@Tom @Markw84 I need to read your posts and think about them before I answer. It's my daughters 16th tonight so I'm a bit preoccupied.
I just wanted to show you this redfoot. It's now 6 months old(just over) and was fed protein from 3 months old.
This tortoise has had UVB from wk 1. I soak every day(missed the odd day but never missed 2 days on the bounce) humidity in my tort house never drops below 90%. I spray them twice a day, I have good drainage in there table so I can give the enclosure a very good spray without worrying about anything getting stagnant. I actually make sure I spray each and every individual baby every time. There are no hides other than masses of moss that they sleep in under palm plants. The idea was to force them into feeling insecure and want to dig in under the moss. Some dig in and some just lay on the moss.
If it's assumed that as long as I keep my torts from drying out that they won't pyramid then why is this little guy not smooth. I can only think of 2 things. Excessive growth or they have become that tame that they don't hide away with moist moss on top of the carapace any more.
There is no heat source anywhere near these babies, so artificial drying of the carapace is just not an option.
Btw. I have no preference to grow my torts slow or fast, I just want to find out if it is possible to give them too a rich diet that it can cause pyramiding.
What you are seeing there is normal. For the past 10 years or so, I've been raising tortoises in groups. I've been watching other people's groups too. Seems to be a ratio of one or two to ten, so 10-20%, show some mild pyramiding like that even in "ideal" conditions with the right foods. I'm speaking about the species that most commonly pyramid here. Sulctas, leopards, stars and RFs.
This is a phenomenon I cannot explain. In my cases, it is usually a slower growing tortoise that does this, but my largest star female also did it too. So in my star group, one of the smaller males has some of that mild pyramiding and my largest female too. None of them are perfect because I like them to be outside a lot in large enclosures as they grow, and my climate is just so dry here, but those two show the most pyramiding. It makes no sense. They were grown in the same enclosures with the same food and same routine.