Hi,

I bought my tortoise a few years ago from an ad i saw in the paper, when i bought him they said he was 1 year old. However he never had a UV bulb or calcium suppements before i bought him, so ever since his shell has never been very hard and it also has pyramiding. He has Nutrobal supplement, a cuttlefish bone, a UV and heat bulb. He has never liked eating food which had the nutrobal on it and never used his cuttlefish bone, so i struggled a lot and the vet just kept telling me to give him the supplements so they never really helped, he is an active tortoise and loves to eat. Recently he has started to use the cuttlefish bone for his beak, i am really worried and would really like some advice. will i ever get rid of the pyramids on his shell?

Thanks

Courtney

Hi Courtney
Has his shell hardened up now? try him on lime flour as the torts find it easier to digest. My big girl didn't like nutrobal on her food so I cut a slice of cucumber cut a bit out in the middle and put in the nutrobal, and put the top back on, this worked great and eventually I was able to dust it on her food. What foods are you giving him? That is really good that he is eating the cuttlefish which will give him his calcium intake.
With regards to the pyramiding, it wll not go away completely, but with the correct diet and not over feeding, it will look better.

Regards
Jane, Keya & Molly

Hi

Yes it is hard i just get worried it isnt how it should be. Where can i find lime flour? i feed him spring greens, basil,parsley, dandelion leaves, apples etc. yeah he has started eating it, but the vet said it helps there beak but its not for him, when i got him i had to get it sorted at the vets and they cut it down cos the bottom and going over the top bit. i have recently started giving him a tortoise complete diet as well.

thanks for replying

courtney