Shell check requested

David M.

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Hey all,

First time tortoise owner, overly paranoid about pyramiding and overall shell health. How does this look? Humidity is kept at ~90, temp ~87 ambient and ~92 basking (using a smart enclosure from Mark)

Food is as many different dark leafy greens as I can get my hands on + other veggies, two times per week various fruits, once per week mushy lean cat food with mazuri pellets mixed in.

Repashy super veggie as calcium and vit suppliment 2-3 times per week

Soaks are daily if I can, otherwise every other day.

Lastly, any idea on age? Purchased from Petco mid march and they had no idea. Shell length is 4 inches.
 

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Tom

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Well you simply cannot do better than the Smart Enclosure, so excellent choice there.

This species does not need a basking lamp. Just that overall warm ambient temp and high humidity. The basking lamp is likely to increase the pyramiding. I'd just shut it off. Keep the substrate relatively dry to avoid shell rot on the plastron.

Your diet sounds great. I've recently learned from @TeamZissou that Repashy supplements are too high in vitamin A for our tortoises. I would use RepCal for calcium a couple of times a week and Herptivite for vitamins once a week.

No way for us to tell the age. At least one year, possibly up to 4 or 5, would be a reasonable guess.
 

David M.

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Mar 30, 2022
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Location (City and/or State)
Nevada
Well you simply cannot do better than the Smart Enclosure, so excellent choice there.

This species does not need a basking lamp. Just that overall warm ambient temp and high humidity. The basking lamp is likely to increase the pyramiding. I'd just shut it off. Keep the substrate relatively dry to avoid shell rot on the plastron.

Your diet sounds great. I've recently learned from @TeamZissou that Repashy supplements are too high in vitamin A for our tortoises. I would use RepCal for calcium a couple of times a week and Herptivite for vitamins once a week.

No way for us to tell the age. At least one year, possibly up to 4 or 5, would be a reasonable guess.
Wonderful advice thank you so much. Happy to hear about the basking lamp, I've read many conflicting things on that topic. May need to add a second che in its place for ambient temps but I have spares on hand.

Great to know about the repashy too, I'll place an order for those recommended suppliments right now.
 

Tom

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Wonderful advice thank you so much. Happy to hear about the basking lamp, I've read many conflicting things on that topic. May need to add a second che in its place for ambient temps but I have spares on hand.

Great to know about the repashy too, I'll place an order for those recommended suppliments right now.
If you can find one, a RHP is a much better choice than a CHE. It spreads the heat out over a larger area and reduces carapace desiccation in comparison to a CHE which concentrates a lot of heat into a relatively small area. The RHP can work with your same thermostat.
 

David M.

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Location (City and/or State)
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If you can find one, a RHP is a much better choice than a CHE. It spreads the heat out over a larger area and reduces carapace desiccation in comparison to a CHE which concentrates a lot of heat into a relatively small area. The RHP can work with your same thermostat.
Even better! Do you have a recommendation for a specific brand?
 

Sarah2020

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Looks a cute alert tort. I say continue with what your doing and enjoy your tort.
 

David M.

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One other question while I have you folks here, regarding the preferred UVB lamp. Currently I have an Arcadia 6% bulb set on a schedule of 11am-3pm. I have a 12% on hand I can swap out if that would better benefit my little redfoot. Once again, I've read conflicting information on this topic so some insight from the experts would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: It's probably important to note outside time is limited right now, not quite that time of year yet in Nevada. So all UV will be assumed supplemented by the lamp in the enclosure.
 

Tom

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One other question while I have you folks here, regarding the preferred UVB lamp. Currently I have an Arcadia 6% bulb set on a schedule of 11am-3pm. I have a 12% on hand I can swap out if that would better benefit my little redfoot. Once again, I've read conflicting information on this topic so some insight from the experts would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: It's probably important to note outside time is limited right now, not quite that time of year yet in Nevada. So all UV will be assumed supplemented by the lamp in the enclosure.
How high s the bulb mounted above the tortoise, and do you have a meter to check the output?

We can give you guesses and opinions all day long, but only a meter will tell you what is happening in your enclosure. Solarmeter 6.5 is the one you want.
 

David M.

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Location (City and/or State)
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How high s the bulb mounted above the tortoise, and do you have a meter to check the output?

We can give you guesses and opinions all day long, but only a meter will tell you what is happening in your enclosure. Solarmeter 6.5 is the one you want.
I dont have a Solarmeter unfortunately. The bulb is mounted ~20 inches above the tort
 

Tom

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I dont have a Solarmeter unfortunately. The bulb is mounted ~20 inches above the tort
At 20 inches, this bulb would not be doing any damage or causing any problems. Unfortunately, it probably isn't giving much UV benefit either. For a RF with D3 supplementation and a fair amount of D3 in the diet, it is probably okay.
 
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