Photo Gallery :: Examples of slight pyramiding

[TheComputerGremlin]

Hi, I've heard a lot of people mention that their turtles have "slight pyramiding" and I was hoping people could post some pictures. I can't tell if Mikey has slight pyramiding or not, I'll post some pictures up here when I can get a good side shot (I'll have to take him out of the tank). I googled it and got a lot of extreme examples of tortoise pyramiding, and I know he's not in the extreme category at least. Thanks for your help!

[Nettle]

Here's an example of past-slight pyramding:




Here's some examples of really bad pyramiding:




This site is copyrighted, so I can't post their pictures, but they've got some great examples of pyramiding at its worst.

http://www.turtlestuff.com/pyramid.html

My turtles have about four of their scutes that started getting bumpy because of the turkey I was feeding them. Now I know better, but the chances that they'll grow out of it is slim. An RES's shell should be perfectly flat.

Hope this was helpful!

[TheComputerGremlin]

The reason that I ask is that Mikey's "spinal" shell parts are a little rippled, but I don't know if it's pyramiding or not. Here's the closest pic I have available, I'll see about taking some more tomorrow (but since it's Easter ...).
If you look really closely past the cat, you can see Mikey's rippled shell. But that's the only place it's rippled, other than that, his shell is lovely and smooth (and ready for a shed).

[Nettle]

I've seen a lot of turtles with that rippled ridge thing and it always seems that they're shedding when they're doing it. I'd say he's ok.

Cute cat. ^_^

[Just Jule]

Oh my goodness those pix almost made me cry. I can't imagine having a pet and not takin the best care possible.

[SpotsMama]

There are some very good photos of a RES with moderate pyramiding on the second page of this thread:

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... A&start=15

[Nettle]

Jule: Ya, the turtle on that turtlestuff website was so sad that he couldn't move and had to be hand-fed everything. -_-

SpotsMama: Thanks for the link!

[TheComputerGremlin]

Okay, so we're not at that point, just the spiky spinal area, but it's not too bad. Maybe I'll cut back on the pellets a little. Thanks!

[steve]

The raised sections on the vertebral scutes are normal. As for "slight" pyramiding, I think a lot of the pictures on the forum posted have minor situations.