Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I went by the pet store I mentioned in a post below and took a shot of the sulcata that was fed a diet made up mostly of Mazuri tortoise chow. The store employee told me the tort is about 5 years old and between 60 and 70 pounds. In my opinion, this animal shows minimal pyramiding. It has a bowl that is kept full of tortoise chow at all times. The pen substrate is dry hay. Someone mentioned in a post below that pyramiding may be related to humidity level. This is interesting because this pet store has lots of aquariums and the air in the store is subsequently very humid. There are several large pythons there and I've never seen one with an incomplete shed sticking to it (meaning the humidity was adequate enough to allow normal shedding). Maybe the low humidity / pyramiding theory has some substance?

Regards,
WK

ya I agree this tort looks pretty good, I would say mild pyrmiding, I myself have never fed Mazuri to my torts because of the mixed messages I have read i did not want to take a chance. what is it a pellet form? anyway I am puzzled on what causes pyrmiding because for every answer out there I can find another example to prove that theory wrong.. just from this forum alone there are a ton of different examples and rebuttles. My sulcata is very small for his age, I try not to over feed and we have a cold season that I have to keep him inside so he has stayed realativly small and he has very low humidty for 8 or 9 months and mild for the other 3 or four and is still mildly pyrimided. I just plan on it getting better as he gets older. it doesn't slow him down any. and in 4 years only one trip to the vet for a runny nose that cleared right up. we are all learning as we go and the ones who know it all can help anytime

hello
the mazuri tortoise diet is awesome
i feed it to all my tortoises
it has vit. d3 in it already
i have been using this product for 5 years and have had great results
raised scutes seem to be in my experience due to lack of humidity or not efficient heat
babies live in burrows or holes for up to 2 years as babies
borrows contain higher humidity levels and usually maintain a steady temp range
richard fife's book on leopard tortoises covers this topic in detail
i have raised babies exactly the same and have had one have raised scutes and one had a smooth shell
only difference was where they hung out in the pen
the smooth one was always under the opuntia cactus in the root system where it was moist usually from watering
the other who had the raised scutes was always out and moving
never hung out in the higher humidity areas of the pen always in the hay piles or corners of the pen
all dry areas
i have heard people in florida also have the raised scute problems too
so that kinda messes the idea up
i would like to see how they are cared for though
if they are indoors in an ac room on rabbit pellets they are basically taking all the humidity out of the tortoises habitat and hence the problems is related to humidity
but if they are raised outdoors and this still happens in florida and other high humidity situations
maybe it is really a diet and heat or humidity issue
it could be several factors making this happen and i have long since quit acting like i know for sure what causes this
nobody knows for sure 100% yet
more real research is needed to be conclusive
mildly raised scutes seem to not effect them at all
it might effect breeding in extreme cases or not make it not possible
i let my tortoises graze as part of their diet and it seems to work well
i add greens and hay mixed with mazuri ,carrots,bell peppers,and squash in the mix among others
opuntia pads , hibiscus,and fruitless mulberry leaves are cherrished also.
i stand behind mazuri as a good product and know of alot of other breeders who share this opinion
hope this helps.
HAPPY HERPING
JEFF
PLANET REPTILES