worried about pyramiding

[heyprettyrave]

a part on the back of her shell is risen alittle bit, i just noticed this. im not sure if i should be concerned, will it spread.

whats the reasons for pyramiding?

 

[XxDarkEuphoriaxX]

from what I read it's mainly too little humidity...

 

[dmmj]

A pic would be great so we could see it, but right now the consensus is not enough humidity.

 

[coreyc]

a part on the back of her shell is risen alittle bit, i just noticed this. im not sure if i should be concerned, will it spread.

whats the reasons for pyramiding?

can you post up some pic's let's take a look

 

[heyprettyrave]

 

[Madkins007]

Yep, that's pyramiding, in a young adult from the looks of her. Although it looks like the last several growth periods have been pretty flat and healthy. See how it is flatter between the scutes? That is a good sign.

Pyramiding in babies seems to be mostly dietary- rapid growth, inadequate calcium/vitamin D, etc. to cause the spongy bone development under the pyramids. Raising humidity seems to be one way to slow it down.

I suspect that pyramiding in young adults is still due to the spongy bone, and can possibly be controlled/prevented by humidity/moisture.hydration, but it may also be dietary again.

We seem to be missing something in raising baby tortoises to completely prevent pyramiding but I bet we figure it out in the next couple years!

 

[heyprettyrave]

is there anything i can do to fix it? she is being built a new home and it should be up and running by the weekend, which will provide better humidity for her. but her diet is fine, i follow a dietary plan

 

[Bowser-the-Redfoot]

Give her some cuttlebone and some vitamin d/3... Or there is also RepCal that has calcium and d/3... Also you may need to raise the humidity like all the others have said...

I hope she gets better

 

[heyprettyrave]

i know its the humidity, im going to buy a new humidifier to put in her enclosure.

so will this be bad for her health? or is it mainly just bad for cosmetics?

 

[XxDarkEuphoriaxX]

I think it is debated whether it is bad for their health or a cosmetic thing.... it probably differs from tortoise to tortoise whether it is harmful or not. As long as you stop it now I don't think you have too much to worry about...

 

[heyprettyrave]

thank you, its being taken care of

 

[Madkins007]

May I ask which diet plan you are following?

 

[heyprettyrave]

M T i give her a variety of lettuces, W is fruit day, T F is lettuce, Saturday is a specail fruit and Sunday is her protien day

is this ok?

 

[Balboa]

That's the same schedule I follow.

The question lies in the whats. What types of lettuces are you feeding?

Some of the best greens to feed are grape leaves, dandelion greens, turnip greens, hibiscus leaves, collard greens, kale, plantain (plantago, not the little bananas), mustard greens, beet greens, endive, escarole, and probably a bunch more I forgot. Not all of these are always available of course, so that's where the spring mix that most folks use as a staple comes in. It usually has enough variety to get some good stuff in. I try to rotate through whatever I can find to give as much variety as possible.

I also will say that I usually still offer some greens on fruit days as well.

 

[heyprettyrave]

i do use the dandelion greens, kale, endive and escarole...