Breeders??

jjaymeza

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Wanting to find a good Aldabra breeder if possible anyone know of any good ones?
 

ben awes

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There seem to be only a few breeders in the country. I think Aldabraman is the only one selling only USA bred and hatched babies. There are a few others that sell imported 4"-6" babies, including Sam at Florida Iguana, and Chris at Toucan Jungle. I've had good luck with both.
 

jjaymeza

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There seem to be only a few breeders in the country. I think Aldabraman is the only one selling only USA bred and hatched babies. There are a few others that sell imported 4"-6" babies, including Sam at Florida Iguana, and Chris at Toucan Jungle. I've had good luck with both.

Do you know if the Aldabraman is selling any currently I sent an email I’m still waiting on a response?
 

ben awes

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I simply do not know if aldabraman has any available. Typically I believe he has a long waiting list, but he’d have to confirm.
 

jjaymeza

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I simply do not know if aldabraman has any available. Typically I believe he has a long waiting list, but he’d have to confirm.

I’ve seen Sam and Chris’s prices do you know roughly around how much he sells hatchlings for?
 

Tom

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Wait for Aldabraman. Take my word on this one…

Also, how humid is your area most of the year? They need high humidity, and they usually don't do all that well in dry areas. Sort of like a red foot.
 

ben awes

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I’ve seen Sam and Chris’s prices do you know roughly around how much he sells hatchlings for?

Sam’s prices are all public. You’d have to contact Chris about his. Aldabraman’s animals seem to be excellent, but he’s not the only trustworthy source. No offense to aldabraman but for some reason people here seem to get offended if you suggest anyone else. I would have purchased from aldabraman myself but at the time the wait was longer than I wanted.
 

Tom

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Sam’s prices are all public. You’d have to contact Chris about his. Aldabraman’s animals seem to be excellent, but he’s not the only trustworthy source. No offense to aldabraman but for some reason people here seem to get offended if you suggest anyone else. I would have purchased from aldabraman myself but at the time the wait was longer than I wanted.
Not offended, but I've heard all sorts of horror stories of dead or sick tortoises and bad business practices. Word gets around. Know how many times I've ever heard anything bad about Aldabraman? Zero. Nothing but 100% customer satisfaction and healthy tortoises coming out of his breeding program. Why wouldn't I recommend that over an importer or broker? Why wouldn't you?
 

ben awes

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You didn’t just recommend him Tom, you said “wait for Aldabraman, trust me”. This suggest others are bad. You do the industry no favors by saying that there is only one person with integrity. It’s simply not true.
 

Tom

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You didn’t just recommend him Tom, you said “wait for Aldabraman, trust me”. This suggest others are bad. You do the industry no favors by saying that there is only one person with integrity. It’s simply not true.
I know of no one else captive breeding Aldabra tortoises that I would recommend. Its not about the industry or anyone else's integrity. Its about one member recommending a breeder based on personal experience with that breeder, and zero experience with any other breeder. I don't know of anyone else even producing Aldabras in this country, but I have had several first hand reports of disaster from people dealing with brokers and importers. If you know of a breeder that also does a good job and demonstrates a high level of integrity, then this would be the time and place to recommend them. If I were in the market for an Aldabra, I would buy from no one other than Aldabraman. If you have someone else that you prefer, I can't argue one way or the other.

If jjaymeza bought a tortoise from Aldabraman, I know that things would go great. If jjaymeza were to buy from an importer/broker, I couldn't make any such guarantee.
 

ben awes

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I know of no one else captive breeding Aldabra tortoises that I would recommend. Its not about the industry or anyone else's integrity. Its about one member recommending a breeder based on personal experience with that breeder, and zero experience with any other breeder. I don't know of anyone else even producing Aldabras in this country, but I have had several first hand reports of disaster from people dealing with brokers and importers. If you know of a breeder that also does a good job and demonstrates a high level of integrity, then this would be the time and place to recommend them. If I were in the market for an Aldabra, I would buy from no one other than Aldabraman. If you have someone else that you prefer, I can't argue one way or the other.

