Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok here is the story. a neighbor found a sulcatta wondering around.its about the size of a whopper or so, but has really bad pyramiding! now knowing me and all, she knows i have a sulcatta and i am in into reptiles and all, she offered me the tort. my question is, will good husbandry make the pyramidding effects go away? or is the poor thing stuck like? srry if this is a stupid question, i have never had to deal with pyramiding in any of my torts. thnx for all replies

Unfortunately, no, pyramiding is a condition involving the bone structure and will not go away. It appears to be a response of insufficient humidity and/or too rapid growth in response to a high protein diet. All you can really do is correct the husbandry and prevent further pyramiding. As the animal grows, without further pyramiding, the extent of the pyramiding will appear to lessen just due to scaling.

Pyradiding is probably forever... I have a G.pardalis babcocki that was imported, and had "natural" pyramiding as many from Tanzania do. In over 10 years, it has not disappeared, but has not gotten worse, and it is obvious in its shell when it came into my care. So, compared to many sulcattas I have seen, especially "rehabs", yours has a minor case. I think that will become a reasonably good looking animal over time if you provide it the good care it deserves. Be sure to read the article on pyramiding by Arizona breeder Richard Fife, in REPTILES magazine a few months ago. The real "breakthrough"
to prevent pyramiding is probably increased humidity to hatchlings. Good luck, Vic

thnx, the sulcatta pictured above is not the one i was talking about, thats my hatchling and he has no pyramiding what so ever. the one my neighbor is giving me is pretty bad, i will post a pic tomorrow, but again thanx for the help

i know of an owner that lost a sulcata in saint louis...

unless that tort walked all the way to az i don't think so.

.