Pictures of what I would call the "Patriarch" pair. Big, beautiful adults.......Hopefully the next group will have more animals like this. So far so good......

Where did you get these guys? Last time I saw some they were 800ish dollars...

Very interesting and beautiful animals!

Sweet potato & dandelion seem to be two readily accepted foodstuffs, as well. Carefully consider the benefit of getting some to eat vs. the detriment of potential gut flora changes with the sweet potato. It may be better used as an enticement than a base diet element.

The best of luck to you in this endeavor! It is certainly a worthwhile effort.

(09-23-2012 12:51 PM)Vincentdhr Wrote:  Where did you get these guys? Last time I saw some they were 800ish dollars...

Vietnam......

(09-23-2012 03:00 PM)HLogic Wrote:  Sweet potato & dandelion seem to be two readily accepted foodstuffs, as well. Carefully consider the benefit of getting some to eat vs. the detriment of potential gut flora changes with the sweet potato. It may be better used as an enticement than a base diet element.

The best of luck to you in this endeavor! It is certainly a worthwhile effort.

Sweet Potato is one thing this group will not touch. From what I can reason, they aren't fans of anything that is really soft or hard. Fruit/Vegetables that are firm but still chewable seem to be preferred at this point.

it really goes to show their intelligence how different they are from tortoise to tortoise on what foods they like. And goes to show mine as I had to look how to spell intelligence lol.

Very interesting thread. Thank you for the updates, please keep them coming.

Have you picked up any smaller ones Eric ?
They seem to take the change to captivity much faster, stress a lot less than the older hardwired adults and seem to be in much better overall condition when they arrive. I was wondering if you had the same experience with the youngsters ?

Just from my experience from picking up many Impressa this summer I would highly suggest requesting smaller ones to anyone reading that wants to give them a shot. Also Ty Park just got a very large shipment of some really nice healthy fresh caught ones which gives you a good start.

Eric, any updates with these guys?

(10-12-2012 04:58 PM)Weldd Wrote:  Eric, any updates with these guys?

I lost 1 animal. Everyone else is doing really well. Solid Poo and everything else.......

Still waiting on the other group to land - Possibly later next week......Right now I'm Male heavy by one animal. Hopefully this group will remedy that. If not, there will be a few Males up for sale. I'm about to let these guys go outside once I get a new row of pens built.......

If anyone has any surplus they want to offer, please email me......I'm always looking for more Impressa, along with any Manouria......

I see a problem with this thread...Not to step on anyones toes, and please don't get offended, but I commonly see members getting angry about hybridization among tortoises. Unless I have mis-understood your source of these animals, in which case I am sorry, now I see threads of people importing large groups of very endangered tortoises, and saying "buy 20 and hope 2.2 live". I see no reason why 20 highly endangered tortoises have to die for some of us to have our dreams. Yes, it would be wonderful to work with manouria impressa, and we do need to have some breeding pairs in captivity, but at least get them from a captive bred source. That or leave them to the TSA, zoos and rescues who have all the resources needed to care for them. Importation is only depleting wild numbers even faster.

(11-09-2012 07:14 PM)RedfootsRule Wrote:  I see a problem with this thread...Not to step on anyones toes, and please don't get offended, but I commonly see members getting angry about hybridization among tortoises. Unless I have mis-understood your source of these animals, in which case I am sorry, now I see threads of people importing large groups of very endangered tortoises, and saying "buy 20 and hope 2.2 live". I see no reason why 20 highly endangered tortoises have to die for some of us to have our dreams. Yes, it would be wonderful to work with manouria impressa, and we do need to have some breeding pairs in captivity, but at least get them from a captive bred source. That or leave them to the TSA, zoos and rescues who have all the resources needed to care for them. Importation is only depleting wild numbers even faster.

Who said they were "endangered" to begin with? You do realize I'm having more success than most "Zoos" or rescues(?).........

Ever been to Vietnam? Or have an inkling about how this process works in Vietnam?

(11-09-2012 07:14 PM)RedfootsRule Wrote:  I see a problem with this thread...Not to step on anyones toes, and please don't get offended, but I commonly see members getting angry about hybridization among tortoises. Unless I have mis-understood your source of these animals, in which case I am sorry, now I see threads of people importing large groups of very endangered tortoises, and saying "buy 20 and hope 2.2 live". I see no reason why 20 highly endangered tortoises have to die for some of us to have our dreams. Yes, it would be wonderful to work with manouria impressa, and we do need to have some breeding pairs in captivity, but at least get them from a captive bred source. That or leave them to the TSA, zoos and rescues who have all the resources needed to care for them. Importation is only depleting wild numbers even faster.

While I mostly agree, this tort has been on the menu in its native area for quite some time. To be honest, most of these torts would have probably ended up dead even if they were left in the wild. At least in captivity they will breed and produce a stable captive population so that maybe one day when their wild habitat is stable once again there will be enough in captivity to support a new wild population.

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How are these guys doing, by the way?

(11-09-2012 07:30 PM)CourtneyAndCarl Wrote:  

(11-09-2012 07:14 PM)RedfootsRule Wrote:  I see a problem with this thread...Not to step on anyones toes, and please don't get offended, but I commonly see members getting angry about hybridization among tortoises. Unless I have mis-understood your source of these animals, in which case I am sorry, now I see threads of people importing large groups of very endangered tortoises, and saying "buy 20 and hope 2.2 live". I see no reason why 20 highly endangered tortoises have to die for some of us to have our dreams. Yes, it would be wonderful to work with manouria impressa, and we do need to have some breeding pairs in captivity, but at least get them from a captive bred source. That or leave them to the TSA, zoos and rescues who have all the resources needed to care for them. Importation is only depleting wild numbers even faster.

While I mostly agree, this tort has been on the menu in its native area for quite some time. To be honest, most of these torts would have probably ended up dead even if they were left in the wild. At least in captivity they will breed and produce a stable captive population so that maybe one day when their wild habitat is stable once again there will be enough in captivity to support a new wild population.

There is some truth to that, but also some false. With such a fragile species, I can't see reintroduction to the wild working with this species. Protecting them in their natural habitat is the way to go. From what I've heard of impressed tortoises, about 5% of those imported live, and even those probably never thrive. If we left them in the wild and protected them where they are, it would be much better for the species. Captive breeding I would leave to TSA or conservation organizations with the proper funding and knowledge of the species, and all the resources to ensure they actually survive.

(11-09-2012 07:29 PM)EricIvins Wrote:  You do realize I'm having more success than most "Zoos" or rescues(?).........

How much success are you having? I.e. how many clutches and what are the fertility rates. Just interested.