SO here's my thinking, and sorry if its been covered ad naseum.
We all know we've been doing it wrong for years. We take this baby tort and give it an environment and diet similiar to how we observe adults of its species to live and then wonder why it grows deformed and unhealthy.
We've all realized we had the environment wrong, baby torts live in an entirely different micro-environment from adults. In moist burrows, under logs etc.. Tom and Terry (and many others) have shown that by maintaining moist conditions AND high temps pyramiding can be eliminated. We've all seen the austrian study that indicates diet plays almost no roll in pyramiding (still likely cause or role player for MBD).
If we take this realization a step farther and consider diet available where the babies live, there isn't much leafy green plant matter available. That grows out in the open, under the hot drying sun, in full view of predators. What is available? Ever looked under a log? Loads and loads of bugs. Maybe some mushrooms and roots. Deep in those burrows, baby rodents, maybe other reptile egg nests. Babies can't bask for D3, they'd get eaten, so where do they source D3? Other animals.
A high protein diet has loads of energy and amino acids for rapid GROWTH and nervous system developement, to get them big and out in the open where the "healthier" eats are. By staying hydrated in humid environments they can likely deal with the rich foods they're eating, they just can't handle it when baked and dehydrated, trying desperately under that heat lamp to get some D3 that's lacking in their diet.
We'd all love to picture our babies living in bountiful, sunny fields of luscious leafy greens contentedly grazing away as their natural place. The harsh reality is, that's not natural. The ugly truth is likely that our babies are killing machines with blood dripping from their jaws in dark nasty places.
That's not to say that lots of leafy greens and sunshine is unhealthy for our babie torts, just not natural and not what they are programmed to accept. It also requires much greater effort to ensure proper nutrition as opposed to a natural diet.
Someone really should just take the time to do some darn studies
We all know we've been doing it wrong for years. We take this baby tort and give it an environment and diet similiar to how we observe adults of its species to live and then wonder why it grows deformed and unhealthy.
We've all realized we had the environment wrong, baby torts live in an entirely different micro-environment from adults. In moist burrows, under logs etc.. Tom and Terry (and many others) have shown that by maintaining moist conditions AND high temps pyramiding can be eliminated. We've all seen the austrian study that indicates diet plays almost no roll in pyramiding (still likely cause or role player for MBD).
If we take this realization a step farther and consider diet available where the babies live, there isn't much leafy green plant matter available. That grows out in the open, under the hot drying sun, in full view of predators. What is available? Ever looked under a log? Loads and loads of bugs. Maybe some mushrooms and roots. Deep in those burrows, baby rodents, maybe other reptile egg nests. Babies can't bask for D3, they'd get eaten, so where do they source D3? Other animals.
A high protein diet has loads of energy and amino acids for rapid GROWTH and nervous system developement, to get them big and out in the open where the "healthier" eats are. By staying hydrated in humid environments they can likely deal with the rich foods they're eating, they just can't handle it when baked and dehydrated, trying desperately under that heat lamp to get some D3 that's lacking in their diet.
We'd all love to picture our babies living in bountiful, sunny fields of luscious leafy greens contentedly grazing away as their natural place. The harsh reality is, that's not natural. The ugly truth is likely that our babies are killing machines with blood dripping from their jaws in dark nasty places.
That's not to say that lots of leafy greens and sunshine is unhealthy for our babie torts, just not natural and not what they are programmed to accept. It also requires much greater effort to ensure proper nutrition as opposed to a natural diet.
Someone really should just take the time to do some darn studies
