I bought my first tortoise from a local pet shop that sold me a Sulcata, before I knew anything about the species. It was a pretty little 4" individual that had an exquisite carapace. The salesman pointed out her strikingly beautiful pyramidal shell plates telling me that they “rarely got in 'turtles' with as good a shell like this one”.
When I decided I wanted to buy her, I asked him what he could tell me about the tortoise. He replyed, “Oh yea man, this is a turtle but it lives on land”. Nobody else better being around, I decided to take a chance and bring it home. It was sold to me as being an “African Desert Tortoise”. I had no idea what I was committing myself to.
So I started to do research on tortoises and identified it as a Sulcata. Six years later, my cute little desert tortoise grown into a 23” shell 20 lbs. monster with no end in sight. I quickly learned about its care and found out pyramiding was a deformity, not an attractive look.
I learned what a proper Sulcata diet should be and since then her shell growth has flattened out. However, the early pyramided growth has distorted the later normal shell growth.
My question is “What affect does pyramiding have on the long term health and longevity of a Sulcata tortoise.
