Red Foot Pyramiding?

[mizzle]

Hi guys.

 

[mizzle]

Hi guys, new to the forums here! Been getting a bit worried about my redfoot and these forums always seem to pop up when doing research!
So basically we've had our redfoot merle for coming up to a year now...we were told he(?) Was a year old when we got him so that'll put him around 2 now. Generally we feed him mixed leaf salad (never any with iceberg included, usually the premixed bags of italian peppery salad etc etc) cherry tomatoes, bell pepper, red grapes, and the occasional strawberries. We also got some zoo med forest tortoise food pellets, but he mainly turns his nose up at them! Been dusting his food with reptavite on the weekdays, and nutrobal at the weekend days. We do feed him every day, and he doesnt normally get through it all in one meal, and will come back and graze throughout the day. Coconut coir substrate with spahgnum moss, 34° at the warm end with temp gradient, uvb light etc. Humidity is upward of 60% but usually around 70-80 (I just mist with a spray bottle at the moment, as well as put his water bowl under the heat lamp so it varies at times)
ever since ive heard of the dreaded pyramiding I've worried myself about it, seems so hard to find examples of what a perfect shell should be, so I submit him to your expert eyes! Any further info you need from me dont hesitate to ask, and any additional help or suggestions (dietary or otherwise) will be greatly appreciated!

 

[mizzle]

 

[mizzle]

By the way if im posting this in the wrong section or in a clunky way lemme know and ill change it, did all this late at nite so hope im making sense!

 

[Peytons torts]

Hi guys, new to the forums here! Been getting a bit worried about my redfoot and these forums always seem to pop up when doing research!
So basically we've had our redfoot merle for coming up to a year now...we were told he(?) Was a year old when we got him so that'll put him around 2 now. Generally we feed him mixed leaf salad (never any with iceberg included, usually the premixed bags of italian peppery salad etc etc) cherry tomatoes, bell pepper, red grapes, and the occasional strawberries. We also got some zoo med forest tortoise food pellets, but he mainly turns his nose up at them! Been dusting his food with reptavite on the weekdays, and nutrobal at the weekend days. We do feed him every day, and he doesnt normally get through it all in one meal, and will come back and graze throughout the day. Coconut coir substrate with spahgnum moss, 34° at the warm end with temp gradient, uvb light etc. Humidity is upward of 60% but usually around 70-80 (I just mist with a spray bottle at the moment, as well as put his water bowl under the heat lamp so it varies at times)
ever since ive heard of the dreaded pyramiding I've worried myself about it, seems so hard to find examples of what a perfect shell should be, so I submit him to your expert eyes! Any further info you need from me dont hesitate to ask, and any additional help or suggestions (dietary or otherwise) will be greatly appreciated!

I don't know much about humidity for red foots but for the calcium and vitamin supplements only sprinkle it on his food once a week not every day that can make him sick hope somebody helps you with the pyramiding but he is an adorable tort by the way

 

[mizzle]

Accidental thread! How do I get rid?

 

[mizzle]

Ah ok thanks for your reply, would you suggest one dose of reptavite and one of nutrabol a week? Or can I get rid of one of the supplements entirely? Thanks, Merle is a good little lad! Had a look at some of your pics and seems you have quite the collection of nice torts! Would you recommend getting a humidifier/mister? Or is spray bottle sufficient? Also I only spray his enclosure once in the morning before I go to work, would 2-3 sprays a day be better? Seems like the more I read up, the more humidity gets mentioned for these red foots.
Also I give him enough food that he never seems to run out throughout the day (he usually eats it in about 2-3 sittings) but could overfeeding be a problem? with work etc its hard to only give him what he would eat in a certain time limit as I normally put it all in and head out for the day.
Lastly, I was advised to take his hide out as he seemed to be spending a huge amount of time in it and not really getting enough Uv light, is a hide essential? Should I put one back in and stuff it with damp moss as I have heard a few times in my research travels?

Question overload I know! But see so many different opinions over the net and from pet shop workers that any more experienced opinions would be welcome

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

Welcome!
Yep, every day is too much! Once a week is fine. Do you have a cuttlebone sitting out for him?
You can't just spray to have humidity The soil must be moist too, to hold it. What is the humidity right now? Aim for 80%. If it goes out the to, foil works wonders!
What type of UVB light is it? If it's coil, get rid of it! He might be hiding from it, and as they burn torts eyes, he might be feeling the sting!
Put in back in. Torts NEED a hide, no matter what! Moss is great, even just in the rest of the enclosure, Stay moist very nicely!

