I wish you all the luck in the world, hope they work out for you.The one I have has favorite foods, they are, baked sweet potato,boiled carrots,hard boiled egg (both parts), jack in the pulpit,which have all died back for the year,several types of colocasia and alocasia, But I think it's all time favorites are pothos and mushrooms, any type of mushroom,wild or store bought.I planted bamboo in the enclosure but not sure if it is eating the new growth, but I haven't gotten any new growth above ground all summer,maybe the reason is, it is being eaten by the tort,other things it eats are, frozen mixed vegetables just thawed out not boiled, pumpkin, slugs and snails, banana, grapes (prefers the green),has eaten mazuri,, and just tried boiled chicken hearts cut into small pieces and it ate some.I know I haven't mentioned everything but these are a few things you can try. I believe the alocasia, colocasia,philadendron,pothos and mushrooms are a very important part of their diet. I feed all these things to all my manouria and haven't had a problem with any of them since 1996.--are these from parks ?

All the best to you in this new adventure. You certainly have some gorgeous specimens to get you started.

(09-19-2012 04:24 PM)Len Wrote:  I wish you all the luck in the world, hope they work out for you.The one I have has favorite foods, they are, baked sweet potato,boiled carrots,hard boiled egg (both parts), jack in the pulpit,which have all died back for the year,several types of colocasia and alocasia, But I think it's all time favorites are pothos and mushrooms, any type of mushroom,wild or store bought.I planted bamboo in the enclosure but not sure if it is eating the new growth, but I haven't gotten any new growth above ground all summer,maybe the reason is, it is being eaten by the tort,other things it eats are, frozen mixed vegetables just thawed out not boiled, pumpkin, slugs and snails, banana, grapes (prefers the green),has eaten mazuri,, and just tried boiled chicken hearts cut into small pieces and it ate some.I know I haven't mentioned everything but these are a few things you can try. I believe the alocasia, colocasia,philadendron,pothos and mushrooms are a very important part of their diet. I feed all these things to all my manouria and haven't had a problem with any of them since 1996.--are these from parks ?

This is very similar to my success with impressa. I have found that the oyster muchrooms are a favorite of mine. They do however not like the fresh mushrooms they like them kinda slimmy. I have to say pothos is a crucial for imports I have to say. They love to hide in it as well as mutilate the plant. Good luck with these guys just leave them alone and keep them cool and humid. Try a huge enclosure if you can with alot of leaves, pine needles, and loos moss. They love to semi burrow and keep "hidden" from anything seeing them.

I've been working with these guys for a while now and that is the way to go, buy 20 and hope to have 2.2 in a year. Most of the deaths are in the first week usually within the first 36 hours. I have 2.2 from the April shipment. It came in as a 4.4 one dead on arrival and 3 more within 36 hours. The main issue that did them in was Delta froze the box during shipping. I can't believe any of them lived seeing how it took an hour before I could tell if any were alive.I had the state pathologist do a necropsy on them and found that 2 would have died anyways and one was healthy and froze solid.

I have gotton 25 more since then and lost 4 more, One being a bright golden male that was stunning and nearly removed my thumb one day he was so active, lively and a quite nasty and 2 days later dead. I was on pain killers at the time so the blood running down his throat for 3 minutes before I pryed him off may have over dosed him.

They all carry an Amoeba and worms and flagillates that they live with in the wild but as you know impressa stress out in a bad way which causes the parasites to run a muc. The Ameoba TOTALY destroys the liver and kidneys while turning their insides into a liquid goo. The one small female (6 or 7 inches) was full of eggs, so I feel she must have been in fairly good shape not that long ago to be producing eggs which would mean this happened really fast.

I agree that they need to be hydrated big time and just soaking them in water doesn't mean they are drinking it, you need to see them drinking. I have had many that I had to force feed water until they were able to do so on their own as they would just sit in it and not drink. It's amazing how much water they can drink when they start drinking. Weigh them before and after and a 2kg tortoise will will drink 1/2kg of water and the next day they almost lost all the water weight. They have thin soft skin that doesn't hold moisture like a Sulcata, They dry out like a sponge in the sun even if you have them in the shade.

