Pyramiding

[dotty]

My 2 females are now 2 1/2 yrs old, one came to me with not a perfectly smooth shell, but I've noticed both have pyramiding. They are hermanns, live separately, have 12% uvb arcadia strip light, arcadia heat lambs for basking, themonitors for temp and humidity, a good natural diet, bathe, calcium etc....im I missing something?

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

What is your humidity? Is the heat lamp a spot lamp or a floodlight?

 

[dotty]

Yes I think they are getting to dry, I do spray them 3/4 times a day and they have plants extra, I don't think it's actually humid enough. We bathe them once a week, I'm gunna bathe them more,

 

[Tom]

My 2 females are now 2 1/2 yrs old, one came to me with not a perfectly smooth shell, but I've noticed both have pyramiding. They are hermanns, live separately, have 12% uvb arcadia strip light, arcadia heat lambs for basking, themonitors for temp and humidity, a good natural diet, bathe, calcium etc....im I missing something?

Pyramiding is caused by growth in conditions that are too dry. Open topped enclosures, like the often erroneously recommended tortoise tables, are too dry for a growing baby. Using spot lamps or mercury vapor (all-in-one) type bulbs also contributes to more pyramiding because of their desiccating nature.

 

[TammyJ]

You are keeping them too dry, and they should have been given daily 30 minutes warm soaks as growing babies. You can prevent further pyramiding by keeping them at the recommended humidity level and soaking them more often. Also, please answer the very important questions about the lights, and give details of the temperatures. Thanks!

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

My 2 females are now 2 1/2 yrs old, one came to me with not a perfectly smooth shell, but I've noticed both have pyramiding. They are hermanns, live separately, have 12% uvb arcadia strip light, arcadia heat lambs for basking, themonitors for temp and humidity, a good natural diet, bathe, calcium etc....im I missing something?

Yeah I’m thinking they’re too dry, your uv is fine with us good, what kind of basking bulb do you have? Also looks like your using soil? I wouldn’t use reptisoils or top soils, if it’s coco coir that’s fine.

Hopefully you’ll find this thread I made useful! It covers equipment, levels, importance of a closed chamber for younger tortoises(only way to maintain the humidity you need), appropriately maintaining the humidity, substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything and a really handy diet link to check out! If going with a greenhouse, the lower the ceiling height, whilst still allowing for recommended bulb height, the better!

Housing young Russian/Herman

Hello there! In this thread, I’m going to include some information on an effective way to tackle a starter set up/a way you can build a bigger size once your baby is an adult. I know it looks a lot to go over, I like to make sure all bases are covered, I’m happy to break down any information...

tortoiseforum.org

This includes some other closed chamber options

Visual inspiration

Hi guys! I’ve had some lovely messages complimenting me on my care sheets I made for all the visuals they include! That makes me so happy because as a visual learner myself, that was my goal🥰 I’ve recently had some requests for some more visual inspiration for set ups that can house babies/...

tortoiseforum.org

Lastly, probably the most important, this one is also really good to familiarise yourself with, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates(explains more about the soils), housing etc, I always encourage double checking purchases on the forum too before buying

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

Hope they help! Welcome to the forum!!