This is Chester, my baby Sulcata. I think he is about 11 months old and I'm worried that he might be pyramiding..... Can anyone tell from his pics?? View attachment 96128
Yes, regrettably he is. The darkened shell is another indicator. There are threads on the forum that address the corrective measures to initiate.
He is very young, so with growth and correction of the relevant factors, there is every possibility that he will straighten out substantially.
Yes. Yes he does have some pyramiding, but don't be too upset about it. It is minor, and if all else is good like diet, hydration and UV/sunshine, it should have no effect on his health. Its not too late to improve things either. Adding ambient humidity, spraying the shell with water several times a day, adding a humid hide and increasing soaks, should all help. Do NOT let temps get much below 80, day or night, with higher humidity and damp conditions.
And also realize you are not alone. For the last 3 decades we've all been taught to keep them dry. That was wrong, and many people in the the tortoise keeping community still don't realize it. The area where they come from IS dry for 8 or 9 months a year, but they are all underground in warm humid burrows during this time. Babies actually hatch during the start of the rainy season (You know, the OTHER 3 or 4 months of the year that never seems to get mentioned...) when conditions are wet, rainy, humid, marshy, and there are puddles and green growing food everywhere. Here in captivity we have not been simulating this rainy season, and that is why our tortoises pyramid while the wild ones do not. For the last 6 years or so, I have been experimenting with different ways to simulate this African rainy season with hundreds of hatchlings of many species and having great success. More importantly thousands of people all over the world have been repeating my techniques for several years now and getting the same excellent results.