What am I doing wrong?

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bananaphone

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Hey guys, I have a feeling my baby sulcata tortoise is starting to pyramid and I have no idea why. he's currently in a 40 gallon because hes only 4-5 months old. I give him baths as often as possible and wet down his shell every day. I feed him spring mix and that tortoise food that comes in pellets. I try to keep his tank as humid as possible. he has 2 small water bowls in there, one he can drink from and one he can walk in and poop in. his temps in his basking spot directly under the light is around 110-115 with plenty of are to move around with the cool side in the high 70's/low 80's. he has a Powersun MVB thats 3 months old and before that he had a reptisun until that passed its 6 months mark. I run a Ceramic Heat emitter 24/7 right now because its winter and my room can dip down to 60 at night. with just the emitter on, it stays in the mid 80's under it which is above his humid hide/where he sleeps.

What am I doing wrong?

thanks
 

omgdoubletacos

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He needs to have a 30 minute soak everyday, humidity needs to be around 80-90%. Some more experienced members can give you more info
 

wellington

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Read the threads below in my post. They are Toms. You need to know how much the humidity is, not assume that the spraying is enough, it usually isn't. Also, what was already said in the previous post.
 

marcy4hope

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do you have a picture of the tort and of the setup? if he's only 4-5 months old, would be nice to see a photo and see if it's really pyramiding.
 

cemmons12

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I believe, along with the humidity, that the baths really help a lot. 20-30 minutes everyday will be real helpfull. But a little bit of pyramiding isn't nothing to freak out about. Read Tom's threads and you should be just fine. Trust me as much as I have try'd, my Cooper isn't perfect. But since he is way big for his age, that could have something to do with it I suppose. Just relax, I am sure you are doing fine. Have a good evening!
 

Dizisdalife

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Post a picture of your tortoise so that we can take a good look. It would also be helpful if you could post some of the enclosure too.
 

bananaphone

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I'll get pics of everything when i get home tonight, thanks for the replies.

but basically just more humidity is what i'm getting? i know for a fact its not nearly 80-90, my guess would be 40-50, i don't think my humid hide even gets that high for longer then a couple hours.
 

Melly-n-shorty

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I put a small CHE near one side of my humid hide and it really helped. aslo is your humid hide enclosed on the top and bottom? Having the bottom enclosed helps keep moisture from escaping.
 

bananaphone

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here are the pics. for my humid hide i have that half log buried with sphagnum moss in it to hold moisture and i soak it real well every morning and the CHE is right above it because he sleeps in there as well.

IMG_0349_zpsf97c47d4.jpg

IMG_3520_zps9e11b186.jpg

IMG_3717_zps7b41c401.jpg

IMG_5619_zps1e5548cf.jpg
 

bananaphone

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Not really, its a half log buried in eco earth/cyrpess mulch with a sphagnum moss bottom that i soak heavily every morning. here's are the pics.
IMG_0349_zpsf97c47d4.jpg

IMG_3520_zps9e11b186.jpg

IMG_3717_zps7b41c401.jpg

IMG_5619_zps1e5548cf.jpg

IMG_6074_zpsaf3d6d93.jpg
 

Zabbi0

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Your baby looks totally & completely fine to me:) I would just ensure doing the 30minute daily soaks 1-2x a day.
Cypress mulch is good but can get kind of dry. I have found that putting a layer of coco coir or coco fiber on the bottom and cypress mulch on top keeps humidity in a lot more. Definitely keep the enclosure and hide covered. Get a Accu-Rite thermometer that displays humidity so you can check what the reading really is. But if baby is getting 1-2 30min soaks a day he will continue developing as beautiful as he is in te pics:)


Oh and misters/humidifiers are good the first year too so that you don't have to constantly be spraying down the enclosure.
 

Dizisdalife

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Maybe it's the angle, but it looks to me that there is some slight pyramiding. In one of the pictures the new growth looks like it is coming in smooth. In the others I am not certain. To be safe you could cover most of the top of your enclosure to help hold the humidity and keep it higher throughout the enclosure. Your tortoise will soon grow too big for that log. Consider getting a plastic box to make a hide out of. Some of our members have used misters/humidifiers to increase the humidity. You should get a temp gun so that you can spot check the temperatures. Is you tortoise spending a lot of time in the basking spot? The actual temperature could be too hot or too cold. You need to be able to adjust the height of the basking light to set this temp corectly. Covering the top will also hold in the heat. With increased humidity you want to be sure the night time temps are above 80F. I kept mine closer to 85F. To do this I connected the CHE to a thermostat and set it to 85F. Then used the temp gun to spot check the surface temps to be sure it was working.
 

bananaphone

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So cover tank more and get bigger hide box. will do that tonight.

thanks everyone!

oh, and yeah there is a good layer of eco earth under the mulch. i plan on getting him a 75 gallon tank when i move into my new place in march and having my friend build me a couple big enclosures during the summer. im going to need one for him and my tegu lol.
 

brandi9870

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What can you cover the enclosure with to keep moisture in without catching fire from the uva heat lamp?
 
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