Fast Growth Tortoise

[Yellow Turtle]

This is the thing I see on captive care tortoise like sulcata and yniphora.

All the new growths become much darker colors compare to the ones from the wild. I think the dark color is because too fast growth compares to the ones from the natural habitat and the ones with similar growth to the wild ones will have similar color too.

Please share your opinion on this.

 

[cemmons12]

In my opinion, the dark color, as far as my Cooper is concerned, is because he don't get enough time outdoors in the sun. And uvb lights don't seem to help with the color. Next summer Cooper will be in the sun a lot more so I am ready to see if he does light'n up any or not.

 

[Yellow Turtle]

In my opinion, the dark color, as far as my Cooper is concerned, is because he don't get enough time outdoors in the sun. And uvb lights don't seem to help with the color. Next summer Cooper will be in the sun a lot more so I am ready to see if he does light'n up any or not.

Yes I see several people mention about that here. But i also see the ones that get sun light also get darker growth. So how come they don't get the natural yellow like the ones in Africa.

 

[Baoh]

Color and rate appear to have no causal relationship.

 

[Tom]

In my opinion, the dark color, as far as my Cooper is concerned, is because he don't get enough time outdoors in the sun. And uvb lights don't seem to help with the color. Next summer Cooper will be in the sun a lot more so I am ready to see if he does light'n up any or not.

Yes I see several people mention about that here. But i also see the ones that get sun light also get darker growth. So how come they don't get the natural yellow like the ones in Africa.

Have you seen pics of wild African babies or small juveniles? The very few pics that I have seen look similar to the color spectrum that we see in captivity. Most pictures of wild sulcatas are either adults or subadults. If anyone has any pics of small wild sulcatas anywhere, please post them for us to peruse.

 

[Yellow Turtle]

Color and rate appear to have no causal relationship.

So it is more due to exposure to sun light as written in other articles.

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Have you seen pics of wild African babies or small juveniles? The very few pics that I have seen look similar to the color spectrum that we see in captivity. Most pictures of wild sulcatas are either adults or subadults. If anyone has any pics of small wild sulcatas anywhere, please post them for us to peruse.

Unfortunately not for the babies and juveniles. Only the sub adult and adult ones and all I see are yellow colors. Would you mind sharing those few if you have?

And do you think they would change the color to more yellowish even they have brownish one as hatchlings once they get older?

 

[Baoh]

Color and rate appear to have no causal relationship.

So it is more due to exposure to sun light as written in other articles.

---

Have you seen pics of wild African babies or small juveniles? The very few pics that I have seen look similar to the color spectrum that we see in captivity. Most pictures of wild sulcatas are either adults or subadults. If anyone has any pics of small wild sulcatas anywhere, please post them for us to peruse.

Unfortunately not for the babies and juveniles. Only the sub adult and adult ones and all I see are yellow colors. Would you mind sharing those few if you have?

And do you think they would change the color to more yellowish even they have brownish one as hatchlings once they get older?

---

Sunlight, heat, and genetics are the main factors I have seen to influence color. For sulcatas, I see those who are exposed to actual sunlight are generally lighter in color than those who do not get much exposure, and dark animals can often be lightened if given a lot of sunlight down the road. Heavy heat, in my experience, can lead to lighter leopards on average. It can also bring out or enhance the marbling seen on cherryheads. I have seen young Aldabras that are more brown go to black once out in sunlight and time, but this may be unrelated (I do not know). Very intense heat wreaks havoc on tyrosinase functionality in a number of animal, cell, and protein experiments I have performed. I was originally interested in this when I would notice extremes in color and brightness of animals incubated at higher than traditionally advised incubation temperatures (typically into the 90s by Fahrenheit) in turtle and gecko eggs, creating 100% females for chelonians and 100% males for geckos in the eggs I have explored this with. This increases coloration oddities, the potential for deformities, and the potential for lethality in the egg, however, and I do not recommend it. That is what led to my analytical work and a little enzyme-substrate kinetic work that I may decide to publish some day (probably not) that saw impairments in tyrosinase activity under thermal stress (which is expected if you understand protein degradation).

 

[Yellow Turtle]

Sunlight, heat, and genetics are the main factors I have seen to influence color. For sulcatas, I see those who are exposed to actual sunlight are generally lighter in color than those who do not get much exposure, and dark animals can often be lightened if given a lot of sunlight down the road. Heavy heat, in my experience, can lead to lighter leopards on average. It can also bring out or enhance the marbling seen on cherryheads. I have seen young Aldabras that are more brown go to black once out in sunlight and time, but this may be unrelated (I do not know). Very intense heat wreaks havoc on tyrosinase functionality in a number of animal, cell, and protein experiments I have performed. I was originally interested in this when I would notice extremes in color and brightness of animals incubated at higher than traditionally advised incubation temperatures (typically into the 90s by Fahrenheit) in turtle and gecko eggs, creating 100% females for chelonians and 100% males for geckos in the eggs I have explored this with. This increases coloration oddities, the potential for deformities, and the potential for lethality in the egg, however, and I do not recommend it. That is what led to my analytical work and a little enzyme-substrate kinetic work that I may decide to publish some day (probably not) that saw impairments in tyrosinase activity under thermal stress (which is expected if you understand protein degradation).

Lol thanks Baoh for very detail explanations. I'd really would like to see pictures of dark sulcata being exposed to sun light and getting lighter along the way.