Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've had my sulcata for close to a year now. She seems happy and very active and will eat just about anything. I feed her mainly finley chopped timothy hay mixed with carrots, dandelion greens, hybiscus flowers and leaves and ocasionally i mix in some apple. She has grown quite a bit and i am excited to get her big enough so that i can build an outdoor enclosure. I am worried about her shell growth because the pictures i've seen of adult sulcatas show them with completely smooth carapaces. I worry that i might be doing something wrong. Please take a look and let me know if this is normal shell growth or the beginning of a problem. If so, what can i do to stop or minimize it. Thank you.

The tortoise is beginning to pyramid noticeably. As you probably know, that is very common with sulcatas. For starters, I would recommend reducing or eliminating the carrot and the apple. Both are very high in sugar and can help produce artificially rapid growth and pyramiding. You can also cut down on the actual amount you are feeding her. Desert-dwelling tortoises are adapted to survive on very few calories per day combined with a whole lot of fiber. The diet you describe doesn't sound too bad, but focus on the wild foods as much as you possibly can. Dandelions, hibiscus, sow thistle, mallow, and may other weeds are all very good for sulcatas and inhibit pyramiding.

The sooner you can get her outside the better, also. Natural sunlight is so much better for all tortoises.

It is pyramiding a little but it is also very interesting growth for one year old. It does look nice and healthy though.

What are your temperatures and do you provide a humid place for it to rest?

Your diet sounds fine. A little more variety will not hurt and of course I have to recommend some Mazuri tortoise diet about once a week. You'll see a dramatic result in the direction you are looking for.

You're not really doing anything 'wrong'. You're just not providing the conditions to get the results you are looking for. That is a very healthy looking tortoise.

>>I've had my sulcata for close to a year now. She seems happy and very active and will eat just about anything. I feed her mainly finley chopped timothy hay mixed with carrots, dandelion greens, hybiscus flowers and leaves and ocasionally i mix in some apple. She has grown quite a bit and i am excited to get her big enough so that i can build an outdoor enclosure. I am worried about her shell growth because the pictures i've seen of adult sulcatas show them with completely smooth carapaces. I worry that i might be doing something wrong. Please take a look and let me know if this is normal shell growth or the beginning of a problem. If so, what can i do to stop or minimize it. Thank you.
>>
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

I agree that this tortoise is pretty healthy and happy looking. The diet sounds pretty good IMO as well, as long as the proper percentages apply.
The large sulcatta's that you see are usually wild-caught long term captives. For the longest time, and still to this day, it has proven difficult to produce captive bred tortoises without some degree of pyramiding. The small amount seen in your tortoise will have no adverse effects in the future, provided good care continues.
Some people are having more success in getting around this problem with making sure that the enclosure has adequate humidity on the theory that wild young torts spend most of their time hidden, in places where humidity is higher then the surrounding desert.

A good summary on pyramiding is in the May 05 issue of REPTILES magazine.

I have her in doors. I have a reptisun 5.0 strip about 12 inches above the enclosure and a heat lamp on one end. The temps are about 95 degrees on one end and 75-82 on the other. She has a little wooden hide spot on the cooler end where she sleeps in everynight. I have aspen bedding as a substrate that she burrows in while sleeping. She seems very active climbing over anything i place in there. I was soaking her a couple of times a week but have placed a permamnent water dish in the enclosure. I would like to build her an outdoor enclosure but am afraid she is too small. I have a large yard so i have a lot of potential to build a permanent pen, but have a dog that is very inquisitive and i would have to build the enclosing walls high enough to prevent him getting in and sucure it from burrowing out. Any suggestions would be appreciated on this topic. I live in Miami Florida so the weather is usually pretty hot and humid but it has been a weird winter with cold spurts on and off. This past weekend for example. Although things are good right now, i would like to set something up for this summer for her to get the full benefit of the weather but also remain safe. Thank you for your input and support.

I worried about this with mine, when I thought he was looking a bit like he was pyramiding - I'd back off the extras and only give him hay to eat. Maybe once a week he'd get greens, but other than that just hay & a cuttle bone.

As others have said - getting a smooth shell in captivity is difficult - I've never seen one with a smooth shell. Slowing the food down will slow his growth rate & possibly help with the pyramiding.