Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I saw your pic below of the radiata raised with access to a humid hide. Gorgeous animal with great growth! What sort of substrate do you use in your humid hide? Any chance for a picture or two of that setup?

Thanks, and Best,

Tony

Hi Tony,
Thanks for the kind words. That's one of my favorite tortoises.

my setup is very simple. I use small and medium vision tubs. I use mulch over 70-80% of the floor and I use peat moss over the remainder. I mix the mulch and the peat moss together with hay chopped over the top of most the cage. Then at one end I use a rubbermaid storage box. Cut a opening large enough for the tortoises to move in and out. Inside the rubbermaid box I put a little spagnum moss and mist it once a day.
I have found that my tortoises seem to use it mainly when they were smaller, as they've grown they seem to ignore the hide. I'm no expert but I think if you provide this for hatchlings then as they develop they are less prone to pyramiding. In addition to providing the humid hide I also soak them every day or two and when I feed them they only get greens with mazuri mashed on it then sprinkled with rep-cal calcium.
So far this has worked for me and I've had great results.
CW

This is a closer pic of one of my smaller hunid hides for a C.B. planicauda. He had some slight pyramiding when I got him but I think it should smooth out over time. I'd really like to know if anyone is just using mazuri and getting the same results or if the hunid hide plays just as vital a role. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
CW

I think the humidity level plays a big role with pyramiding. I've seen redfoot hatchlings start to pyramid on an excellent diet but with low ambient humidity. I think hydration affects protein and possibly calcium metabolism, so even low protein diets with adequate Ca and D3 can result in pyramiding if the animal is kept too dry. I have been raising pancakes on cypress mulch that is dampened every few days and I have good growth without the bumpiness that is so common in CB pancakes. I keep my CB Pyxis relatively damp as well. I feed Mazuri about once a week or less, with most of the diet being greens and veggies supplemented with yard weeds. The pancakes don't appreciate Mazuri, but all the others would kill for it.

that's a great looking pancake. Most I've seen are not as nice. Do you have any pics of your spider tortoises?
I do think all these factors contribute to pyramiding. It's very interesting to see tortoises associated with very dry climates being raised with a higher humidity than you would normally think and they seem to be thriving.
CW

Here's a spider pic.

One thing to remember is that even arid adapted tortoises don't necessarily run around in the heat of the day when the humidity drops lowest. I would imagine that their burrows/pallets/crevices would have higher humidities than the ambient air. It's all in the microclimate.

Dan

VERY nice, Dan man! Better than a bunch of mine... Good for you!

Matt
p.s. - A Pancake pip today!!! Hooray!
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"Change what you cannot accept... do not accept what you can't change!"

Tod Ashley C.$.C.

CW,

Thanks for the great pics! I like the setup, especially the hay that you have over everything. Two more quick questions:

When you say sphagnum moss for the humid hide, are you talking about sphagnum peat moss (which I guess is just peat moss), sphagnum moss (which is kind of gray or tan and in clumps), or a green moss like the one the little spider is climbing out of?

And how often do you change out the substrate in the whole Vision tub?

Thanks Again!

T