Darth Maul images

[cdmay]

This is a late response to Allegra's thread about Mango, an F1 female produced by my female named Darth Maul. Incidentally the came Darth Maul came from a movie character in the 1999 film The Phantom Menace. My son, who was a little kid at the time, felt like her head pattern resembled the villain Darth Maul.
Here is a head shot of her from a few years ago. You can sort of get the idea...

Anyway. Here are some other random images of her.
As a four inch juvenile.

Nesting.

She does have a fierce look about her.

Plastron

One of her clutches. She lays jumbo eggs

Feeding on flowers on a rainy night.

Dinner with friends.

Dining alone

And finally, this morning in the yard.

 

[Redstrike]

That tortoise is insane... Your kid is pretty spot on with the resemblance.

Maybe asking a bit too much here, but do you know who the father was for Mango? Maybe you have multiple males with your females... just curious. I think it's pretty neat to see hatchling to adult changes and I'm always intrigued to have a look at the parents.

I guess I'm especially interested because Mango is (as the name implies) pretty orange tinged. Darth Maul is RED.

 

[Yvonne G]

This is a late response to Allegra's thread about Mango, an F1 female produced by my female named Darth Maul. Incidentally the came Darth Maul came from a movie character in the 1999 film The Phantom Menace. My son, who was a little kid at the time, felt like her head pattern resembled the villain Darth Maul.
Here is a head shot of her from a few years ago. You can sort of get the idea...

Anyway. Here are some other random images of her.
As a four inch juvenile.

Nesting.

She does have a fierce look about her.

Plastron

One of her clutches. She lays jumbo eggs

Feeding on flowers on a rainy night.

Dinner with friends.

Dining alone

And finally, this morning in the yard.

Wow! She's big. Somehow I didn't picture her that size while looking at the other photos. Great name.

 

[terryo]

I always loved that pattern on her head. I think you told me Marty Girl was Solo's Mother. I can't believe how big she is.

 

[allegraf]

Wasn't Mango's dad Moe? Or was it that crazy male you had before? Darth is one of the largest cherryheads I've ever seen. And one of the most beautiful!

Bonsais are looking good!

 

[Anyfoot]

Think Darth is one of my favorite reds, her carapace is so highly domed, and she didn't look particularly high domed at 4".
Looks amazing.
Did you raise her from a hatchling Carl?

 

[allegraf]

Darth is ridiculously domed. I have never seen any other as rounded and with such a high carpace. That is really the mountain named Darth.

I don't think I ever told Carl this, but, Tallulah was our first redfoot and we were on the fence on going northern or cherry. Carl was kind enough to invite us over and give some great advice-choose one locale and stick to it. Don't mix the torts and if we go way of the northerns try to keep the locales the same. After seeing his set up and cherries, especially Darth, we were hooked on the cherries. And the rest is history as they say. Circa 2006-7-ish.

PS
Carl did say the Colombians had the most variety of colors-husband didn't get his way as he wanted Colombians-I won we went cherries. Husband still has a soft spot for Colombians but appreciates the varying shades of the cherries.

 

[Anyfoot]

Do we know what marbling is. I know it's patterns gradually growing within new growth, but what causes it to happen or not to happen. If you look at Darth at 4" there is marbling at the newest growth, then look at her nesting in the next photo, you can see where the marbling is from when she was 4" and thats it. Does diet or care take a part in marbling or is it a case of it is what it is.

 

[cdmay]

Mango's dad is The Moe.
Will post photos of him later.
As for domed female cherry heads, a certain number of females-- but not males are. Some females just tend to grow very rounded and domed almost like a radiated tortoise.
I have another female that has the exact same shape but is just smaller.

I picked up Darth as a 4 inch import from my buddy Rob MacInnis when he owned Glades Herp. I picked her and two other little ones out of a group of over 100.
It doesn't show in that old photo I posted but even then she was very rounded and 'angry ' looking.

 

[cdmay]

This is Moe. He is the father of Allegra's Mango. He's also fathered hundreds of others too.
He has red legs but some orange tints to his head.
Regardless though, Mango as a solid orange neonate was an unusual individual for Darth Maul to produce. In fact, the ONLY orange neonate she has so far.

 

[Redstrike]

Moe is not as orange as I'd expect for a baby (Mango) to be produced from those two. I definitely see the orange and yellow highlights though. Pictures sometimes fall short of demonstrating their true colors too... Very cool, thanks Carl!

Beautfiul tortoises!

 

[TerrapinStation]

How cool. I am jealous of the Figs they get to eat too...... I like to share them with my RF, but they are so darn expensive, he just does not appreciate them haha. I cringe when he tramples and sits on his fig treats.

 

[Bryan]

You look younger than I expected

Darth is amazing! What are the last measurements and weights that you have on her? Did she drop you any clutches this year?

 

[cdmay]

You look younger than I expected

Darth is amazing! What are the last measurements and weights that you have on her? Did she drop you any clutches this year?

Hey come on man....I'm not that old!
I measured and weighed Darth Maul a few months ago and she was 14.25 inches and she weighed 23 pounds. As for breeding, no. I haven't received any good eggs from her for a couple of years as Moe is too small to mount her.
However, I will be paring her with a new and larger male this spring who has vibrant red color.

 

[allegraf]

Hey come on man....I'm not that old!
I measured and weighed Darth Maul a few months ago and she was 14.25 inches and she weighed 23 pounds. As for breeding, no. I haven't received any good eggs from her for a couple of years as Moe is too small to mount her.
However, I will be paring her with a new and larger male this spring who has vibrant red color.

He is that old! Grumpy old man! Shakes his fists in the air while cussing the neighborhood kids. Ha!

 

[Anyfoot]

Hey come on man....I'm not that old!
I measured and weighed Darth Maul a few months ago and she was 14.25 inches and she weighed 23 pounds. As for breeding, no. I haven't received any good eggs from her for a couple of years as Moe is too small to mount her.
However, I will be paring her with a new and larger male this spring who has vibrant red color.

She must be one of those dwarf cherryheads I keep hearing about.
Have you ever seen any cherryheads bigger than Darth?

 

[cdmay]

He is that old! Grumpy old man! Shakes his fists in the air while cussing the neighborhood kids. Ha!

bah!

 

[allegraf]

She must be one of those dwarf cherryheads I keep hearing about.
Have you ever seen any cherryheads bigger than Darth?

Guy in homestead had one that looked as big and just as domed. She was red but not nearly as much color as Darth. Interestingly, she was kept by herself on the Deering Estate but they found her a new home when they opened up the estate to the public.

 

[Anyfoot]

So are there different localities across Brazil of cherryheads and some don't grow as big, or is it a myth that cherries don't grow as large as northerns.
Carl do you now the locality of Darth or did your Buddy Rob know her parents locality.

 

[cdmay]

So are there different localities across Brazil of cherryheads and some don't grow as big, or is it a myth that cherries don't grow as large as northerns.
Carl do you now the locality of Darth or did your Buddy Rob know her parents locality.

She was presumably 'farmed' like most (but certainly not all) of the other imported cherry-heads of the time. The domed phenotype that Allegra speaks of is not that unusual as she had one similar named Biloxi, and I have one now that is identical to Darth, albeit smaller.
The fact is that there seems to be a great deal of variation in this population of tortoises just as there is with the Amazon Basin yellow-foot tortoises.