Hatchling growth and predation.

[FLINTUS]

I cannot comment on Med tortoises, but I know that reds are grown much faster in captivity. In the wild, they grow under an inch a year, in captivity they often grow a lot more than that. While I would not say fast growth is a direct cause of pyramiding, if the other care isn't optimal, the pyramiding will be more severe from what I have observed. One of the places in Mauritius I went to, had two groups of young CB by them Radiateds(I think about 10-15 each), and had set up an experiment to see what effect fast growth had. Both were kept in slightly not perfect conditions on purpose, and the fast grown ones had more pyramiding than the slower grown ones while they were the same size.