# Earliest Signs Observed Of Pyramiding?



## Beasty_Artemis (Nov 7, 2016)

So I could have sworn I read in the forums a some point, someone's post saying that they adopted baby hatchlings ( I cannot remember what kind.) that were only like 8 months old and already showed pyramiding! Anyone else ever see hatchlings actually exhibit pyramiding that early? Earlier?

I'm just glad my little girl seems to be growing healthy. I need to get into my old email and track down her exact birth date to confirm that she is a little more than a year old. I was worried that I have never seen pyramiding before except in pics of adult animals on the internet.


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## wellington (Nov 7, 2016)

Yes, my own little hatched out leopard. She will be a year this month. However, l noticed some pyramiding early one. I can't remember what age, but it was only a few months. Of course she is in a closed chamber since birth and was incubated with a high humidity. She since then has stopped and is smoothing out. Have no idea, why, in such high humidity, over 80% she still pyramided. It sure can start very young in wrong conditions and some are even a little prone to it in great conditions.


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## Yvonne G (Nov 7, 2016)

Yes. You can see it as soon as the baby's shell starts growing. If it's a dry, hot environment, the new growth is sort of lowered, pushing up that first, original scute. And the growth from then on is on a slant going upwards to that original scute.


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## Tom (Nov 7, 2016)

You can see it in hatchlings as a deep notch forming between the scutes. You can almost stick your thumbnail in the crevice.


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## Beasty_Artemis (Nov 10, 2016)

Does anyone have any pics?


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## Beasty_Artemis (Nov 10, 2016)

Because I have read about stretching between scutes being a sign of really fast growth. Is that a real thing?


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## Speedy-1 (Nov 10, 2016)

Beasty_Artemis said:


> Does anyone have any pics?


 *If you go here ; http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/the-end-of-pyramiding.15137/page-13 you will more than likely learn and see most everything you want to know !*


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## cmacusa3 (Nov 10, 2016)

Beasty_Artemis said:


> Because I have read about stretching between scutes being a sign of really fast growth. Is that a real thing?



I have a leopard tort that I just got that was hatched in late September that already has significant pyramiding.


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## Beasty_Artemis (Nov 10, 2016)

WOW! That is one amazing thread! Very educational. 
My girl had some stretching from excessive food it sounds like. Whew! Paranoia was making me worry.


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## Beasty_Artemis (Nov 10, 2016)




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## Beasty_Artemis (Nov 10, 2016)

Any thoughts judging from my pic?


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## Dan (Nov 10, 2016)

Looks fine. Don't see much in the way of growth just yet. Fresh slate. Just keep humidity up and soak every day for the first year or so and regularly thereafter to prevent a whole host of issues--not only pyramiding. I've found that as tortoises gain mass, they don't seem to dehydrate as easily or as quickly, meaning that from a shell disformity standpoint, obsessive attention to watering your animals can eventually slacken some. If you can get yours up to 5-6" and smooth you shouldn't have any problems with pyramiding and you can relax and let him spend more time in an outside enclosure during good weather instead of in the humid chamber all the time.

Here's one of mine, which overall has received excellent care, but which I think experienced lower humidity over last winter, while still receiving food like mazuri which accelerates growth. It's a mild case, but it's there. New growth over the summer where I felt comfortable bumping the humidity up is coming in much smoother again.


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## TerrapinStation (Nov 11, 2016)

@Dan What a beautiful tort!


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## jim taylor (Nov 11, 2016)

I got my sulcata at 5 months old and he was already starting to pyramid. It wasn't a huge amount but it also wasn't brand new. So I can't really say if it started rite out of the egg or couple weeks in but it didn't happen over night.


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## Janelle Green (Nov 12, 2016)

Yes I got my baby Russians with little pyramiding there a year old December 5th I have stopped their pyramiding luckily but they'll always have that little bit now. I believe my babies pyramided because she didn't have the enclosure humid enough and to crowded just not excellent care.theres a good video on pyramiding by Kamp Kenan on YouTube also a great video of baby tortoise care by him


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## Janelle Green (Nov 12, 2016)

wellington said:


> Yes, my own little hatched out leopard. She will be a year this month. However, l noticed some pyramiding early one. I can't remember what age, but it was only a few months. Of course she is in a closed chamber since birth and was incubated with a high humidity. She since then has stopped and is smoothing out. Have no idea, why, in such high humidity, over 80% she still pyramided. It sure can start very young in wrong conditions and some are even a little prone to it in great conditions.


I saw the pyramiding video by Kamp kenan and he said they can just get a little from being in captivity , I've been watching a lot of his videos I love him lol


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## wellington (Nov 13, 2016)

Janelle Green said:


> I saw the pyramiding video by Kamp kenan and he said they can just get a little from being in captivity , I've been watching a lot of his videos I love him lol


i don't doubt that with the lights/heat we have to use.


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