Worried about growth

[AreniteAfusia]

Hi, my sulcata just turned 3 and are somewhat worried about her growth. She is currently 7.5” long and about 5ish” wide and do know that she is/has undergone some pyramiding already. Her enclosure is 4x8’ (in our small apartment) and we take her outside almost daily to run around in bigger spaces. The bedding is peat moss and aspen bedding. I know we have to lower her UVB lights for her to get the benefits from them but should we also add another heat lamp? (Temps are 95 under the lamps and 75 elsewhere) We just want to know what else we can do to give her the best life possible with what little we have.

 

[wellington]

Get over all temps upto 80 and same with humidity, 80%.
I would also not use those clamps of the lights. They have been known to fail many times and causing fires or burning. They also all should be pointing straight down
What kind of uvb light do you have? I see what looks like a cfl coil type bulbs, they are bad, can cause eye problems and should not be used. The mercury vapor bulb is also bad, too intense and causes pyramiding. The tube florescent uvb should be used, the ones from arcadia are the best.

 

[Tom]

Hi, my sulcata just turned 3 and are somewhat worried about her growth. She is currently 7.5” long and about 5ish” wide and do know that she is/has undergone some pyramiding already. Her enclosure is 4x8’ (in our small apartment) and we take her outside almost daily to run around in bigger spaces. The bedding is peat moss and aspen bedding. I know we have to lower her UVB lights for her to get the benefits from them but should we also add another heat lamp? (Temps are 95 under the lamps and 75 elsewhere) We just want to know what else we can do to give her the best life possible with what little we have. View attachment 355489 View attachment 355490 View attachment 355491

Good tips from Wellington. Here is what I see:
1. Its great that you were able to provide such a large enclosure and keep it covered for humidity! Good job there.
2. The enclosure should be no lower than 80 degrees anywhere at any time. Ambient in the high 80s or low 90s during the day is desirable.
3. Aspen bedding and coco chips are not good bedding. The substrate needs to be damp, and aspen will mold.
4. As Barb mentioned, the cfl type UV bulbs are ineffective and sometimes do harm. Get a n Arcadia "12% ProT5 Kit" instead, or if the funds just are not there, give the tortoise some outside time in. safe enclosure a few times per week when weather permits. It is not safe to let the tortoise roam loose outside, and one way or another, you will lose your tortoise no matter how much you intend to supervise closely. I learned this lesson the hard way, as have many others, and I hope you won't have to. Use an enclosure.
5. As a safety point, the lamp fixtures need to be replaced. Those plastic bakelite fixtures are not meant to be on all day every day and they break down under the intense heat from our bulbs. This can cause your expensive bulbs to blow out, or worse, it can short and start a fire. I've had this happen. I had one sparking in my hands. You can get ceramic based fixtures from Home Depot for about $13.
6. Another safety point is those clamps on the fixtures. The clamps are not reliable. They always fail and that hot bulb with live electricity will drop into your enclosure. Best case, it breaks and your tortoise is walking in broken glass and has a shock hazard. Worse case, it doesn't break and it ignites whatever it is touching and burns your whole house down. Avoid this by securely hanging your lamps from directly over head. This is better for the tortoise any way.
7. You didn't mention what you feed the tortoise. Diet certainly plays a part in their growth.

All of this and much more is right here. There is also a heating and lighting breakdown and the current sulcata care sheet. Questions are welcome.

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[AreniteAfusia]

Good tips from Wellington. Here is what I see:
1. Its great that you were able to provide such a large enclosure and keep it covered for humidity! Good job there.
2. The enclosure should be no lower than 80 degrees anywhere at any time. Ambient in the high 80s or low 90s during the day is desirable.
3. Aspen bedding and coco chips are not good bedding. The substrate needs to be damp, and aspen will mold.
4. As Barb mentioned, the cfl type UV bulbs are ineffective and sometimes do harm. Get a n Arcadia "12% ProT5 Kit" instead, or if the funds just are not there, give the tortoise some outside time in. safe enclosure a few times per week when weather permits. It is not safe to let the tortoise roam loose outside, and one way or another, you will lose your tortoise no matter how much you intend to supervise closely. I learned this lesson the hard way, as have many others, and I hope you won't have to. Use an enclosure.
5. As a safety point, the lamp fixtures need to be replaced. Those plastic bakelite fixtures are not meant to be on all day every day and they break down under the intense heat from our bulbs. This can cause your expensive bulbs to blow out, or worse, it can short and start a fire. I've had this happen. I had one sparking in my hands. You can get ceramic based fixtures from Home Depot for about $13.
6. Another safety point is those clamps on the fixtures. The clamps are not reliable. They always fail and that hot bulb with live electricity will drop into your enclosure. Best case, it breaks and your tortoise is walking in broken glass and has a shock hazard. Worse case, it doesn't break and it ignites whatever it is touching and burns your whole house down. Avoid this by securely hanging your lamps from directly over head. This is better for the tortoise any way.
7. You didn't mention what you feed the tortoise. Diet certainly plays a part in their growth.

All of this and much more is right here. There is also a heating and lighting breakdown and the current sulcata care sheet. Questions are welcome.

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

Wow, that is a lot of information that I did not know, even though I read a lot of posts from this site when first making the enclosure. Thank you for it and I will make sure to fix these problems as soon as I can. As for her diet, we give her mazuri pellets, blended grass hay and dandelions. Other products include pumpkin, repashy supplements and calcium occasionally. The clamps on the light fixtures are glued and ziptied to her enclosure but will be replaced with ceramic ones, as you have mentioned.

 

[Tom]

Wow, that is a lot of information that I did not know, even though I read a lot of posts from this site when first making the enclosure. Thank you for it and I will make sure to fix these problems as soon as I can. As for her diet, we give her mazuri pellets, blended grass hay and dandelions. Other products include pumpkin, repashy supplements and calcium occasionally. The clamps on the light fixtures are glued and ziptied to her enclosure but will be replaced with ceramic ones, as you have mentioned.

Yes, there is a ton of info to learn and know. I'm glad we could help, and I hope you have many happy years with your tortoise! Soon it will be time to move the tortoise outside full time, and we can help you with your heated night box design and build. You might get one more year inside if the growth continues to be this slow.