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I have another turtle and he does not have this problem
however, this turtle does. This turtle is smaller, and his shell is rounder (i mean when looked at from an aerial view, it looks more like a circle than an oval)

anyways, here are pictures:


looks kind of like a stegosauraus. the scutes at the very top of his shell look like they are ridge, if you know what I mean. IS this normal for a growing turtle, or is this pyramiding or anything bad?
thanks for the help!

http://picasaweb.google.com/Shark.Snack ... Setgosarus

there is an a;bum, sorry for the huge pictures

As far as I know, pyramiding is when each scute starts forming its own pyramid. Not when the whole shell is rounded like that. I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure your turtle's shell is just fine.

Good, cuz Tito's shell is kind of like that too

Mikey's is like that too. His spine is very defined in his shell.

i like that look, makes him look really primevil like a dinosaur

no that is normal

Yea I think the baby turtles tend to have the raised scutes along their spine (vertebral scutes). It eventually goes away as they get bigger. You should see some of the baby map turtles! Check out this Barbour's Map Turtle...



Unfortunately their raise vertebral scutes also fade away as they mature. But it's definitely cool looking.

I like the look too. My son was looking at Squirt the other day and said he looked like a stegosauraus. I thought so too, kind of cool in a way, a little piece of the past right here in the now!

No pyramiding on the clear pics that I can see (cute turtle). The angle of the spine should become less noticeable as he grows and fills out.