A number of things may play a role in this infertility, including dietary inadequacies, a missing factor or factors in the captive environment, or incompatibility between tortoises from differing parts of their native range. Eggs incubated at approximately 30 degrees Celsius seem to take from 140 to 190 days to hatch. However, incubation lengths of over eight months have been reported. Hatchlings and juveniles will consume the same foods that adults eat, although growing animals should be given additional calcium and vitamin supplements to insure proper growth. Hatchlings should not be overfed, as this may adversely affect their growth.
Pancake tortoises can be hardy and long-lived in captivity.
Captive breeding programs have been successful in zoos and private collections around the country and few problems have been reported in rearing captive born animals. These successes in breeding and long-term care are heartening. Anyone keeping Pancakes should strongly consider establishing a breeding group. Given the fragility of native populations, only captive-born tortoises should be entering the pet trade. Successful breeding projects for other tortoises such as Leopard tortoises, Sulcatas, and Redfoots have shown that animals need not be continually removed from wild populations to satisfy people's desire to keep these fascinating creatures, and hopefully the Pancake tortoise will be another success story in tortoise husbandry.