Beginning of Pyramiding?? What now?

[sunshine_hugs]

I recently noticed that two of my redfoots are beginning to pyramid. I feel like I'm failing them, and not sure how to fix things.

They are approx. a year old, and have been housed outside forever (I obtained them from a lady who has several in her yard, and often lay eggs). They hatched during dry season, and they lady lived on the dry end of the island.

When I got them, I kept them in a rubbermaid bin, half covered, & misted 2x daily while dry season continued.

Once we moved to our current house, I made them a fairly large outdoor enclosure (11' x 9'), and they've been housed there ever since.

It includes several hides (7 hides & 2 covered areas), 2/3 of it I've let grow wild with local weeds & grass....then I have a stone path, and some herbs, and cactus planted.

There is always a cuttle bone available, and I have 7 hibiscus plants, so they often have flowers & leaves from those. I give them fruit from my yard (mango, papaya, & wax apples). They also receive other fruits and veggies we buy at the market here (all locally grown & herbicide & pesticide free). I try to feed them mostly things they would find in the wild here, since they live in the wild here.

Anyway, that's how I've been taking care of them, but they are obviously missing something. Please keep in mind that I live in the Caribbean, and cannot buy any tortoise specific supplies....things I can buy are very limited.

If anyone has any tips on what I might be doing wrong, or how I can start growing them smoother, I would LOVE suggestions. I have 3 other hatchlings, that I don't want to make the same mistakes with.

I'm hoping the pictures work, but if not, I'll try to add them again right away. The first picture should be Hiccup....next 3 photos are Pickles.

Thanks!

 

[Tom]

I don't see pyramiding starting. It looks like the first couple of grow rings might have been starting to go that way, but all the more recent growth looks very good.

I'd prefer to let other redfoot keepers give you specifics and care routine tweeks, but that's my two cents on your pyramiding question.

 

[FLINTUS]

IMO you have extremely minor pyramiding. Can you get some pure calcium carbonate-not a specialist reptile thing? Do you offer any form of protein? What are your temps+humidity? When you next go to a shop, can you let us know what they have and we can go through what might be a good addition to your diet?

 

[sunshine_hugs]

Thanks Tom & Flintus.

Temps....low's at night are pretty regularly 26C (79F), and highs are regularly 30C (86F). My tortoise pen gets a lot of direct sun, so it gets much hotter than that, but they have a lot of vegetation & covered areas.

Humidity has been around 80% lately (ranging anywhere from 78% to 89%).

As for protein, I usually do a hard boiled egg...today I caught them eating snails in their enclosure (it's rained a lot today, and the snails came out of hiding ). I've also seen them eating a dead giant millipede (not sure if they killed it, or it was just dead). They often have snails and other insects in their enclosure, since they are kept outside, but I don't know how often they east things like that.

We have one pet store on the island, and they are closed Sunday & Monday, but I'll stop by on Tuesday and see what she has in. I'll check for calcium carbonate.

Thanks for your help. I know the pyramiding isn't too bad right now, but I just want to make sure I'm doing the best I can for them and I correct whatever I'm doing wrong.

 

[ascott]

Wow, you describe such perfect natural conditions for this species...I also think that they look great and they are very beautiful little torts...

 

[Baoh]

They look fine and these intermittent annuli sort of deal will be nothing when they mature.

Here is an adult YF I raised from a random hatchling in my keeping style that underwent the same thing. In case there is any confusion, she is the animal on the right. lqtm

The old WC animals you see had this, too, at some point in the past, but there is enough natural abrasion that what you get is super-smooth carapace topography when the very small increments of growth annuli get rubbed down by mild action over many years. Here is an LTC big female YF that underwent that manner of natural process during her ages in the wild before she came to me and was later sold to a fantastic new owner who adores her.

While there has been nice progress with pyramiding in recent years, the pendulum sometimes swings too far in the other direction in terms of some kind of hyper-concern.

Rest easy. Your animals look great and you are doing nothing other than a fantastic job with them. Do not change a thing.

 

[sunshine_hugs]

They look fine and these intermittent annuli sort of deal will be nothing when they mature.

Here is an adult YF I raised from a random hatchling in my keeping style that underwent the same thing. In case there is any confusion, she is the animal on the right. lqtm

The old WC animals you see had this, too, at some point in the past, but there is enough natural abrasion that what you get is super-smooth carapace topography when the very small increments of growth annuli get rubbed down by mild action over many years. Here is an LTC big female YF that underwent that manner of natural process during her ages in the wild before she came to me and was later sold to a fantastic new owner who adores her.

While there has been nice progress with pyramiding in recent years, the pendulum sometimes swings too far in the other direction in terms of some kind of hyper-concern.

Rest easy. Your animals look great and you are doing nothing other than a fantastic job with them. Do not change a thing.

Thank you so much for this....definitely eases my mind. I try not to be too paranoid, but want to make sure I'm doing what's best for my little guys.

Those YF's are gorgeous! How old is the one you raised from a hatchling?

Thanks again!

 

[Baoh]

She turns 11 this year. Glad to put your mind at ease.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Wow, seeing the size of that YF next to a sulcata sure is something!

Heather
Sent from my Android TFO app

 

[Baoh]

Even better than the size, she is a curious sweetheart that is extremely habituated to the presence of humans, dogs, and other creatures.