How smooth is smooth?

mylittlecholla

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Oct 25, 2020
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230
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Fillmore, California
I think she looks fine. As for the ...shall we say...more defined growth rings...we have a pet store rescue Redfoot that has those same looking growth rings. I see no pyramiding
Thank you, Skip K! Interesting. So her growth rings are more defined than usual. I'm glad that it needn't indicate pyramiding!
 

mylittlecholla

Active Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2020
Messages
230
Location (City and/or State)
Fillmore, California
The growth rings of our smaller pet store rescue Redfoot are definitely more “pronounced” than our other Redfoots.
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He's a rescue, so I'm guessing he was not being fed or otherwise raised properly. Do you think the more pronounced scutes could be a result of that? Cholla was never subjected to a pet store captivity, but she did have inexperienced me providing her food, activities and habitat. I was doing the best as I understood it, but realize now that her envrionment was way too dry.
 

Skip K

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Mar 4, 2020
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407
Location (City and/or State)
Virginia
I wish our little rescue Foot was as lucky. She had pyramiding...maybe boardering on the beginning of MBD. All this at 4 inches. Her growth has been slow..probably stunted...but smooth since we’ve had her. But she is active and personable...and is not intimidated by our larger Foots. Most of the torts I’ve had or have have been rehomes or rescues...and have come to us with some pyramiding. Our husbandry has corrected further issues...but they will never be perfect...but I don’t care if they are not perfect. They are beautiful in their own way. Now for the first time we have babies (Sulcatas) that came from the breeder with serious problems...but with the help of Tom and company...they are doing well.
 

Skip K

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Mar 4, 2020
Messages
407
Location (City and/or State)
Virginia
I think an earlier post about growth spurts...sounds right to me. From looking at Cholla...she looks like you have her husbandry down pat!
 

Skip K

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Mar 4, 2020
Messages
407
Location (City and/or State)
Virginia
Bless you! I know I made lots of mistakes, but things are better for Cholla now. Good wishes to you and your torts!
Thank you! We are close to the same age but I’ve had Chelonia starting at age 5. I’ve made many mistakes from simply being too young to following outdated husbandry. The one constant I’ve witnessed...husbandry protocols have changed more times than I can count over the years. In the final analysis...your tort is the best teacher. Here is a story that might help. Decades ago...I had two beautiful iguanas. I bought a husbandry book and followed it to the letter. The book said that iguanas live for about 10 years then die. Mine died around 10 years later. One day I was up in the corporate library eating my lunch and reading Washingtonian magazine...and they were running a series on people in the Washington area who had exotic pets. One person profiled ( who looked like Marlon Perkins) was holding a huge, beautiful iguana. He said he got it as an adult in 1955...and the mag article was around 1985. So he had it for 30 years and the iguana was still going strong. Sadly this was a personal interest story and didn’t go into husbandry. But there were some things that could be deciphered from the article. That a 10 year lifespan was wrong and I had done something wrong that shortened my iguanas lives. That this man had ZERO pet husbandry books to look to for raising this iguana. That there wasn’t an plethora of reptile equipment suppliers in the 50’s ( diets, uvb lights etc)...and he lived in Maryland so the iguana couldn’t be outside all year receiving natural sunlight. I’ve never forgotten this story and as a result I always consider this. Husbandry science has improved greatly over the years but I made mistakes by taking info verbatim ( I now look for the science behind information)...and I’m sure I’ll make mistakes in the future
 
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