The problem is once you notice them going down hill it's usually too late, they often die within a couple days. It's different than a tortoise you raised that walks up to you to eat, these guys hide when they're healthy or sick so taking weights twice a week may help and it's still difficult to tell if they are sick or not seeing how 80% of them don't eat on their own for 6 months or more. I've seen people take the approach that if they're eating they are ok, well now they have changed their way of thinking and start treatment after hydration and have good results. TSA, Zoo Atlanta and others have come up with a protocol that works very well. I will follow their lead any day with the results they have.

Some seem to have different tastes, one will eat only oyster mushrooms while others may only eat tomatoe, cantalope, yams, bokchoy, pumpkin. I toss Chia and alpha seeds in their bark which sprouts quickly and they like it a lot. They really seem to like new sprouts of almost anything. If you have cb impressa use their fecals instead of any pro biotics as stomach flora is usually species specific as shown in recent studies.

Also if possible put them outside. You will see a huge improvement as they are the most intelligent tortoise I have seen and are very aware of their surroundings. The minute they get outside they start acting like they should and foraging. I just have issues with bears, eagles and several other little nasty tortoise eaters to deal with by cameras, heavy fencing, nets, electric and a big bore rifle.

Good luck, we need 40-50 breeding wc pairs in the US and the studbook showed 6.9 founders in April, not counting Tremper, Novack and Eldridge which adds 7.2 I think.

Best. Thread. Ever.

Not familiar with this species at all, but sounds like quite the uphill battle. Best of luck to you Eric!

Fascinating...

Good luck. Please keep us posted.

Figured I'd throw this up just to show the Parasite loads in these animals are no joke - This is from an Adult Female - The first defication since I received her - This is good though, atleast it shows she is capable of processing things which will help out with the Parasite load.......

GOOD LUCK!!!

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That is A LOT of parisites!!!!!!

Sounds like a great plan, can't wait to hear about your progress. Best of luck!

Eric, does this compel you to give these guys some panacur or pyrantel?

(09-21-2012 07:00 AM)Weldd Wrote:  Eric, does this compel you to give these guys some panacur or pyrantel?

Not in the least. The Parasites will cycle out in due time. The animals immune system does a quicker and more efficient job at that than any de-wormer or anti-biotic. Fix the immune system, fix the parasites. Fairly simple. This will go on in cycles for some time depending on the species and type of Parasite. If I were to de-worm them now, I risk throwing them into toxic shock, intestinal blockages, renal failure, and a few other things........

There is gradual improvement. The animals that had sunk in eyes are progressing to the point where they are starting to "look" hydrated. I sit them in the shower once or twice a day, depending on how much weight they lost in the time period between me feeding them in the morning and checking on them at night. They are starting to deficate and act some what normally. I'm starting to feel good about the routine I have them on, so hopefully things continue to progress and go well from here.......

Awesome. I'm loving this approach. I'm really really hoping that you're successful.

Keep the updates coming!

(09-21-2012 07:18 AM)EricIvins Wrote:  

(09-21-2012 07:00 AM)Weldd Wrote:  Eric, does this compel you to give these guys some panacur or pyrantel?

Not in the least. The Parasites will cycle out in due time. The animals immune system does a quicker and more efficient job at that than any de-wormer or anti-biotic. Fix the immune system, fix the parasites. Fairly simple. This will go on in cycles for some time depending on the species and type of Parasite. If I were to de-worm them now, I risk throwing them into toxic shock, intestinal blockages, renal failure, and a few other things........

There is gradual improvement. The animals that had sunk in eyes are progressing to the point where they are starting to "look" hydrated. I sit them in the shower once or twice a day, depending on how much weight they lost in the time period between me feeding them in the morning and checking on them at night. They are starting to deficate and act some what normally. I'm starting to feel good about the routine I have them on, so hopefully things continue to progress and go well from here.......

Interesting thread. Seems like your the guy to take on this challenge.

I'm learning so much from this thread!!! GOOD LUCK Eric!!!