Pyramiding opinions/question

[starfield]

Hey guys!
Attached is a shot of my tort Bev...She will be one year old in April...I fed her when she was young with Mazuri and I am concerned that it may have given her a bit to much shell growth. Her plastron is approx. 3.75 inches...any thoughts would be greatly appreciated

 

[zesty_17]

Mazuri is too healthy for torts. It causes them to grow rapidly, i would incorporate more natural foods and use mazuri only once a week. What is your humidity like?

 

[starfield]

I have ceased Mazuri as of about 4 months ago...My humidity is fine...use cocnut fiber and sphagnum moss with daily or everyother day soaking of the substrate while i am bathing the torts..I think I just had her on too high a plane of nutrition for the first few months of her life

 

[Madkins007]

When it comes to Mazuri, etc., the issue is usually how much was fed, rather than the Mazuri itself. It is fairly calorie dense, so you only need a little. I made a servings chart somewhere, and it does not take much.

As for pyramiding in general, we have a sticky for it in the Health section- http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-About-pyramiding#axzz1mtQDhAkN

 

[starfield]

Thanks so much! I will be an exert before I know it! This is such a wonderful forum!

 

[Tom]

A couple of things...
Pyramiding is not CAUSED by nutrition or protein or diet. It is CAUSED by growth in the wrong, or less than optimal, conditions. Excess nutrition in the wrong conditions will make them pyramid faster than a lower amount of nutrition fed in the wrong conditions, but the causal agent is the conditions, not the food. There are several examples of folks on this forum that feed a lot of food, a lot of Mazuri and have very fast growth. Due to their enclosure set up and daily routines, their tortoises are VERY smooth.

Your tortoise is not bad at all. There is nothing wrong with feeding less Mazuri, but you should also example and modify what ever aspect of your care you think might have caused you tortoises growth to be so slightly imperfect. (Do you like my choice of words there? ) If you simply ease up on the Mazuri, the growth and the very slight pyramiding might slow down, but you still have to find the underlying cause.