Growth + questions

[Nelsamye]

Hi all, I haven't been on or posted in a while, I've had a very busy summer! But I wanted to show some growth from Maximus and ask some questions for you experienced keepers.

So I got him on march 6th, and was told he was a year old. I had posted a while ago questioning whether or not he really was a year old since he was so small, I'm pretty sure I was misinformed, so I really don't know how old he is. For a while it seemed like he wasn't really growing much at all, but now he's finally started to really show growth!


The left is right after I got him, the right is today.

I didn't weigh him when I first got him because I didn't have a scale, but I weighed him today, he is 177grams, since I have nothing to compare that to I'm not sure if that's good or not, so any input would be great. Also any input on how quickly he should be gaining weight would be nice now that I have a proper scale!

Now for my concerns/questions. When I got him he was kept in open air dry conditions, and was already showing signs of pyramiding. I have changed everything about how he was kept and listened to every piece of advice on here but he still looks like he is pyramiding. Here's a picture of when I first got him:


And here is today:



I'm at a loss if he still is pyramiding, I don't know what I'm doing wrong or what else I can do. So here's a bunch if info on how he is housed.



That's his little tortoise condo, completely closed with 3 chambers. The hot side hovers right around 100, the cool side just above 80, he has 2 hides, and the middle chamber has his food/water/uv. Even after I switched to closed chambers (which was about 3 weeks after I got him), I couldn't keep the humidity up, so I have a humidifier that I piped in to keep the humidity at 80% or higher. I soak him regularly, he has a varied diet, and everything else about him seems perfectly healthy. He's active, alert, clear eyes, good appetite, no soft spots. It's just the pyramiding. To me it looks like he is still pyramiding, like its getting worse even after 4 months in the proper conditions. So I'd love some input/advice from some of you more experienced keepers.

Sorry for the novel!


Amy
Sulcata tortoise - Maximus

 

[wellington]

Is the whole enclosure at 80% humidity? If not, where does he spend most of his time? I would make sure the whole enclosure is 80%, as members that are on,y using a humid hide is t getting as great of results as the closed chamber 80% all over.
I have a leopard that I started out wrong because of poor advice, until I found this forum. Mine did start to grow smoother, however, there is some pyramiding that I just couldn't get to smooth out as much as the rest. This may be also happening to you. See what others say. He does look good though and has grown.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Is easier to prevent pyramiding than stop it.

Don't worry. Keep doing what you are doing for new growth but by the time this guy is huge he will look just fine

Sent from my VS840 4G using TortForum mobile app

 

[Nelsamye]

So the humidifier is pumped in to the hot chamber, the far left one, and it's always above 80% in there, and then in the far right chamber the farthest away from the humidifier it's at 76% humidity right now, so I'll bump up the humidifier a couple notches, but I don't think that 4% really is making him pyramid more, especially since he spends most of his time in the hot chamber. I mean maybe I'm wrong but it looks like he has continued to pyramid, like his new growth isn't coming in smooth. Even with all the right housing. I hope I'm wrong, I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and compare some more in a few months.


Amy
Sulcata tortoise - Maximus

 

[Tom]

In his early pics, you can see he already had an established pattern of pyramiding. This is the result of however many months of the dry routine he was subjected to before you got him. Stopping this pattern and encouraging new growth to come in smoother is difficult and takes time. My Daisy was far worse off than your baby. She hardly grew at all for two years and I thought the pyramiding would never fade, but fade it did.

The 80% humidity thing is for PREVENTING pyramiding. In your case I would go with more humidity, more humid hides for sleeping in, lots of shell spraying every day and daily soaks for the next year at least. Change will come slowly, but if you do it right it will come.

Yours is undersized for its age, but that is to be expected from a dry routine tortoise. Its nothing to worry about or "do" anything about. Just offer the best conditions and diet possible and all will work out just fine.

 

[Nelsamye]

Thanks everyone, I'm probably just over anxious and want immediate results. I'll up the humidity over 80%, soak a little more, and try out this patience thing


Amy
Sulcata tortoise - Maximus