Is it possible to reverse or minimize pyramiding in a 15 year old sulcata?

Question

Is it possible to reverse or minimize pyramiding in a 15 year old sulcata?

Answer 1

it is possible to improve the look of pyramiding, with lots of calcium, uVB lighting and keping the tortoise hydrated, but some damage might remain, the problem is the tortoise has been fed the wrong diet and this effects the shell growth, sulcatas can take up to 15-20 years to properly mature so there may be time for the shell damage to improve, you need to feed a high fibre and low protien diet, the best thing you could get at the moment is a prickly pear cactus  it is packed full of calcium and your tortoise will love it, burn the spines off with a lighter  and feed it to your tortoise get a calcium supplement and mix it with the food also get a cuttle bone they are much better for a tortoise than a block and easier to bite into, hhttp://www.sulcata-station.org/   here is a site that might be able to help you    hope you manage to get your tortoise looking good again best of luck honey

Answer 2

I have come to see pyramiding as being the end result of any one or usually a combination of these six things. In my examples I will use various tortoises as some are more prone to pyramiding than others. The following is a melding of recent discussions by lots of people who own sulcata.

Too much food

Inaccessible calcium

Too much protein

Low fiber foods

Lack of exercise

Hydration status

Too much food is a real problem. Especially with sulcata, hermanni and horsfieldii - they literally eat themselves into trouble. This is the type of pyramiding that seems to be exhibited by the conical scutes. People - especially in the north - see this a lot - regardless of how much calcium they supplement. My feeling is that the body is much better at removing protein from the food than calcium -- the calcium passes through and the protein is converted to keratin resulting in the "stacked" look. Regardless of how low in protein the diet is - too much food results in this to varying amounts. In groups of redfoots and leopards where most are perfect, I have seen one or two that showed light pyramiding - usually they are the heaviest eaters.

Inaccessible calcium or low calcium seems to present itself more as a flattened appearance with collapsed veterbral scutes. Tortoises seem to preferentially put the available calcium in the plastron. This is a result of poor food or a steady diet of high oxalate foods. I have seen this in radiata, leopards, hermanni and recently a Russian. Lack of UV exposure for vitamin D conversion is another co-factor for this problem.

Too much protein (plant or animal) also gives this look. There are documented cases of wild tortoises that exhibit pyramiding - they live near soybean fields (Highfield). High protein diets are also physically stressful and are believed to damage the kidneys in addition to contributing to the stacked look.

Low fiber -- In my opinion, low fiber foods give the same result as too much food because they are too digestible. A look at the droppings of grass-fed tortoises shows them to be fibrous and still containing a lot of vegetative integrity. Looking at store produce droppings shows them to be watery. EVERY leopard owner I know in the north has trouble with this in the winter when grass (or grass hay) is not available. Interestingly, feeding alfalfa - even though it is high in protein, seems to not result in much pyramiding -- I assume because of the fiber.

Physical activity levels in proper protein/calcium metabolism is necessary for a sound skeletal frame. If you look at people's pens for their tortoises -- even the best setup does not give them as much room as in the wild. It is known that high levels of physical activity leads to more calcium being deposited in bone. (human studies)

Hydration status has also been suggested as another important co-factor. This is an interesting subject in itself. While I would not suggest this to anyone (do NOT try this at home, folks!), as an experiment in South America, a vet is feeding 20 redfoots diets intentionally very high in protein (using high protein pelleted fish food). He is also maintaining the animals in very shallow water. At this point the animals are over 4 inches long and show absolutely no pyramiding. The jury is out on kidney and liver functions and time will tell on that, but externally at least he is forcing very rapid growth with high protein and achieving very smooth shells at the same time. The thought is that the very high water throughput is flushing the system sufficiently to avoid pyramiding.