Is there anything else to stop my tortoise pyramiding?

Fe-2470

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I have been given many tips to stop pyramiding such as humidity, calcium levels, UV and baths in warm water. But nothing seems to be working. Can anyone suggest anything else?

Also a lot of the time I don't have time to bath her everyday, especially in the week, and when i do she's asleep. I am really worried about her pyramiding because I LOVE HER SO MUCH. Can anyone help, please?
 

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Maro2Bear

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Greetings, try posting a picture of your tort's enclosure so folks can offer advice based on that. Is it a fully enclosed enclosure with a lid? What kind of substrates are you using? Your avatar looks like you might be using grass or hiay vice something that can be kept moist. Good luck.
 

Fe-2470

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I keep her in a small enclosure for the extremely cold winter period so it is kept warmer.

I use coco coir substrate and dried grass in her sleeping compartment (so it is warmer).
 

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Tom

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Pyramiding is caused by growth in conditions that are too dry. An open topped enclosure with dry substrate and a hot bulb is a VERY dry environment. This is the reason your tortoise looks the way it does.

It took a long time for your tortoise to get the way it is, and it will take a long time to get the new growth pattern to come in differently.

You need a closed chamber with higher humidity. Daily soaks and spraying the shell with water several times a day will help.

Proper diet, calcium and UV are all needed to keep a tortoise healthy, but those things have nothing to do with pyramiding.

Grass hay in the hide does nothing to keep an ectotherm warm. Hay acts as an insulator. For an endotherm that is constantly generating its own heat, the insulator helps retain some of that heat. The hay might slow the rate of cooling a little bit for the tortoise, but it does not keep the tortoise warm.
 

Fe-2470

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Wow! You certainly are an expert. I wish i had your knowledge.
So humidity is the main factor.
What do you suggest to put in her sleeping compartment?
What should I do if I don't have time in the week to bath her everyday?

Thanks for your help
 

Tinsel21

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I have been given many tips to stop pyramiding such as humidity, calcium levels, UV and baths in warm water. But nothing seems to be working. Can anyone suggest anything else?

Also a lot of the time I don't have time to bath her everyday, especially in the week, and when i do she's asleep. I am really worried about her pyramiding because I LOVE HER SO MUCH. Can anyone help, please?
What kind of tortoise do you have?
 

domagoj

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Wow! You certainly are an expert. I wish i had your knowledge.
So humidity is the main factor.
What do you suggest to put in her sleeping compartment?
What should I do if I don't have time in the week to bath her everyday?

Thanks for your help
You only need to soak it for 15-20 minutes. Longer is better but it's not necessary. Also you don't have to sit next to it doing nothing, prepare food and clean the enclosure while it's soaking. You can do whatever you want as long as the water doesn't get cold and you don't forget about it.
 

Ed mitch

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Wow! You certainly are an expert. I wish i had your knowledge.
So humidity is the main factor.
What do you suggest to put in her sleeping compartment?
What should I do if I don't have time in the week to bath her everyday?

Thanks for your help
If I were you I'd just keep the same substrate through the whole enclosure but some people add " orchard moss " or similar which helps with humidity
 

Ed mitch

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Wow! You certainly are an expert. I wish i had your knowledge.
So humidity is the main factor.
What do you suggest to put in her sleeping compartment?
What should I do if I don't have time in the week to bath her everyday?

Thanks for your help
If I were you I'd just keep the same substrate through the whole enclosure but some people add " orchard moss " or similar which helps with humidity
 

Tinsel21

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To me it looks like a hermanns or greek tortoise
She could be getting to much protein in her diet so you could always look at the nutritional breakdown of what your feeding her, that might help. :)
 

domagoj

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She could be getting to much protein in her diet so you could always look at the nutritional breakdown of what your feeding her, that might help. :)

It's not my tortoise. I was just trying to help by making an observation.
 

Tom

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She could be getting to much protein in her diet so you could always look at the nutritional breakdown of what your feeding her, that might help. :)

Protein and diet do not cause pyramiding. This is a persistent myth from the old days when no one knew what caused it.

Pyramiding is caused by growth in conditions that are too dry.

You can feed a tortoise cat food every day and it won't pyramid if it is living in super humid, rainy, South Florida. I've seen it. I'm not saying these animals were healthy on the inside, or not, but they were very smooth and beautiful on the outside.
 

Tinsel21

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Protein and diet do not cause pyramiding. This is a persistent myth from the old days when no one knew what caused it.

Pyramiding is caused by growth in conditions that are too dry.

You can feed a tortoise cat food every day and it won't pyramid if it is living in super humid, rainy, South Florida. I've seen it. I'm not saying these animals were healthy on the inside, or not, but they were very smooth and beautiful on the outside.
OK, sorry It was just a thought.
 

Tom

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OK, sorry It was just a thought.

No need to apologize. This is just one of those bits of information that I've been trying to eradicate for years. So when I see someone thinking this way, I always try to address it.
 

Tinsel21

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No need to apologize. This is just one of those bits of information that I've been trying to eradicate for years. So when I see someone thinking this way, I always try to address it.
OK, well I appreciate it :) I just got my first tortoise not to long ago and that was something a lot of people had told me. It's had to find info on them where I live
 

Yvonne G

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What should I do if I don't have time in the week to bath her everyday?

When you first get up in the morning, place the tortoise in a small bowl of warm water that he can't climb out of, then place the bowl back inside the habitat to keep it warm. Go about the business of getting dress, brushing your teeth, etc. By the time you're cleaned up and ready to go, your tortoise has been soaked and is ready to be taken out of the water. Having no time is not a good excuse.
 
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saginawhxc

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I soak mine while I prepare dinner for all my animals every single night. It simply takes a minute to fill a tub with the appropriate amount of warm water, drop your tort in, and then take your tort out after a specified time. I always use a timer so I don't space out and forget. The important part is that it shouldn't actually eat up any time and could/should be part of a regular daily routine. It could be in the morning like Yvonne mentioned, dinner time like I mentioned, or simply part of any daily routine you have.

I personally like coco coir as a substrate and would use the same thing throughout the enclosure. If you are using hay in your hide and it isn't molding then it likely isn't humid enough, and if it is molding then that is another danger all together and needs to be removed.
 
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