A couple questions...

[frankie]

I just got my two baby leopards a couple weeks ago. Love them!.. but these are the first I have had of this type tort.

I have a few questions...

Is the pyramiding excessive? If so, what should I do to improve it?

Also, can anyone tell me why the one in front would try to eat the rock he/she is sitting on?...

(They don't have names yet...)

 

[coreyc]

Hi Frankie you have two babacocki I see you have them in a cage it does not hold in humidity I would get something to hold in the humidity it will help stop the pyramiding do you soak & spray them ?

 

[wellington]

Yes they are pyramded. One of the great ways of raising them is in the link at the bottom of my post, by my signature. 80temps with basking at 95-100 and 80% humidity. If they are young enough, you can stop the pyramiding, but you can't reverse it. Also feed a good variety of food. I raise mine this way and mine also had pyramiding. He is now growing smooth new growth. There are other ways, I find this one works for me and is easy for me. Good luck. Great looking torts otherwise.

 

[Tom]

I wouldn't call it excessive. I would call it normal for dry raised leopards. Here are some threads to help you better understand whats going on and what to do about it.

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Helpful-Threads#axzz1nP84i9gY

 

[Jacob]

If you keep them on a varied diet and humid and hot.
when they grow, the growth rings will grow or rise up

 

[Zamric]

Welcome to the Forum!

Sure, there is some pyramiding but they are young enough that it can be overcome but not reversed. Heat and humidity is the key for the 1st year.

Your little one is trying to eat the rock because it's trying to get at the trace elements it's missing in it's diet and contained in the rock. Try supplimenting thier diet with Mazuri that has been softened with warm water.

 

[frankie]

Thanks for all the information, links and advise. I've only had them a week so can now adjust their life to improve on this. I was told they are 6 months old.

Yes, I am spraying them and soaking them and feeding them a good variety of food. I'll add appropriate supplements. . Their home is warm enough, on one end anyway... I'll need to do something to hold in humidity and heat it up a little. Summer is coming, so that should not be too hard.

Thank again for the help finding the right threads to read...

 

[Neal]

Is the pyramiding excessive? If so, what should I do to improve it?

Also, can anyone tell me why the one in front would try to eat the rock he/she is sitting on?...

What is your entire set-up like?

The water dish is a good start to improve the carapace. I would also recommend a humid hide if you do not have one.

What is their diet like?

 

[frankie]

Is the pyramiding excessive? If so, what should I do to improve it?

Also, can anyone tell me why the one in front would try to eat the rock he/she is sitting on?...

What is your entire set-up like?

The water dish is a good start to improve the carapace. I would also recommend a humid hide if you do not have one.

What is their diet like?

ello Neal,

I've attached a photo of their set up. But to keep the heat in, I keep it covered or partially covered by a heavy wool blanket. (the den outside the window is for my Desert Tort.) I spray a few times per day and they they getting the dish occasionally. I am now soaking them each day as well.

I have a ceramic heater in the domed light fixture and a UV light in the fixture at the top.

They are eating some dandelion, mustard greens, trunup and collard greens. I have given them Hibiscus, one of them will eat it. I've tried "grassland tortoise food" by Zoomed but so far, they do not like it. I do know the place I got them from was feeding them Juvenile Iguana food but I am NOT feeding them this since it has meat products in it.

 

[frankie]

Hi Frankie you have two babacocki I see you have them in a cage it does not hold in humidity I would get something to hold in the humidity it will help stop the pyramiding do you soak & spray them ?

Hi and thanks for the comments. I do have the cage covered most of the time to hold in heat and humidity... I may need to add Plexiglas to help further.

Would you mind educating me a bit on 'babacoki'? or point me to something with information? Is that a sub species?? I've tried a simple search but cannot find anything. And, how can you tell?

Thanks for any info you have! I see from your signature that you have some of the same..

 

[manmythlegend]

Most of us don't think the cage is the way to go. You'd get MUCH better heat and humidity retention from a plastic bin/tub of some sort. Rubbermaid, Sterlite, etc. all make bins that would work. You can get them at a pretty good size and cheap at Target, Office Max, the Container Store or even (ugh) Wal Mart. You don't have to worry about the depth so much as the other two dimensions due to tortoises' sucky climbing abilities but I still wouldn't place anything they could use as a booster near the edges just in case. I realize it won't be as nice looking as the sweet cage you've got there but it would make things easier on you with regards to keeping the humidity up enough so that hopefully they won't pyramid.

 

[wellington]

As already stated a tub or glass aquarium would make things easier for you to keep heat and humidity. The only difference I can tell you about the two diff. Leopards is the babcocki are less expensive and don't get as big as the paradalli(might be spelled wrong)also the babcocki don't seem to like grass, but loves weeds. If you haven't already, check out the threads below by my signature. Also a hard top would probably work better than a blanket. I would think a blanket would not hold in humidity as much as soak it up?

 

[Zamric]

Most of us don't think the cage is the way to go. You'd get MUCH better heat and humidity retention from a plastic bin/tub of some sort. Rubbermaid, Sterlite, etc. all make bins that would work. You can get them at a pretty good size and cheap at Target, Office Max, the Container Store or even (ugh) Wal Mart. You don't have to worry about the depth so much as the other two dimensions due to tortoises' sucky climbing abilities but I still wouldn't place anything they could use as a booster near the edges just in case. I realize it won't be as nice looking as the sweet cage you've got there but it would make things easier on you with regards to keeping the humidity up enough so that hopefully they won't pyramid.

"sucky Climbing ability"? Oh my friend, These guys are MUCH better climbers than you might think! They have very strong front legs and can pull themselfs up on to areas you would never imagine! Thier climbing ability is vastly underated and the reason so many excape thier enclosures. ... just sayin

 

[Tom]

Haha. I think he meant in comparison to a lizard or something that would hop or climb right out of a tub, when he said "sucky climbing ability".

Zamric, you've got tortoises on the brain , and I'm going to guess that manmythlegend has some experience with some other reptiles...

One never knows how the typed word will come across, but I mean this all in good fun among friends.

 

[Zamric]

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come across as anything but informative. I use the emoticons to show this but they don't always work I guess!

 

[frankie]

Thanks all,

I will make the necessary changes to insure humidity stays up. No problem with heat...

I appreciate the feedback

 

[manmythlegend]

Yep Tom, I've had a few reptiles in my day. There've been multiple snakes, a lizard or 3, turtles when I was a kid, frogs raised from tadpoles... all kinds of critters.