As promised, pics of my adopted Sully

[Riperoo]

As yet unnamed, the kids are working on that. Bartleby is a favorite, more appropriat for a turt than a tort, but I still like it, Bart for short. Seems to be going OK, have been soaking him every night, she is still only eating lettuce, but I am mixining it all up with carrots and some potatoes, alond with some calcium sup. I wish it would get back to being warm around here so i could get some outdoor time, but seems like he is acclimating OK. Still a little skittish, but as it has only been 3 days that is to be expected.

After the first soak, I truly thought the bottom of the shell was black.

His Pretty face

One more mugging for the camera

Let me know what you all think. Does he have a shot??

 

[Kristina]

He has a shot. Cute little bugger.

Please stop feeding the potatoes, though. A little grated sweet potato would be fine, but potatoes aren't a regular tortoise food.

Spring mix, dandelion greens, weeds, turnip greens, grasses, kale, raddichio, bok choy, etc. are all good foods. Grape leaves, rose petals, hibiscus, cactus pads and a little cactus fruit are some other choices.

 

[DeanS]

Gorgeous little thing! The key is moisture keep that shell wet...the pyramiding is bad, but not so bad that you can regulate it! Water, mud baths (coat her), high heat and humidity...that with a good diet and you'll give her a GREAT quality of life. She's still small enough that you can reduce (and eliminate) any further pyramiding. No potatoes...try to give her cactus and/or aloe at least twice a week...and kill the lettuce ASAP...the best thing you can use to wean her off lettuce is endive and watercress...haven't seen a sulcata yet that didn't just dust that stuff...plus endive is a native African herb...just learned the other day that endive and escarole grow off the same plant...haven't researched it myself...thought they were 2 different entities...anyway, keep us posted with her progress.

 

[Scooter]

She is a cutie! Is this yours first sully?

 

[Maggie Cummings]

No carrots either...80% of their diet is grasses and weeds and that's what you should be feeding. Keep the humidity up, add lots of exercise and feed a good diet and you have a chance at stopping her pyramiding. But IMHO it takes all three of those things to stop or prevent pyramiding. Massive humidity good food and lots of exercise...there ya go!!! You won't get better advice then that!!!

 

[Kristina]

Another thing, that tortoise looks to me like it has pyramiding AND Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD) I would invest in a good MVB (mercury vapor bulb ASAP. Get some cuttlebone (like for birds) and you can scrape it with a knife and dust the food with the powder, and also leave a piece with the hard backing cut off in the enclosure. He will eat it. He needs calcium and UV light. Outside time is the best too if it is warm enough where you live.

 

[Riperoo]

Another thing, that tortoise looks to me like it has pyramiding AND Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD) I would invest in a good MVB (mercury vapor bulb ASAP. Get some cuttlebone (like for birds) and you can scrape it with a knife and dust the food with the powder, and also leave a piece with the hard backing cut off in the enclosure. He will eat it. He needs calcium and UV light. Outside time is the best too if it is warm enough where you live.

Thanks, I got the cuttle bone already, what is the MVB bulb?? UVB light? or something different. What are the visual indicators for the MBD, the pyramiding is obvious, but how can you tell the MBD from just looking?? Thanks for all the advice.

 

[Kristina]

What looks to me like MBD is the sunken look above the hip area in the back, and how deep it is sunken in between the pyramided scutes. They are quite dramatically raised, but it also looks sank down in.

MVB bulbs create UV light, but they are stronger and on a different color spectrum than florescent bulbs. The color is more warm, less blue/white and harsh. They also provide heat. It eliminates the need for two separate bulbs.

As large as that tort is, if you keep a hot spot of 95* or so during the day, and your house stays 68* to 70* F at night, you don't need night time heat. So you can run just the one bulb during the day, and know he is getting enough warmth and enough UV.

Most members here seem to prefer the T Rex MVB bulbs. They are cheaper to purchase online than in stores.

http://www.tortoisesupply.com/products/Powersun-Mercury-Vapor-Bulb-%2d-100W.html

http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/reptile-supplies/uvb-fluorescent-lights-mercury-vapor-bulbs/

Both of these retailers are members here.

 

[TortieLuver]

Thanks for showing us the pictures! Enjoy your little tort!

 

[Kristina]

Let me try to illustrate what I was talking about earlier.

This sulcata is pyramided. (Now, it *might* also have MBD, but I can't know that for sure. It doesn't LOOK like it, but the only way to know for sure would be a necropsy.)

This sulcata is also pyramided, but has signs of MBD as well.

Again, pyramided

Pyramiding with MBD

Here is a tortoise that has MBD, but no pyramiding.

That is how I distinguish the difference. Please note that these are pictures that I simply googled, and this is my opinion on how MBD looks versus just pyramiding. But I am quite certain I am correct.

If you look at the 3rd and 4th vertabral scutes on your tortoise, they are leaning towards each other. That shows the beginning of the sinking in.

This can be stopped, with the right amount of UV, a good diet and calcium supplements.

 

[Tom]

Kristina, this is a great post. Very well illustrated.

 

[Riperoo]

Hey thanks Kristina, that is a really great illistrative description. You should post that in its own thread for noobs like me. Thanks again for the advice!!