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

A mod can get rid o it for you
Oops @Yvonne G!

 

[mizzle]

Haha thanks! Also I don't know if my other thread is in the right section, didn't realise there was an actual red foot section! Im normally pretty good with technology too…..

 

[mizzle]

Ok I will scale back on the supplements then! Do u recommend once a week for each? Or drop one of the supplements? No cuttlebone atm, as I thought the supplements were doing the trick but I shall get some! What do you think of his shell shape overall? Ah ok, so you would recommend a humidifier? Any particular one work wonders? He's got about 4-5cm of coconut coir, with half the enclosure also covered in moss on top of that, plus 2 bromeliads and a spider plant in the moss side if any of that helps at all?!? At work at the moment so I will check when I get home, but I know last nite it was up in the 90's as I just did a clean and replaced the moss so it was all pretty damp still. It is a vivarium at the moment as he is still small, so is fully enclosed.
I've got a Reptiglo strip light, so no coil! Mounted to the ceiling to get it out of his eyes as much as possible. Ok I'll reintroduce his hide, would you recommend stuffing it with new damp moss every day? Moss seems to dry out super quick!

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

We have some good RF reading material at the Tortoise Library

 

[mizzle]

So i put his hide back in for him, as well as bought a few new plants and spruced it up a bit, added some damp moss to the hide too. He seemed pretty overjoyed for the evening, going in n out and exploring, that was sunday night though, and he hadnt come out since then, not to eat or anything, hadnt eaten for nearly a week now, i gave in today (friday) and have scooped him out the hide and put him near his bowl, didnt seem interested and wandered off, looked like he tried to bury himself under some moss elsewhere as if trying to hide, hes sitting there eyeing up the food now tho...
Anyone else have experience of theirs sulking and not eating for a few days after you change their layout? Hes sulked for 2-3 days in the past, but 4-5 days of continuous hiding and no eating seems excessive?
Also going to look into getting a mister/humidifier to better manage his humidity levels as struggling to keep it at 80%, anyone got any suggestions on what ones to get/avoid?

 

[Momof4]

Can we see a photo of the enclosure? That would help you decided how your going to get the humidity up. I gave up on humidifiers and use a heat rope people use to de-ice their gutters with. It has worked perfectly but it's only been a 2 weeks. It's waterproof and creates humidity without filling a water container all the time. It also keeps the substrate nice and warm.

 

[mizzle]

Sorry for the late reply guys, had a busy week! I've taken some pics for you, the heat bulb is on a habistat dimming thermostat which is set at 32-34, cool end is normally around 28-30. We also have a UVB reptiglow strip light installed at the front of the roof, behind the silver top of the vivarium glass. Also got a heat mat installed on the wall on the hot side, which gets turned on all night whilst the other lights are off. Having real trouble keeping the humidity up, and since we reintroduced the hide, hes barely left it in more or less 2 weeks, seems to be eating less also, and just coming out for food then heading straight back in rather than roaming about too often, finding it hard to get him out to have soaks etc too as dont want to start lifting up his hide and scooping him out.

Any help would be much appreciated and I'll answer any other questions you guys have

 

[Zeko]

I can tell you without a doubt your humidity is much to low. Redfoots are very very picky about humidity. They require a closed chamber, or several humidifiers to keep humidity up. Daily soaks will also help.

It's not to late to work on his setup, the new growth should come in smooth if you do.

Here is a picture of mine. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!

 

[mizzle]

Yea its been tough trying to keep the humidity at a good level, what methods would you guys recommend to get a constant good level?

 

[Zeko]

Yea its been tough trying to keep the humidity at a good level, what methods would you guys recommend to get a constant good level?

You really only got two options:

1) Seal the enclosure (tinfoil, wrap, etc).
2) Run humidifiers plumbed into the enclosure.

#1 Is much cheaper and seems to work decently well.
#2 Is more expensive, and I've found better results.

Either one will do him a world of good!

 

[mizzle]

Ok thanks, hes already in an enclosed vivarium so i guess theres not much chance for option 1? I have been Wondering about a humidifier, any you would recommend? Been very hard to give him lots of soaks too, since we reintroduced his hide, he has barely come out, pretty much just to eat a bit and then go back in, no roaming his enclosure or anything, just all day sat in there! Dont wanna start rripping it up to grab him all the time but no other way to get to him at the moment!