General Care Discussion :: my turtle has a bit of pyramiding?

[turtleowner]

Do you think my turtle has pyramiding?IMG]http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z149/erick418/SD530004.jpg[/IMG] [/url]

[ellman605]

Here, I'll fix the image



From the looks of it, it looks like it's starting back. Cut down on the pellets a bit and add more veggies into the died.

Also, GET RID OF THAT GRAVEL. It can/will cause impaction which can kill your turtle. You also need a bigger basking area, as the plastron is still in the water a bit.

[grey goose]

Too much protien....what are you feeding her?

[Safdar]

Yes cutdown the pellets, and dont feed that many high protien things
Only once a month or so
And add more veggies to the diet, the fiber is good

[SpotsMama]

Here's everything you ever wanted to know about feeding your turtle:

http://www.redearslider.com/index_nutrition.html

If you follow these guidelines you can't go wrong.

Turtles are masterful beggers and if you're not strong they will persuade you they have never been fed and are starving. But overfeeding can result in very serious consequences. Another turtle on here has permanent kidney damage from a diet too high in protein. It's a question whether he's going to survive.

Don't go overboard and underfeed, though. Just do as it says on the link above and you'll be fine.

[untsmurf]

Also, what size tank are you keeping her in?

[SpotsMama]

One more thing. What Ellman said about the gravel can't be emphasized too much. Gravel just the size of the gravel in that photo is very dangerous. Eventually she'll try to eat it and it will get stuck inside and may be fatal. There have been too many sad threads on here from people whose turtles ate gravel and didn't make it.

In short, the gravel needs to go.

[marisa]

Your turtle needs to do some serious scute shedding...

[tennisnut]

I actually have the same question.

http://berkeley.facebook.com/album.php? ... id=1225900

Skip to the 12th and 13th photos, the turtle in question is named Pebbles. Shell is the smaller one. =)

I also know that the tank is too small, but I'm only babysitting them for a friend while she gets things sorted out at home. When I got them, they were both in one of those tiny acrylic tanks that you get for crickets, and they looked so cramped that I went to get a bigger tank for them. That was before I came on this forum, it's been really helpful!

As of now, I'm surfing the web in the hopes of finding a deal on larger glass tanks. Craigslist and ebay seem likely, but I guess we'll see what happens.

[ZombieTurtle]

until you get a bigger tank, i think the best idea to take advantage of the tank you have is to put a lot more water in. fill it like 3/4 of the way(as high up as possible without turtle being about to climb out) rather then 1/4. doing this will provide a lot more swimming room that they need (until you find a good deal on a tank then theyll have more room then they know what to do with).

[tennisnut]

Yeah, I'm going to do that this weekend so that I can get a basking dock. Thanks!

But, Pebble's shell is ok? It looked a little janky to me, which is why I was worried.

[SpotsMama]

Pebble looks like she needs a good shed too. Make sure she basks regularly under a good UVB light. Also, you might add foods with vitamin e in them to her diet. A need for vitamin e is sometimes the cause of retained scutes. Some foods with vitamin e are blueberries, turnip greens, tomato, apple skin and sweet potato. Stay away from spinach and broccoli though. They contain vitamin e but also interfer with a turtle's ability to process calcium.