Is this new pyramiding?

[JaySparks]

I got logan 3 months ago. When I received him he already the same pyramiding you can see on his scutes. he is 1 year 1 month old. I've noticed that the rim on his shell has started to darkened and has started to feel a bit bumpy. The areas highlighted in red is my concern. I've only just noticed them. I've been keeping logan at 60-70 percent humidity during the day and 80 percent at night. I've been feeding a variety of foods but I still think hes diet is not perfect. I soak him on Monday/Wednesday/Friday/Sunday.

http://imgur.com/a/I9GCh

 

[wellington]

I didn't see any red area. Without a pic from when you got him to compare to its impossible to say if it's new or not. I only seen one pic.
It is harder to get some pyramiding to stop once it has started, at least i have found this out in my leopards. I always notice the sides will do really good smoothing out, but the top scutes seem to continue.
Be sure to measure humidity and temps with a reliable meter, not those disc type things pet stores sells and to do it tortoise height. If you humidity does read true to what you said it is, it's about all you can do to stop the pyramiding. If it does seem to still be pyramiding though, it might be the same as I find in my leopards. Btw, it's not bad what he does have, so keep up the humidity and hopefully as he does grow it will look more smoothed out.

 

[JaySparks]

I didn't see any red area. Without a pic from when you got him to compare to its impossible to say if it's new or not. I only seen one pic.
It is harder to get some pyramiding to stop once it has started, at least i have found this out in my leopards. I always notice the sides will do really good smoothing out, but the top scutes seem to continue.
Be sure to measure humidity and temps with a reliable meter, not those disc type things pet stores sells and to do it tortoise height. If you humidity does read true to what you said it is, it's about all you can do to stop the pyramiding. If it does seem to still be pyramiding though, it might be the same as I find in my leopards. Btw, it's not bad what he does have, so keep up the humidity and hopefully as he does grow it will look more smoothed out.

You have to scroll drown lol unless it doesnt work for you. IMGUR is weird sometimes. I'll find a picture of his shell from the 1st day I got him.

 

[JaySparks]

I didn't see any red area. Without a pic from when you got him to compare to its impossible to say if it's new or not. I only seen one pic.
It is harder to get some pyramiding to stop once it has started, at least i have found this out in my leopards. I always notice the sides will do really good smoothing out, but the top scutes seem to continue.
Be sure to measure humidity and temps with a reliable meter, not those disc type things pet stores sells and to do it tortoise height. If you humidity does read true to what you said it is, it's about all you can do to stop the pyramiding. If it does seem to still be pyramiding though, it might be the same as I find in my leopards. Btw, it's not bad what he does have, so keep up the humidity and hopefully as he does grow it will look more smoothed out.

http://imgur.com/a/BuLJU let me know if the pictures are not showing I uploaded 4. Those pictures are from day 1 or 2 with him. I no longer use that wooden table or that substrate. He is in a closed chamber.

 

[wellington]

Okay, I got four pics. It's hard to always tell from pics, but it looks to me that the sides are smoothing out good. The top scutes are the same or a little more pyramided, can't really tell. That's the part that I mentioned is hard with leopards. To get the top scutes to smooth out as well as the sides.
Just keep up the humidity, that's all you can do.

 

[JaySparks]

Okay, I got four pics. It's hard to always tell from pics, but it looks to me that the sides are smoothing out good. The top scutes are the same or a little more pyramided, can't really tell. That's the part that I mentioned is hard with leopards. To get the top scutes to smooth out as well as the sides.
Just keep up the humidity, that's all you can do.

Do you think diet has anything to do with it? The other day he peed and there was a lot and I mean a LOT of urates he has never peed this much urates before. It was like twice the ammount of toothpaste you would use on your toothbrush. I think it might be the mazuri. I only feed it to him twice a week and he always gets 4 pellets. I'll cut down to once a week and 2 pellets. Hes been getting addicted to it.

 

[Markw84]

Do you think diet has anything to do with it? The other day he peed and there was a lot and I mean a LOT of urates he has never peed this much urates before. It was like twice the ammount of toothpaste you would use on your toothbrush. I think it might be the mazuri. I only feed it to him twice a week and he always gets 4 pellets. I'll cut down to once a week and 2 pellets. Hes been getting addicted to it.

