica5]

Believe it or not, my humidity gauge recently broke and I ordered a new one which should be here soon. From what I remember, the gauge read anywhere from 40-50%. The only thing I do not have is a humid hide filled with coco coir. In his enclosure is a log hide and a hide I built across the corner of his enclosure. I'm wondering if a humid hide and a new kind of substrate would help with his pyramiding and maintaining more moisture? His current substrate consists of cypress much, play sand, and Timothy hay but I have been told that play sand is not a good substrate, so I was thinking about replacing that with coco coir. Also, the extra virgin coconut oil tip is very interesting and I will start applying that to his shell! Thank you so much!

 

[TriciaStringer]

Timothy hay should not be used as a substrate because it will mold when wet.

 

[TriciaStringer]

You can soak his log hide in water. That will add to his humid hide.

 

[Jessica5]

Great! Thank you for the information.

 

[TammyJ]

He is pyramiding from what I can see and I do believe that humidity is the issue. And I would dump the sand for sure.
He is beautiful.

 

[EdMurphy]

I live in Minnesota and my experience with keeping indoor humidity up is it's impossible in a open top enclosure in the winter months and nearly impossible in the summer months without bringing the entire house to that level, not practical or comfortable and you'll soon get tired of the dew on the windows.
Soaking the log and spraying the substrate just isn't enough. The only solution I have found is there must be something to cover most of the top to hold in the moisture, coco coir covered with cypress much really helps, I would dump the sand and hay.

 

[TammyJ]

Careful too about soaking the log hide...especially if it is cedar wood. It's toxic to reptiles.

 

[Jessica5]

Thank you everyone!