Feeding and Nutrition :: Stop Pyramiding

[Mauk]

Hi everyone, a while back when I went away I had my sister take care of my turtles and they started a bit of pyramiding on their shell. Since then I only feed them 5 reptomin pellets max each and I have green leaf lettuce or romaine and cuttlebone in their tank. Mei is just giant now compared to Red Bell but there are a few bumps growing near the front of his shell.

Wonder what else I can do.

[Lantic]

Have a good source of UVB and be patient.

[Mauk]

Here's a pic of what i'm talking about,

[Lantic]

Yeah, that's not so good. It will take time for that to go back to normal

[blackforces get you]

like what lantic said, it will take some time to go back. use uvb (just like what lantic said)

[koreyleigh]

Not to the same extent, but my young turtle has some rising shell issues too -- in an effort to help I have taken out sources of protein aside from the 25-30% inside his pellets. Since excessive protein is linked to pyramiding problems (so they think) don't give them shrimp, worms, etc.

Hope things get better as soon as possible

[blackforces get you]

for korey, i can see the same problem in your avatar picture. and yeah too much protein can cause pyramiding. good luck on keeping your turtles healthy. and not having a wierd shelled turtle

[Mauk]

Ya thanks, I have thought I limited the protein available already by only feeding a maximum of 5 pellets of reptomin each, he will finish off two large leaves of green leaf lettuce I put in there by himself so I wonder if I should be giving him less.

[twyangzii]

I don't think you should limit protein totally, just at least feed a lot lesser of it now

Mine's got pyramiding issues when I found mine too (Yeah around bus stop area!) and now they're recovering well and fast with a lot of greens and pellets - I do give them some guppies once per 2 weeks too .

Purely works for me, so, don't quote me xD .

[theartbook35]

I don't think you should limit protein totally, just at least feed a lot lesser of it now

Mine's got pyramiding issues when I found mine too (Yeah around bus stop area!) and now they're recovering well and fast with a lot of greens and pellets - I do give them some guppies once per 2 weeks too .

Purely works for me, so, don't quote me xD .

You and me are on the same page. I give my turtles protein once a week. The proteins in the pellets are not very strong, and thus, keep them from being protein deficient without getting pyramiding. I give them a lot of vegetables now, too. I like better proteins like the ones in live food, those are more natural proteins found in natural habitats and much healthier than processed proteins.

[marisa]

It looks like the turtle had been fed an unbalanced diet for a while. In addition to the "lumps" on the scutes, the wrinkled appearance of some of the scutes (particularly the marginal ones) suggests that something is/was lacking in the diet.

Does the turtle have a good UVB light to bask under?

[Mauk]

I am going to be replacing my MVB with a megaray to see if that helps. I started feeding them red leaf now which they seem to like more then romain or green leaf. Not sure what else I can get in there, I give carrots once a month.