Un- Pyramiding?????

[NinjaTortoises]

Hi, well I have 4 baby torts, probably around 4 months almost, im not exactly sure, i bought them when they were around 8 weeks old or 9, one of them was already starting to pyramid, and since I had found this site I kinda started to get worried because I personally think that pyramiding looks ugly, it happens to most people and its not always there fault so i dont blame anyone, well anyway, out of the 4 that i bought 1 of them was pretty big, hes actually bigger than all the other 3 cept for one of the other 3 that is almost as big as this one, well the biggest one had been starting to get raised scutes, but after reading about pyramiding and following your guys directions it seems that the creases between each scute on my tortoises have been catching up to the slightly but noticable raised scutes, on the other 3 the scutes are raised but it is unnoticable, but ever since i started giving them frequent mistings on their shells and daily soaks it has been diminishing, the big one that i own has been improving, the left and right sight of his shell are actually almost not pyramided now, but the top is a little bit raised still. tell me what you guys think, can this happen or am I just seeing things

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also, im doing my best, im just a first timer on the sulcata owning business, but i dont want pyramided torts

 

[ascott]

am I just seeing things

Oh great another whack job forum member.....LOL jk
But seriously, likely you have been staring too long ....now you are seeing the domes disappear....I mean this in the nicest way possible....I too can make many things change if I stare them down long enough...well, until I blink

ok so seriously, for real...while it has not been noted that existing pyramiding can not be reversed --it is absolutely possible and do able to stop any further from happening..and if your torts are small and you catch it in time as they grow it will be so much less apparent....so good job is what I was getting at....

 

[NinjaTortoises]

Hahahaha you are the nicest *cough forum member here cough*, lol jp haha, not it was way worse lol seriously, i could see the ridges clearly, but now its as if they have been catching up to my torts scutes!, lol I only looked at them for like 10 seconds and studied the difference from what i used to see, i wish i had taken pictures, they would have been more helpful in seeing differences lol
thanks lol
any other input from other members is welcomed

 

[BrinnANDTorts]

I see this in Gupta too
I would not call it "un pyramiding" its just as your tortoises get a lot of new growth that is smooth is makes the old pyramiding way less noticeable.
On Gupta his new growth does seem to be filling up the space a little, I just accounted it to the fact that I keep him in extreme humidity. It's pretty much a steamy volcano in his cage. 90% humidity all the time and 85 degrees. He gets hour long soaks everyday and I squirt him a bunch.
I have seen tortoises on this forum that have sunken scutes with the new growth rising above the scutes. Instead of the opposite pyramiding.

 

[NinjaTortoises]

hey brinn, awesome haha yea i spray them often also, can you give me any tips on how to keep them really humid and hot without the humid parts drying up from being to hot or without it becoming to cold in the humid areas
thanks for your input

 

[BrinnANDTorts]

your gonna need to cover your enclosure first of all, with foil, plywood, plastic...anything really. If you cover your enclosure completely and just cut perfectly sized holes in the top to lay the light domes on and put a CHE in that dome your humidity can be kept very high very easily and with no where for the heat to escape out the top it will be kept warm.
Light just drys out the enclosure, unless it really low wattage light like a fluorescent light. So the only high wattage light I would have on in their cage is one that is a basking light or a mercury vapor bulb. If you have just a basking light then your gonna need a 10.0 UVB fluorescent tube.
If you post pictures of your enclosure I can give you more detailed tips on how to keep humidity up.
I have a father that is like obsessed with finding the most efficient ways to do things so he is constantly throwing out ideas for Gupta's cage
The new one we made for Gupta keeps humidity and heat in so well that I barely have to do anything at all to keep the humidity level at 90% all over his cage and temps above 80, when I open that door to his enclosure its like volcano steam or something lol
Another idea it to put a shallow bowl of water right beside the basking light so that evaporates and increases humidity , I have also read many places that tortoises love this and will sit in the water for hours.
Attach a wet sponges to the top of the enclosure all over lol in the humidity hide too.
Pour straight up hot water into the enclosure substrate and mix it all around
The main thing though is too make sure that you completely trap that humidity in the cage with no where to escape lol
this means that you have to air the enclosure out , or put little fans in it, while they are soaking to make sure it gets air circulation to keep it fresh and prevent mildew.

 

[Tom]

The tortoise pictured looks great to me. If you continue on that path you will have a smooth juvenile and a smooth adult. You will also have accomplished a feat that few people outside this forum are able to accomplish; raising a smooth sulcata from a hatchling. Nice job!