# Should tortoise forum start providing separate guidelines of care between dry-started tortoises and well-started tortoises?



## Minority2 (Aug 19, 2020)

For the purpose of trying to possibly decline the mortality rates of dry started babies, should members start differentiating care advice between one or the other?

This is just a hypothetical question as I am personally not qualified to either create any studies nor do I have enough first-hand knowledge on how tortoises really behave in their respective natural environments. I leave those enlightening lessons to the people generous enough to bring their knowledge into this discussion. 

Example:
Tortoises in nature are probably not eating as much on a regular basis as a captive pet tortoise would. They're prey animals that travel a great deal of distance and may not even eat daily depending on the situation at hand such as predators, navigable terrain, and weather. This means their general growth stages may not be as fast or as sudden as a captive pet tortoise. 

Now a tortoise hatchling of several month's bodily organs is mostly developed, as much as it is able to at that age and depending on the type of practice used, I wonder if suggestions of offering less overall food for the purpose of increasing the time between growth phases, would theoretically allow the tortoise to have more time to settle, acclimate, and get used to their bodily changes before the next growth phase occurs. Would this possibly allow dry started tortoises a higher chance of living past that grueling hatchling to yearling period?


https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233717992_Body_size_development_of_captive_and_free-ranging_African_spurred_tortoises_Geochelone_sulcata_High_plasticity_in_reptilian_growth_rates



There are also other issues like keeping dry started tortoises suffering form humid enclosures to hibernation that I would love to hear more about from the more experienced owners regarding the two different practices used and whether if you believe certain changes can help towards these unfortunate tortoises born in a less than optimal circumstance.


----------



## wellington (Aug 19, 2020)

Prey animals? They eat weeds, grasses, plants. 
In my opinion, if left to continue being raised dry or too far from the proper way, they would probably still not survive. 
Some would as nothing is really 100% but most probably not. Just my opinion.


----------



## Minority2 (Aug 19, 2020)

wellington said:


> Prey animals? They eat weeds, grasses, plants.
> In my opinion, if left to continue being raised dry or too far from the proper way, they would probably still not survive.
> Some would as nothing is really 100% but most probably not. Just my opinion.



They may primarily eat vegetation in their natural environment but they're also considered a delectable meal by a number of different animals such as coyotes, foxes, badgers, and ravens if they're caught outside their burrows. 




__





Desert Tortoise | San Diego Zoo Animals & Plants







animals.sandiegozoo.org


----------



## Tom (Aug 19, 2020)

Optimal care is the same for each, regardless of how they were started. If they were started poorly, the best thing to do is get them hydrated and into the correct conditions. If they were well started, the best thing to do is keep them hydrated and in the correct conditions.


----------

