Pyramyding?

[TheLastGreen]

1 October 2021
11 December 2021
This made me wonder (he came with slight pyramyding when I got him) any advice?

 

[TheLastGreen]

I should add, this is the very first image I have of him, back when i thought he was a leopard
29 September 2021

@Markw84 @Tom @ZenHerper @Yvonne G

 

[zovick]

I should add, this is the very first image I have of him, back when i thought he was a leopard
29 September 2021
View attachment 337334View attachment 337335
@Markw84 @Tom @ZenHerper @Yvonne G

The tortoise does have some pyramiding.

Are you soaking that tortoise daily? It looks as though it has been too dry.

Also does it have adequate UV exposure? And a good amount of calcium supplement?

 

[TheLastGreen]

Yes, soaking daily for atleast a half an hour. It does get calcium supplements via cuttlefish bone, sprinkled over it's food. But UV not enough, only recently have I been adding more UV, @zovick would you say the pyramyding currently is as bad as it is in the oldest image?
Also I found out where the leak in the enclosure was, so I stopped the humidity dropping so frequently (So it may be UV and humidity)

 

[TheLastGreen]

Some better images in the sun

 

[zovick]

Yes, soaking daily for atleast a half an hour. It does get calcium supplements via cuttlefish bone, sprinkled over it's food. But UV not enough, only recently have I been adding more UV, @zovick would you say the pyramyding currently is as bad as it is in the oldest image?
Also I found out where the leak in the enclosure was, so I stopped the humidity dropping so frequently (So it may be UV and humidity)

It still looks as if the pyramiding is continuing to me. It may be slightly better than when you got the tortoise, but not a great deal the way I see it. Maybe it's too soon to see a big difference.

I would recommend giving it a very humid hide area AND sprinkling all of its food with Ultrafine Rep-Cal daily. Does it eat earthworms? It is easy to put the Rep-Cal on worms and have the tortoise gobble them up. I kept 6 or 7 juvenile hingebacks in a pen together and each group would devour 24 night crawlers in about 5 minutes.

Those I had were groups of erosa and homeana. Not sure if yours (is it a Speke's?) will eat worms or not, but you might try it. Or you could try superworms or mealworms dusted with Rep-Cal. Just put them in a container with the Rep-Cal and shake them around to coat them with the powder before you feed them to the tortoise. You could try the same with pinky mice (whole ones or parts) also.

 

[TheLastGreen]

Mine is zombensis and he LOVES earthworms, I'll add more Ca, do you think the cuttlebone is pure enough or should I switch?

 

[TheLastGreen]

I forgot to mention, some tropical (forest hingebacks) need to be sprayed with a mist on their shell, it is not needed for my zombensis, but perhaps I should do it to add humidity?

 

[zovick]

Mine is zombensis and he LOVES earthworms, I'll add more Ca, do you think the cuttlebone is pure enough or should I switch?

I never had great luck with cuttlebones. I wasted a lot of money putting one in all of my tortoises' containers monthly for years. I may have seen one tortoise nibble on one a couple of times in about 20 years or so. Generally speaking, I removed them each month when they had become coated with feces and food debris and replaced them. Virtually none of them ever had bite marks on them.

Have you ever seen your tortoise eat any of the cuttlebone that you are putting on its food? Are you crushing it into bits and then putting it on the food or what?

I like Rep-cal. It is just as natural as cuttlebone (IMHO) because it is made from ground up oyster shells. Plus it is already a fine powder which the tortoises can readily eat as opposed to hand pulverized cuttlebone which still could contain sharp pieces. Keeping a lot of tortoises (100 or more) it was just a lot more convenient to use Rep_Cal.

 

[zovick]

I forgot to mention, some tropical (forest hingebacks) need to be sprayed with a mist on their shell, it is not needed for my zombensis, but perhaps I should do it to add humidity?

It probably would be a good idea to try that at least for a while to see the results.

 

[TheLastGreen]

Perhaps a nibble, but I take a knife and make it a fine powder and sprinkle it over his mushrooms etc, he always eats it (but I only add a pinch, perhaps 2/3 times a week)

 

[zovick]

Perhaps a nibble, but I take a knife and make it a fine powder and sprinkle it over his mushrooms etc, he always eats it (but I only add a pinch, perhaps 2/3 times a week)

It appears to me that the tortoise needs it daily, whichever you use. Plus, I would not be stingy with it. Give the food a really good coating.

 

[TheLastGreen]

@zovick Operation smooth shell has been initiated
(I feel like an a*s for letting this happen, it feels horrible that this being my first tort it is kinda my learning curve, but luckily he is on the right track now, and I have you guys to help, thanks again)

 

[TeamZissou]

I never had great luck with cuttlebones. I wasted a lot of money putting one in all of my tortoises' containers monthly for years. I may have seen one tortoise nibble on one a couple of times in about 20 years or so. Generally speaking, I removed them each month when they had become coated with feces and food debris and replaced them. Virtually none of them ever had bite marks on them.

Have you ever seen your tortoise eat any of the cuttlebone that you are putting on its food? Are you crushing it into bits and then putting it on the food or what?

I like Rep-cal. It is just as natural as cuttlebone (IMHO) because it is made from ground up oyster shells. Plus it is already a fine powder which the tortoises can readily eat as opposed to hand pulverized cuttlebone which still could contain sharp pieces. Keeping a lot of tortoises (100 or more) it was just a lot more convenient to use Rep_Cal.

You must have bought the 7 lb bucket--otherwise, you'd have gone through hundreds of those little tubs over that many years!

 

[zovick]

You must have bought the 7 lb bucket--otherwise, you'd have gone through hundreds of those little tubs over that many years!

Yes, Brett. I always bought the 7 lb buckets of both Rep-Cal and Herptivite. In my heyday, I was keeping roughly 150 tortoises here, so I went through the 7 lbs in a year or less. Note: I did not skimp on the application of Rep-Cal or the vitamins either, for that matter. I used both daily and I kept food in front of the tortoises constantly all day long. IE, if they finished what I had given them, they got more. This went on from 8 AM to 8 PM. After 8 PM I did not feed them any more until the next day, even though their lights stayed on till 10 PM.

 

[zovick]

@zovick Operation smooth shell has been initiatedView attachment 337350
(I feel like an a*s for letting this happen, it feels horrible that this being my first tort it is kinda my learning curve, but luckily he is on the right track now, and I have you guys to help, thanks again)

That's the ticket! I think you will see better growth over the next 6 months if you keep giving the tortoise lots of calcium, soaking it daily, and keeping its hiding area moist.

 

[Markw84]

I will add to all this that the pyramiding is dramatically better now. As pronounced as it was when you got the tortoise, I see it reduced as much as I've ever seen in reversing it once started like this tortoise had. Keep doing what you are doing!

 

[Toddrickfl1]

I agree with Mark, it looks like the pyramiding that was happening has stopped. I think by the time this tortoise is full grown that won't even be noticable anymore.

 

[TheLastGreen]

Thank goodness! For safety I'll still bring up the humidity, give more UV (about an hour a day) and give some more Ca daily.
It couldn't hurt but only do good, so why not?

 

[SanctuaryHills]

After reading through dozens of posts it seems that Humidity is most important when it comes to pyramiding. Maintaining an adequate level of humidity however can be tricky when you have enclosures with heat lamps. One trick that has worked great for me is to place a shallow dish of water directly under the heat lamps so that the evaporating water increases the humid % inside their enclosure.