Sheldon, pics, questions, etc.

[DaisyDuke]

So this is Sheldon. I am really worried about his pyramiding. I might be paranoid but I have only had him a few weeks and feel it's gotten worse. What can I do about this?
The "pellets" you see in one image is what they had him in at the pet shop. I now have him in Peat Moss and Cypress Mulch. I put three tropical plants in his tank and a half log. He seems to be enjoying everything. This tank is obviously temporary until I build a bigger wooden enclosure. He has been eating dandelion, strawberries, blueberries, romaine {sp?} lettuce, Squash, Endive, Collard Greens, that's all I can think of right now off the top of my head, oh once he had a small slice of banana and a bit of Fancy Feast cat food. Vitamin D3 powder a couple of times that the pet shop said to give. I asked the vet about this and they said to give it to him too.

I live in the North East USA so humidity in non-summer months is so hard. The cooler side of his home is around 80 degrees during the day about 75 at night. But the humidity is SO hard. I have the Petco things so the humidity says "Desert, Moderate, Tropical". During the day it is at Moderate at night it is closer to Tropical. I am spraying him the plants and the mulch. Is there anything else I can do?

He went to the vet last week for his wellness check. They loved him and were great there. I have never seen him poop and pee so much before. They said it was probably stress. But then he was fine and even started eating a blueberry [his favorite]. They said he looked really good and they are testing his "stool". I should know the results this week.

He roams his tank looking at things, digging and trying to climb his half log. He eats well and seems to like people. Here are a few images, of him, parts of his tank, etc

 

[Yvonne G]

I think you're doing what you can. Just keep him moist. With redfoots, you walk a thin line between pyramiding and shell rot.

Have you read the care sheets put out by our members? Look through the redfoot section and read some of the info shown there.

 

[Missy]

Awwww he is so cute. Do you have a humid hide?

 

[Madkins007]

The Tortoise Library site I am trying to get going has articles on Red-foot care and humidity. The link is in my sig below.

You cannot reverse the existing pyramids, but you can minimize them in the future. It appears that the trick is to help the tortoise keep the growing edge of each scute from drying out-misting, a damp warm hide that touches the shell, etc. The first few months seem to be the most critical.

Also understand that we often put a lot of emphasis on pyramiding to the point that it can seem like pyramiding = failure or bad health. This is not true. There are tortoises everywhere, even in the wild on some islands, etc. that are pyramided but seem to be enjoying a long and active life- breeding, etc. just like a 'smooth' Red-foot.

Some of the people who are big on smooth Red-foots live in places or have set-ups where things are just easier to do than others. For most of us living in the colder and/or drier areas, it gets a lot tougher. Most of us will forgive you for bumpiness as long as the other cares are good.

 

[DaisyDuke]

Thank you everybody
I have a hide but what would be a good "humid hide"? How could I make one humid?
I have checked out the care sheets. I will go back and read every word of them in case I missed anything.
Marks helped me the best, easy to read and a nice layout. I literally
wrote down some of the foods on Marks great and good lists and take the list to the store with me

It's good to know that pyramiding doesn't always equal bad health. That is what I thought it meant.
I don't really care about the "look" as long as he is healthy and happy. I saw a lot of photos and things about what bad pyramiding could do and it scared me.

 

[Balboa]

I know your pain on humidity. With all the rain I get in the PNW you'd think our air wouldn't get so dry, and those little glass tanks are a pain. I read a suggestion from TerryO to somebody to drape a damp towel over the cool half of the tank, and that really does help alot. You could also pick up a warm mist humidifier (got mine for $30 at target). A portion of the output could be directed into the tank and/or just by humidifying the room it could make keeping the tank humid that much easier. JUST BE CAREFUL as these things can quickly destroy furniture. IMHO, inexperienced opinion, I'd suggest sticking with a warm mist type, not the ultrasonic or cool mist, as they more adversely effect temperature. If its put on a timer you can have it run for durations throughout the day to try and dial in a good humidity without saturating everything.
The humid hide is made by placing damp (not wet) sphagnum moss or sponges in the hide, and placing the hide under a heat source. Personally, I just picked up a bag of the long fiber Mosser Lee stuff at Home Depot, wetted it, wrung it out good, and fluffed it up in his hide. I make sure to pull it out, check it for nastiness, and refluff it on occasion. The sponge, or bag of moss attached to the side of the hide idea makes keeping it up easier. A word of caution I picked up on Madkins' site (after I'd already dug through it bare handed :-O) is to wear gloves when handling Sphagnum Moss. It MAY harbor Rose Gardner's Disease.
Disclaimer, just regurgitating good information I've picked up on here, no expert.