This girl reportedly was raised from a hatchling.. in an 'aquarium' that she eventually could not turn around in! Her staple diet was "Reptomin" turtle pellets.... and who knows what else she was subjected to..... where does ignorance end and stupidity start?
Shown here she is eating collard greens.. for the first time. This pic was taken about 3' from the light.. so the flash didn't distort the colors too bad - she is very red!
After almost 2 months of acclimating her to others of her own kind and a proper environment.. she is doing well with a simple yet complete diet. When she came to me [ 9/01/09 ] she would not come out from under the Rose of Sharon growing toward the corner of the 'quarantine' enclosure outdoors - I don't think she had ever seen 'natural' daylight before.. or touched the ground for that matter! BUT surprisingly.. she was very heavy in weight!
Her fecal showed clean ( not surpising.. she had not been around other tortoises ) so I placed her out into the main pen with her own kind almost immediately while the weather was still warm enough to be out all night... AND before she would be taken indoors into 'closer' quarters.
NOTE: THIS SITUATION WAS UNIQUE.. NEVER INTRODUCE ANOTHER REDFOOT INTO YOUR ESTABLISHED GROUP BEFORE 3 MONTHS QUARANTINE!!!
The pics below are directly under a flor. "sunlight" tube.. so the colors are showing "orange" [ lighting/flash really influences colors ].
Her carapace is not that bad.. but does have quite abnormal growth. She measures over 10" SCL -
I've not seen this "lumpy" plastron growth before.. [ unfortunately it can't be seen well ] probly from the crazy diet, etc. [ kept on newspapers ] - see the RED on her head -
The 'dark/marbled' plastron of the Brazilian redfoot is evident almost right out of the egg - month old hatchling -
There's that "NOSE".. and loves hisbiscus leaves too.
This big girl should make babies next year!!!
Hope you enjoyed...
Terry K
Shown here she is eating collard greens.. for the first time. This pic was taken about 3' from the light.. so the flash didn't distort the colors too bad - she is very red!
After almost 2 months of acclimating her to others of her own kind and a proper environment.. she is doing well with a simple yet complete diet. When she came to me [ 9/01/09 ] she would not come out from under the Rose of Sharon growing toward the corner of the 'quarantine' enclosure outdoors - I don't think she had ever seen 'natural' daylight before.. or touched the ground for that matter! BUT surprisingly.. she was very heavy in weight!
Her fecal showed clean ( not surpising.. she had not been around other tortoises ) so I placed her out into the main pen with her own kind almost immediately while the weather was still warm enough to be out all night... AND before she would be taken indoors into 'closer' quarters.
NOTE: THIS SITUATION WAS UNIQUE.. NEVER INTRODUCE ANOTHER REDFOOT INTO YOUR ESTABLISHED GROUP BEFORE 3 MONTHS QUARANTINE!!!
The pics below are directly under a flor. "sunlight" tube.. so the colors are showing "orange" [ lighting/flash really influences colors ].
Her carapace is not that bad.. but does have quite abnormal growth. She measures over 10" SCL -
I've not seen this "lumpy" plastron growth before.. [ unfortunately it can't be seen well ] probly from the crazy diet, etc. [ kept on newspapers ] - see the RED on her head -
The 'dark/marbled' plastron of the Brazilian redfoot is evident almost right out of the egg - month old hatchling -
There's that "NOSE".. and loves hisbiscus leaves too.
This big girl should make babies next year!!!
Hope you enjoyed...
Terry K
