New baby Marginated tortoises, arrived from GBtortoises

[biochemnerd808]

Our two newest tortoise family members arrived via FedEx this morning: two TINY baby Marginated tortoises from GBtortoises.


Let me tell you, Gary has been a wonderful source of information, and very pleasant to deal with. I am so excited that I get to raise these two hatchlings from him. They are beautiful, active right out of the box, healthy, and perfect. Thanks, @GBtortoises!


I chose the darkest and the lightest of the batch, and they are from different unrelated clutches.

For size comparison, Buttercup is 11 months old and weighs 78g. These wee girls both weigh in at 16g. So tiny!

I have named the darker of the two babies 'Blossom' and the lighter one 'Bubbles' - so including Buttercup, we now have 3 little Power Puff Girls. If one (or more) turn out to be male, we'll have to rename them.

Welcome to our family, you wee wonderful little chelonians!

 

[AnnV]

Beautiful!

Ann from CT

 

[lynnedit]

Congratulations! Buttercup now looks like a giant

 

[peasinapod]

AW: New baby Marginated tortoises, arrived from GBtortoises

So mean! I must have bought tons of parmesan and so far I have yet to get a baby tortoise, and you get two??
Very cute babies!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using TortForum mobile app

 

[AustinASU]

They grow quick, be ready

 

[biochemnerd808]

Heheh, yes, I know. Our yearling Marginated is already 5x their size. I'm looking forward to when they are bigger!

They grow quick, be ready

 

[bouaboua]

I love Marginated Tortoise. You got yourself couple very pretty one. I specially like the light color one. Thank you for sharing those photos.

 

[biochemnerd808]

I thought you might enjoy an updated pic of my cuties.



Blossom, on the left, hatched in August and weighs 43g (she was 16g when I got her).
Bubbles, on the right, hatched in September, and weighs 66g (she was also 16g when I got her). Yes, she is larger even though she is the younger one.

Both are super healthy and active! The part that boggles me is that Bubbles is larger at 3 months than our yearling Buttercup was at 9 months.

I should give a shout-out to Tom and Melissa. I've used a slightly altered version of their method for hatchling care, and it seems to work splendidly for Margies, just like it does for RTs, Sulcatas and Leos. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

 

[Blakem]

Wonderful. It's difficult for me to choose what I would like next. There are so many neat species. Congrats!

 

[Moozillion]

Gosh, they're so beautiful!!!

 

[bouaboua]

Thank you for the update Katie. They looks very fine to me so continue what ever you are doing of taking care this two lucky one.
Thanks again.

 

[biochemnerd808]

Thank you!

 

[yillt]

Beautiful. Your own little trio of girls. Do they all live in one enclosure together.

 

[biochemnerd808]

Beautiful. Your own little trio of girls. Do they all live in one enclosure together.

Yes, they do. They have a large L-shaped closed-chamber that has a hot humid hide and dirt and a few plants they haven't gotten around to eating up yet (the whole 'live plant' thing doesn't work so well... sigh). Outside they have a 6ft x 5ft outdoor enclosure that I built into a large plastic Koi pond. It has a little landscape and hides and lots of live weeds, and a cover to keep predators out.

 

[kathyth]

They are all quite stunning!
Splendid babies!

 

[biochemnerd808]

Thank you, Kathy. They are growing like little weeds, too. 100g, 164g and 290g now!

 

[pam]

Beautiful

 

[biochemnerd808]

Here are a few updated pics of them.

 

[bouaboua]

Beautiful, beautiful, Beartiful.......

 

[sbwalker5]

Love their smooth shells! My marginated, Douglas was a bit under-hydrated when we got him at around 6 months old. His shell showed some indented growth, but is looking better now after we've had him for around 5 months!

The indentation is still there, but new growth is quite smooth now (I think!).

Guess it shows just how important the first few months are for smooth growth!