Immediate effects on shell growth by changing from closed chamber to alternative

Stoneman

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I bought this tortoise from someone who kept it in a closed chamber, about two weeks ago. It was extremely smooth when it arrived. Now, there is new growth on the tortoise, which has grown outward of the plastaron as you can see in the pic. The growth on the carapace is less noticeable but I can see how the old pattern has been interrupted.

I was hoping that by having an opened topped tortoise table, with RH 50%, 1-2 lkng daily baths, sprays through out the day with a sprayer, and a humid hide would continue the same growth. My theory was wrong. I wanted to share these findings with you to demonstrate the significance of the overall humidy change after just a short period of time. Because my results are what they are, I am going to expidite my plans to design and build closed chamber setups for all my torts.

I am aware that this is not a true experiment, because all other factors were not equal, for example, temperature, elevation, substrate, and feed, I am going to continue to evaluate and study those effects individually. I do however, find this to be correlative with other info others have provided. Thank you for your time.
 

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Stoneman

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Pacific Northwest, United States
No, I don't think it is pyramiding, just irregular growth. Here is one of the smallest Indian I have, which also has an uneven plastaron. I think that the method I am using creates uneven shells. The second pic is of a shell that has been in my care, there is not much pyramiding. Just the bumpy texture of the shell. I have two with pyramiding, but damage was done before I got them.
 

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PA2019

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Mar 19, 2017
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@VividTortoises

Are you heating the enclosure floor somehow? Like a warming pad etc?... I had heating pads in my outdoor houses when I first started and I noticed the beginnings of irregular growth on their plastrons. I cant confirm that was the cause but after removing them I've only seen smooth, lateral, flat plastron growth.
 

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