Tortoises from the Seychelles

Sesel

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2017
Messages
226
Location (City and/or State)
Seychelles
Hello everyone,

I live in the Seychelles and have owned a tortoise all my life. Grandfather gave each grandchild 1 or 2 tortoises born in the same year of our birth. He used to breed them. However, I am not an expert. I have learned a lot by reading on this forum. Thanks to all who have contributed one way or another.

Here is the tortoise given to me:

20171014_174856.jpg
Male, 29 years old, about 89cm/35inches

Altogether, siblings and I have 5 tortoises. 3 males & 2 females.

2017 is the first year we have retrieved eggs from the soil and have successfully had a few hatchlings. As far as i can remember, the first hatchling which came out of the soil by itself and survived was in 2008. It was sold last year. We have had a few more over the years but not consistent.

In short, I am still a beginner after owing a tortoise all my life. I hope to still learn a lot.
 

Maro2Bear

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
May 29, 2014
Messages
14,712
Location (City and/or State)
Glenn Dale, Maryland, USA
Gorgeous and impressive. Welcome to the Forum. It would be great to see and hear more about your set-up there in the Seychelles.
 

Sesel

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2017
Messages
226
Location (City and/or State)
Seychelles
Today 5th Nov., 2017:

20171105_095741.jpg


20171105_104355.jpg


20171105_112243.jpg
I have read somewhere sand is not a good substrate (we ran out of vermiculite after the second clutch), so we took it out sooner than we normally do.

This clutch of 14 eggs was laid on the 26th of June 2017. It took 131 days to see the first crack with room temperature being around 30 degrees Celcius/86 degrees fahrenheit. Baby no.1 is 50g and 4.5cm/slightly less than 2 inches.
 

Sesel

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2017
Messages
226
Location (City and/or State)
Seychelles
Thanks for all the warm welcome.

Today 6th Nov., 2017:

IMG-20171106-WA0002.jpg

I noticed something strange with the top left egg. Some sort of red liquid was coming out from the egg.

20171106_175541.jpg

20171106_180803.jpg 20171106_181050.jpg

It seems that the yolk sac burst. Does anybody have any similar experience?
The baby is alive and kicking right now.

I'm sorry if the images may seem a bit graphic to some.
 

TammyJ

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2016
Messages
7,119
Location (City and/or State)
Jamaica
Hi and welcome!!! This is wonderful but I am not seeing the images on your last 2 posts.
Congratulations, I love these tortoises.
 

wellington

Well-Known Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Tortoise Club
Joined
Sep 6, 2011
Messages
49,655
Location (City and/or State)
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Hello and Welcome. So glad you found us.
Would love to know how you raised your tortoise. I'm surprised with its pyramiding, being raised in its homeland. Could you please share how she/he was housed, did you use artificial heat, lighting, diet, etc.
Even with the pyramiding, still such a beautiful Aldabra.
 

Sesel

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2017
Messages
226
Location (City and/or State)
Seychelles
Hi and welcome!!! This is wonderful but I am not seeing the images on your last 2 posts.
Congratulations, I love these tortoises.

Is anyone else experiencing this? Can it be because I'm uploading from a phone?
I've experienced this when viewing other threads, but I thought it was because of our unreliable wifi.
 

Sesel

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2017
Messages
226
Location (City and/or State)
Seychelles
Would love to know how you raised your tortoise. I'm surprised with its pyramiding, being raised in its homeland. Could you please share how she/he was housed, did you use artificial heat, lighting, diet, etc.

To be honest, I have never heard anyone here being concerned about 'pyramiding'. So, I was quite surprised when I read about it on the forum. When I was younger, I use to think that all male tortoises should have a bit of 'pyramiding', to show its masculinity. :rolleyes:

As far as I can remember, our group has always been raised outdoors. All tortoises raised here are as well as far as I've seen (except when they are very young). With an average temperature of 27°C/86F, and a range that rarely drops below 24°C/75F (even at night) or rises above 32°/89F, housing them indoors would not be required.

So we do not use any artificial heat or lighting. As for diet, we feed the usual (grasses, leaves, fruits & vegetables when available, etc). Sorry I can't be of much help.:D
I admire the passion of all the members who go to great lengths to tend for proper temperature & lighting because of their locations. :cool:

20170825_070116.jpg

As you can see, there are mixed smooth ones as well as different levels of 'pyramiding'. All were housed together in the same enclosure, same food, being exposed to the same temperature, amount of sun, humidity etc.
So I have no idea what would have caused 'pyramiding'.

20171109_180417.jpg

This female seems to be getting smoother as time passes by. Can it be a result of mating?
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,405
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
Hi and welcome!!! This is wonderful but I am not seeing the images on your last 2 posts.
Congratulations, I love these tortoises.
The only way I can see the images is to "edit". Unfortunately you all don't have that option. But I've copied the image and I'll paste it here:

View attachment 222368
 

TammyJ

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2016
Messages
7,119
Location (City and/or State)
Jamaica
I've now seen all the pictures! Great!
 

wellington

Well-Known Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Tortoise Club
Joined
Sep 6, 2011
Messages
49,655
Location (City and/or State)
Chicago, Illinois, USA
I haven't had a problem with the pics

Very interesting the differences. Thanks.
What kind of fruits and veggies do you feed? For most tort species including Aldabra, fruits aren't fed, too much sugar and very little veggies except greens, peppers and pumpkin and little watermelon.
 

Sesel

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2017
Messages
226
Location (City and/or State)
Seychelles
For most tort species including Aldabra, fruits aren't fed, too much sugar and very little veggies except greens, peppers and pumpkin and little watermelon.

I have read about this, did not know before.

What kind of fruits and veggies do you feed?

Fruits' peels are mostly fed, unless the whole fruit is going to rot then they might get it.
Peels of Mangoes, bananas, papayas, passion fruits, pumpkins are the most common ones.

We do not purchase any fruits specifically to feed them. Recently (this year), we've been getting some apples, bell peppers (never knew they could eat it, started thanks to Aldabraman :D), etc that were going to be thrown away as they were going bad.
I think these have helped our females to produce up to 3 clutches each. I cannot say for sure since it's the first year we started keeping records.

20170911_174105.jpg

20170911_174121.jpg
 

New Posts

Top