# Behavioral Differences in Hatchlings of Different Species



## Tom (Aug 1, 2013)

It is very hot and dry where I live. I always want my hatchlings to get natural sun and grazing, so I make them 4x8' wire covered enclosures and add some plants, large rocks or logs to make it interesting. Because of the heat, I often build various little underground shelters. Basically I screw some 2x4s to some plywood, dig a hole to fit it, and then pile the dirt form the hole on top of the now buried plywood structure. These actually stay quite a bit cooler than the ambient above ground temp. For years it has been speculated that baby sulcatas are never seen in the wild because they go underground. My observations over the past few years completely dispute this. Despite my best efforts, not one sulcata, CDT or leopard hatchling would willingly use these shelters. I would put them in the underground hide during the heat of the day and they would repeatedly climb right out and take shelter under some above ground cover, or nestle into the bottom of a bunch of weeds. No matter how hot it got or how many times I put them in the shelter, they would always come right back out. Further, I had some babies hatch "wild" last year. The adult pen is full of all sorts of rodent burrows, holes in the ground, and had a large adult burrow too. When I discovered the "wild" hatchlings running around loose I scoured the whole enclosure, literally on my hands and knees (with knee pads), dug up all the rodent holes and physically went down into the adult burrow with a flash light looking for any more. I checked every single nook and crannie in the entire pen. It took hours to finish. Not ONE single baby went down any kind of hole. They all looked for logs and weeds topside and intentionally avoided any sort of hole in the ground. I now speculate that this is also what they do in the wild. I speculate that babies do not want any sort of confrontation with whatever animal made and/or lives in any given hole. Knowing that the weeds grow in thick and fast at the start of the rainy season over there, makes this even more plausible in my mind.

Just recently I have begun my great russian adventure. So far I have accumulated 8 hatchlings with more to come soon. 5 are 9 months old and 3 are now 9 weeks old. They all came from the same source and were living together at the time of purchase. Indoors they are housed separately, but outdoors I let them co-mingle. The babies are quickly catching their older siblings in size. I'm in the process of fixing my irrigation system and for now the outdoor enclosure is pretty dry and barren. I decided to make one more underground shelter and see if the russians would use it, where the sulcatas, CDTs and leopards wouldn't. Within hours of installation, every single Russian baby was IN the shelter, tucked all the way into the back! Apparently wild russian babies have no problem potentially sharing a burrow with whatever animals occur in their natural range.

Fascinating stuff, I tell ya'.


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## Neal (Aug 1, 2013)

Interesting observations. As far as leopards and sulcatas go, your observations are the same as mine. They seem to prefer to be out in the open areas more than staying in their burrows or even in a cluster of plants. Sure, they go somewhere secure and sleep during the hottest part of the day, but in the mornings and late afternoons, they are very actively walking around in the open. And they would have to be doing this in the wild too, I would speculate. A tortoise that spends as much time in the ground as I've heard some people suggest would starve to death. 

Hatchlings that I have raised have been kept in well planted enclosures, and they will forage and graze just like the adults do.


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## 3bdulla (Aug 1, 2013)

Amazing  !


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## Tom (Aug 2, 2013)

Neal said:


> Hatchlings that I have raised have been kept in well planted enclosures, and they will forage and graze just like the adults do.



This is interesting. My hatchlings hide a lot more than my adults. My adults and juveniles walk around completely confident without a care in the world or fear of anything. My hatchlings run for the hills as soon as anyone approaches, and tend to stay hidden a lot more.


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## Baoh (Aug 2, 2013)

I do not see a particular behavior set that is standard for all hatchlings of a particular type. In nature, though, cautious babies might live more easily than the bold ones by avoiding predation, while bold behavior may lend an advantage in consuming more food and achieving more rapid growth, leading to faster maturity and the ability to pass on genes sooner. Trade offs to both strategies.


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## Lil-Star (Sep 18, 2013)

Great read thank you


1.1.0 - Indian Stars


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