Diet has nothing to do with pyramiding. You can change diet all you want (I have for years) and it will not effect pyramiding. Only changing humidity and they way the shell dries will change pyramiding of new growth.

Diet will effect urates. Urates are a natural function of metabolism. It is what tortoises produce instead of urine. Higher protein and higher oxalates will produce more urates. Kind of like the same thing as what eating asparagus does to our urine! The ammonia waste has to be dealt with and eliminated. Humans make urine. tortoises take it further and with more metabolic energy produce a further metabolized product - urates to separate and save water in their systems, only eliminating a denser, semi-solid substance instead.

 

[JaySparks]

Diet has nothing to do with pyramiding. You can change diet all you want (I have for years) and it will not effect pyramiding. Only changing humidity and they way the shell dries will change pyramiding of new growth.

Diet will effect urates. Urates are a natural function of metabolism. It is what tortoises produce instead of urine. Higher protein and higher oxalates will produce more urates. Kind of like the same thing as what eating asparagus does to our urine! The ammonia waste has to be dealt with and eliminated. Humans make urine. tortoises take it further and with more metabolic energy produce a further metabolized product - urates to separate and save water in their systems, only eliminating a denser, semi-solid substance instead.

I've been spraying his shell a couple times a day now. I have faith that his shell will improve by the time he reaches full grown. I just don't want it to get worse. What are your diet staples? I recently bought an exo terra and I'm converting it into a greenhouse which i'll use to grow different weeds and tortoise food. Any recommendations of what I should grow that is fairly easy to have year round?

 

[Markw84]

I've been spraying his shell a couple times a day now. I have faith that his shell will improve by the time he reaches full grown. I just don't want it to get worse. What are your diet staples? I recently bought an exo terra and I'm converting it into a greenhouse which i'll use to grow different weeds and tortoise food. Any recommendations of what I should grow that is fairly easy to have year round?

Spraying will only do so much. It will add moisture for the new growth, but It is the environment - humidity (at tortoise level and where the tortoise likes to hide/sleep) and types of Light/heat that can dry the new growth.

As for diet - I do not currently keep any Testudo. Others that are currently working with the genus might be better suited for that advice. I would suggest the "testudo seed mix" that you can order online from Arizona Tortoise Supply. It grows extremely well and grows fast. It has a great blend of all kinds of weeds/greens that are a great staple. I use it for my Stars and young leopards and sulcatas. Once it's growing, I just cut off about 6-8" of growth. That will grow right back in about a week and re-harvest again. I have a large enough area planted so it takes me a good week to go through the area - so there is a constant supply.

 

[JaySparks]

Spraying will only do so much. It will add moisture for the new growth, but It is the environment - humidity (at tortoise level and where the tortoise likes to hide/sleep) and types of Light/heat that can dry the new growth.

As for diet - I do not currently keep any Testudo. Others that are currently working with the genus might be better suited for that advice. I would suggest the "testudo seed mix" that you can order online from Arizona Tortoise Supply. It grows extremely well and grows fast. It has a great blend of all kinds of weeds/greens that are a great staple. I use it for my Stars and young leopards and sulcatas. Once it's growing, I just cut off about 6-8" of growth. That will grow right back in about a week and re-harvest again. I have a large enough area planted so it takes me a good week to go through the area - so there is a constant supply.

what type of soil do I need? i'll be growing indoor. Should I use organic compost?

 

[wellington]

Organic or I have even grown weeds from seeds in coconut coir. The organic soil would be better though.
I agree with Mark, it's not diet. Keep the humidity up and keep spraying. Be sure to read temps and humidity at tort level.

 

[JaySparks]

Organic or I have even grown weeds from seeds in coconut coir. The organic soil would be better though.
I agree with Mark, it's not diet. Keep the humidity up and keep spraying. Be sure to read temps and humidity at tort level.

I'm going to be using cococoir-orchid-bark-sand-topsoil-worm manure and charcoal