Question (been following the humidity guides real well)

[Edizzle888]

So my tortoise rocky and Apollo are growing very smooth thanks to the great advice here.
Both are about 13-14 months old
Rocky:200 grams (will stay in his humid enclosure longer)
Apollo:700 grams
I have built a good area in my backyard for the big guy lots of shade and greens. Plus I will hose it down a few time a day and bring him in to soak daily.

Question is...is he big enough and old enough that the low humidity outside (Las Vegas) will no longer be and issue?

 

[Edizzle888]

Also he will be brought in at night.

 

[lismar79]

A humid hide box outside would not hurt as a happy medium. Btw. If you are keeping them together there is a good reason one is much larger than the other. Torts do not do well in pairs. One always stays small because he is trying so very hard to go unoticed by the larger. Consider seperating them and your smaller one will become much healthier.

 

[Linhdan Nguyen]

I would say not yet, but I don't know how big sulcatas get by 1 year. but as Lismar suggested, a humid hide box outside should do fine if you want to keep him outside, also a heated night box. I'm not sure if you can do a both heated and humid box.. i don't see why not though.

 

[Edizzle888]

They've been kept separate since day one.
Dudes just a lil guy. I made him a humid hide as well. Heat will be a thing I'll do in a few months. It's over 90 at midnight here.

 

[Edizzle888]

I've got the whole inside housing part down.

 

[Edizzle888]

So the question is do I have to worry about pyramiding anymore if he isn't constantly humid?

 

[Markw84]

Good question... I have always started leaving my yearlings out most of the day once they are to at least 500g, but took them in at night. In the central valley we are dry and hot, but not as warm as you at night. However, I would be concerned the pyramiding can start showing up, and would like the controlled high humidity for at least the 12 - 14 hours a day by bringing them inside.

To give insight to your question - I can relate to you my experience over the past 25 years with sulcatas. The far greater percentage of that time I did not know of the humidity factor and "monsoon hatchling". I had dry enclosed chambers I did use for my hatchlings. Once about 500g and would leave them out most of the day. I did also have a heavily planted area for them with the sprinklers coming on 3 times a day to give them a "rain storm". I did not, back then have humid hides for them, but plenty of bushes to hide under that were watered generously. I have always noticed once my sulcatas reached 1000g or so, the pyramiding would almost stop in this environment, and growth from then on growth was smooth. I've raised over 50 sulcatas that I kept that long to see that result. Back then, I was always looking for a way to grow smooth sulcatas and did not yet know of the humidity key for hatchlings. I went crazy trying to grow smooth sulcatas for years, and could never get them smooth that first year of growth, until I came across @Tom 's thread and tried the monsoon method. I now think that once outside time increased, they were able to find the more humid areas beneath bushes, etc. and growth smoothed out, despite the 100 degree temps and 15 - 20% humidity.

On the opposite side of the question, I do know you can stop pyramiding almost immediately given monsoon conditions. I am currently working with a group of Burmese Stars that were raised dry and slow. At 5 years old and about 500g they were quite small and pyramided when I got them. Now after 2 1/2 months in an enclosed chamber, I convinced them the monsoons have finally arrived! They have gained between 150 and 300g and grown 0.5 - 0.95 inches. And the new growth is flat between scutes. An amazing difference. So it appears that the pyramiding growth pattern established, can be stopped immediately.
.
So, will a smooth sulcata START to pyramid if to 500 - 1000g with smooth growth? My guess would be probably not if given some planted areas and bushes that have been watered generously to hide under, and especially with half the day (nights) in a controlled indoor environment.

 

[Speedy-1]

Also he will be brought in at night.

As a "yearling" I would think it wise to try and keep humidity levels up , If you are bringing him in at night and keeping humidity up at night this should help ! With daily soaking and spraying him down I would think you would be good. This is what I am doing with Speedy , and it is working out for me ! So far , so good !

 

[Edizzle888]

Thanks for the answers! A lot of the info is on that first humid year lol hard to find exactly when is good to bring them out.

Makes me feel less worried. He is in a controlled humid environment all night.

 

[Edizzle888]

 

[Big Charlie]

Good question... I have always started leaving my yearlings out most of the day once they are to at least 500g, but took them in at night. In the central valley we are dry and hot, but not as warm as you at night. However, I would be concerned the pyramiding can start showing up, and would like the controlled high humidity for at least the 12 - 14 hours a day by bringing them inside.

To give insight to your question - I can relate to you my experience over the past 25 years with sulcatas. The far greater percentage of that time I did not know of the humidity factor and "monsoon hatchling". I had dry enclosed chambers I did use for my hatchlings. Once about 500g and would leave them out most of the day. I did also have a heavily planted area for them with the sprinklers coming on 3 times a day to give them a "rain storm". I did not, back then have humid hides for them, but plenty of bushes to hide under that were watered generously. I have always noticed once my sulcatas reached 1000g or so, the pyramiding would almost stop in this environment, and growth from then on growth was smooth. I've raised over 50 sulcatas that I kept that long to see that result. Back then, I was always looking for a way to grow smooth sulcatas and did not yet know of the humidity key for hatchlings. I went crazy trying to grow smooth sulcatas for years, and could never get them smooth that first year of growth, until I came across @Tom 's thread and tried the monsoon method. I now think that once outside time increased, they were able to find the more humid areas beneath bushes, etc. and growth smoothed out, despite the 100 degree temps and 15 - 20% humidity.

On the opposite side of the question, I do know you can stop pyramiding almost immediately given monsoon conditions. I am currently working with a group of Burmese Stars that were raised dry and slow. At 5 years old and about 500g they were quite small and pyramided when I got them. Now after 2 1/2 months in an enclosed chamber, I convinced them the monsoons have finally arrived! They have gained between 150 and 300g and grown 0.5 - 0.95 inches. And the new growth is flat between scutes. An amazing difference. So it appears that the pyramiding growth pattern established, can be stopped immediately.
.
So, will a smooth sulcata START to pyramid if to 500 - 1000g with smooth growth? My guess would be probably not if given some planted areas and bushes that have been watered generously to hide under, and especially with half the day (nights) in a controlled indoor environment.

My experience with my one sulcata has been similar. He was raised dry, other than daily soaks when he was little, but thankfully stayed fairly smooth. I have no idea why or what I did differently to cause that, unless the daily soaks were enough. I don't think I continued them beyond the first year. He's been in central California all his life. The first 5 years when he got outside time, the undergrowth was dry since we were on a ranch with no irrigation. After that he has lived in a backyard that has sprinklers. This year we aren't allowed to water during the day so no more showers for him, which is a shame, since I think he liked walking through the sprinklers.

 

[Tom]

Great post from @Markw84 .

To answer the original question:

This is not an age thing, its a size thing. The bigger they are, the less likely they are to start pyramiding in dry conditions.

I don't leave babies outside all day until they are about 5-6" long. At that point they are still sleeping inside in a humid chamber each night.

 

[Gillian M]

View attachment 176683

A cute tort!

I for one live in Jordan where climate is hot and dry OR cold and dry. Therefore I give Oli two to three soaks in warm water each and every day, in Summer. It won't harm him. And I spray his enclosure at least once daily.