Some Changes For Edger

[handsomeEdger]

So my girlfriend and I noticed a small amount of pyramiding and so we changed his substrate to a mixture of peet moss and small amount of bark as im sure it will hold in more moisture for humidity purposes. I also went to walmart and bought a vicks humidifier as to supplement the humidity when needed. It is basically winter now and he will not be seeing sun for some months now. We have been using a Zoomed 10.0 uvb bulb and supplementing vitamins. We where using calcium with d3 every once in awhile but today i decided to go away from that and get the reptivite vitamin supplement without d3 but does have calcium and all other vitamins. I am waiting on our mega ray 60 watt eb mercury vapor uva/uvb emitting setup which we rely on for winter time but of course summer he is outside all day. We also thought maybe we are over feeding him so we are cutting back to about a half cup loosely packed in the am and the same in the eve he is a bit over a year old is this enough for him at this age? We are also upping the room temp to a constant 85 degrees and his basking spot stays about 102 degrees. If anyone has any suggestion or sees something i missed by alll means please leave your comments. Edger thanks you!!

 

[Maggie Cummings]

We believe pyramiding is mostly a moisture problem. I would get a better substrate, something like cypress mulch, it will hold moisture better. Mist him several times a day. His tank humidity should be about 80%. Tom has written a great sheet on how to care for young tortoises but I don't know where it is so I am going to hope that one of our more experienced keepers or the mighty Tom himself will come up with a link so you can read up on his care. But for right now please think about getting a better substrate and upping his humidity. It's not a food thing so I wouldn't worry about the quantity of food. It sounds to me like you aren't feeding him enough anyway. You should feed him whatever he would eat in about 15 minutes...

 

[handsomeEdger]

yeah thats why we switched to about 90% peet moss it is ground up so it fills like dirt but to the touch its soft and seems to be very warm and moist. We are now misting him 3 to 4 times a day and he has also always been soaked since day one when we bought him for at least 15 to 20 minutes as he loves very warm water and will just sit in it. As for the food i was just starting that today 10/27/10 but before that we always gave him as much as he would eat so i will cancel that idea and just keep feeding him as we always do. Right now we have been feeding grass of course with dandelions and clovers mixed in and spring mix every once in awhile.. The dandelions are becoming very hard to find and will be gone all together pretty soon but grass will continue to be available and we will use some spring mix.

 

[tczar]

I live in west tx and soaked mine in warm water three times a week for the first couple of years. we have one of the driest regions in the u s and pyramiding is not an issue with mine. Washington is the polar opposite in humidity. I think you are off base with all the himidity issues.

 

[handsomeEdger]

Well there is no place in the state of washington that it gets above 50% relative humidity and i do believe that is not enough