My experience with tortoises has been that pyramiding is a function of several factors, not just one or the other. I worked for a zoo that kept radiated tortoises (among others). Prior to my working there they were kept dry, fed a diet high in protein (including boiled eggs (YIKES!)and fruit, low in fiber, without any calcium supplementation. On top of that they were fed huge amounts of these food items. All of them were pyramided, but the one with the most grotesque pyramiding was the one that ate the most food. The smallest tortoise, which died of sudden death (in my opinion due to the exceptionally poor husbandry and diet), had the least amount of pyramiding. That horrible experience showed me that the amount of food and the protein composition did indeed play a part in the pyramiding we see in captive tortoises, because again this institution was doing pretty much everything wrong when it came to husbandry and diet. Since these tortoises where clutch mates, if the composition of the diet and the amount of the diet fed didn't play any role in pyramiding then they all should have had a similar level of pyramiding since their enclosure had no humidity chamber and averaged about 30% humidity. This again, was not the case. Again, the one that ate the most grew the fastest and had the worst pyramiding of the three (and some of the worst pyramiding I have ever seen). Just so you know, I did correct the diet and humidity issues while I was there as well other aspects of their husbandry, but once that level of pyramiding is there the damage is done.

I will also say that I too have a Hermann’s tortoise and even with a natural diet which I cycle the amounts and composition of, calcium and vitamin supplementation, UVB, humidity chamber, and soaking I have noticed a very small amount of what looks like pyramiding. The tortoise is the same age as yours (a little over a year and a half old) and as far as I can tell is growing at the recommended rate. According to Andy Highfield of the Tortoise Trust, Hermann’s tortoises are hard to grow to adulthood without some pyramiding. He suggests, on top of all of the above listed recommendations, that they be hibernated even as juveniles for 6 or so weeks during the winter months to slow growth down even more which may help with the pyramiding. I am planning to hibernate my tortoise in a wine cooler starting in January to see if this may help stop any further pyramiding from occurring. If you haven't you should check out the Tortoise Trust site. There is a great deal of good info there.

Best regards,

Shane

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