This is a clutch of 9 from last August, So nearly 10 months old and weigh around 130g.
Again, some are smooth and some have minor pyramiding going on.
I wanted to slow growth down a bit so I changed the diet. These have been fed predominantly greens/weeds. Protein once a month in the form of catfood. No mushrooms and occasionally some fruit(like 2 or 3 times per month at the most). For the last 5 months I’ve sprinkled a small amount of nutrobal on their food daily to make sure they got enough vitamins and calcium because of the lack of fruit intake.
I soaked them daily for first 3 months then backed off sharply to 2 or 3 times a wk.
Humidity is at 80/85%. I have no heat source anywhere near these guys so no artificial drying out of the carapace was possible at any time(3 days ago was the first time I’ve had them outside in the sun).
Even at 80/85% humidity the carapace still dries out within the hour.
There’s still got to be a variable to get different levels of smoothness.
I can only think of micro climates within my enclosure, maybe some are drying out in the open 80/85% humid air and others dig in.
No matter what I feed or the speed that any of my torts grow at, I get differences in smoothness.
The plot thickens.
Again, some are smooth and some have minor pyramiding going on.
I wanted to slow growth down a bit so I changed the diet. These have been fed predominantly greens/weeds. Protein once a month in the form of catfood. No mushrooms and occasionally some fruit(like 2 or 3 times per month at the most). For the last 5 months I’ve sprinkled a small amount of nutrobal on their food daily to make sure they got enough vitamins and calcium because of the lack of fruit intake.
I soaked them daily for first 3 months then backed off sharply to 2 or 3 times a wk.
Humidity is at 80/85%. I have no heat source anywhere near these guys so no artificial drying out of the carapace was possible at any time(3 days ago was the first time I’ve had them outside in the sun).
Even at 80/85% humidity the carapace still dries out within the hour.
There’s still got to be a variable to get different levels of smoothness.
I can only think of micro climates within my enclosure, maybe some are drying out in the open 80/85% humid air and others dig in.
No matter what I feed or the speed that any of my torts grow at, I get differences in smoothness.
The plot thickens.