Back from vet Update.

gingerbee

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A few years ago when I was on here a lot, the thoughts on pyramiding was it was caused by diet. When I got sparky 11 years
ago she was pyramided and so I've tried to smooth her out not too successfully. Now I've been reading it's do to low humidity which has been the case for me as I have an open enclosure at least 3/4's open.
Sparky has a pen which is 6by8 feet. Peat moss for substance and spaghern moss that I got today. We got a plastic tarp to cover it up and spraying it down.she has shell problems starting with a burn that has gotten infected. Under vets care doing scrubs with dilute iodine solution followed by silver sulfadiazine cream. Tomorrow back for follow up. She's losing scutes. The original burnt one is half way off and the one next to it is lifting to. (She burnt it on her heat lamp obviously too low) I think it's better but I'm worried about others that seem like u can get a fingernail under at the edges. I must say the shell looks like new healthy growth is appearing.
I feel terrible about this. She eats like a little pig and is very bright eyed. The vet thought her shell looked good lower than the problem area.
Any more ideas would be appreciated!!
 

gingerbee

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a lot of tort owners make the mistake of keeping tortoises dry, i did the same thing with my sulcata for his first year of life:(.
I haven't been able to upload pic when I click the file bottom it pops me off the site. I put a post up about this for help and a member put a pic up I sent to them I can't find it to tell u where in my account. The phone app didn't work for me either!!
 

Yvonne G

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Hi Gingerbee:

Don't worry about the shell. Once a scute starts to lift, that means it has lost its blood supply. So eventually it will come off. There's nothing you can do about it. But, as long as the shell doesn't become infected, it will be perfectly ok. It won't be very pretty for a while, but it's not harmful or unhealthy for the tortoise.

Once a tortoise has grown pyramided, it's there to stay. All the moisture in the world isn't going to help it now. The object with moisture is to use it when the tortoise is a baby...during the first couple of years of its life. But if your tortoise doesn't have MBD, pyramiding is only cosmetic.
 

gingerbee

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Thanks for your reply! So she's looking a bit dry on head and legs so adding moisture should help I thought. Love your torts by the way.
 

gingerbee

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Thank you I did read that and was concedering doing it. Wasn't sure with the silver dine med though. I'll ask the vet today though she may not have heard about it!!
Thanks for your time!!
 

gingerbee

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Yes that was the start. I've done as much debriding as I'm comfortable with. Going to the vet this morning so I'll see what she says. She talked about putting her under to get more off I'm not sure if I should.
 

gingerbee

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Well sparky shell is much better as I thought. Still the issue with the second scute lifting. Ned to concentrate on it. The original bad area has indeed got lots of hard new growth.
I told her of my plan to up humidity but she didn't want a big change because of the shell rot. She thinks it needs air circulation at this time more than the extra moisture. That does make sense so I'll wait and not cover up the whole enclosure yet.
 

gingerbee

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This is Herman!! Sorry I even having trouble posting pics so didn't think to write anything about him. He's a woodie I've had 10 years got him from a breeder in Michigan !!
 

wellington

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Do you know what the shell problem is from and are you treating it or is it an old shell injury?
 

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