If jjaymeza bought a tortoise from Aldabraman, I know that things would go great. If jjaymeza were to buy from an importer/broker, I couldn't make any such guarantee.

If you read my comment you saw that I said Aldabraman might be the only US breeder. What’s the obsession with US bred aldabras anyways? Seems silly. Until recently ALL Aldabras were imported. Are they all bad. I have 3 exceptionally healthy Aldabras from two different people - as I mentioned. Sam has the best guarantee in the business. Better than all the others. He stands behind his animals.
 

Tom

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If you read my comment you saw that I said Aldabraman might be the only US breeder. What’s the obsession with US bred aldabras anyways? Seems silly. Until recently ALL Aldabras were imported. Are they all bad. I have 3 exceptionally healthy Aldabras from two different people - as I mentioned. Sam has the best guarantee in the business. Better than all the others. He stands behind his animals.
You really need to ask why a domestically bred tortoise from someone like Aldabraman is better than an international import? Who bred the import? What care was it given? How was it housed and fed? How much tortoise experience does the person/people taking care of this import have? What other tortoises or other reptiles was this tortoise exposed to before shipping, during shipping, or after shipping? How long was the journey and how were temperature maintained during the journey?

If you really want a tortoise and there is no other way to go, then by all means do what you need to do, and take the necessary steps/precautions to minimize risk. But when there is a clearly MUCH better alternative, why would you admonish me for recommending it?

Come on man… There is not even a question of which way to go here.
 

ben awes

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You really need to ask why a domestically bred tortoise from someone like Aldabraman is better than an international import? Who bred the import? What care was it given? How was it housed and fed? How much tortoise experience does the person/people taking care of this import have? What other tortoises or other reptiles was this tortoise exposed to before shipping, during shipping, or after shipping? How long was the journey and how were temperature maintained during the journey?

If you really want a tortoise and there is no other way to go, then by all means do what you need to do, and take the necessary steps/precautions to minimize risk. But when there is a clearly MUCH better alternative, why would you admonish me for recommending it?

Come on man… There is not even a question of which way to go here.

Of course there is still a question! All of Aldabramans breeders were imported and they seem to be acceptable to you, but now all of a sudden ONLY U.S. bred and hatched are worth owning? When an importer stands behind their animals, what else do you need? If you think your risk is mitigated by going local bred - great, go for it. But it’s irresponsible and factless to say that others are lesser quantity. You’ve “heard stories”, I don’t know “where these tortoises have been”. “All importers are bad, all local breeders are good”......Get facts and get back to me. I’m not going to keep arguing with you.
 

jjaymeza

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Of course there is still a question! All of Aldabramans breeders were imported and they seem to be acceptable to you, but now all of a sudden ONLY U.S. bred and hatched are worth owning? When an importer stands behind their animals, what else do you need? If you think your risk is mitigated by going local bred - great, go for it. But it’s irresponsible and factless to say that others are lesser quantity. You’ve “heard stories”, I don’t know “where these tortoises have been”. “All importers are bad, all local breeders are good”......Get facts and get back to me. I’m not going to keep arguing with you.

I see truth on both sides of the fence I really do wonder where the aldabraman imported his tortoises from to trust that source to begin with.
 

Markw84

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I see truth on both sides of the fence I really do wonder where the aldabraman imported his tortoises from to trust that source to begin with.
When you import tortoises, as I have in the 80's and early 90's, you take a risk. I had to go through rigorous quarantining procedures and health checks and always treatment for parasites. Almost 1/2 of the animals imported would not do well and many would die. In some species it was well over 80% would fail to ever adapt and thrive. You are left with the stronger ones that perhaps were better treated before, or not exposed to other species in shipment/holding pens, etc, etc. But the ones you end up with after a few years of nurturing can indeed become great founder stock for a breeding colony. We always went through the same process with wild caught animals. But ALWAYS the attrition rate was extremely high in finding the ones that become the clean and healthy stock for a colony.

Dealing with a captive raised animal from that stock that did adapt and do well in captivity, resulted in well over 90% success rates, AND that improved yearly as the group establishes in captivity. Yes, they all originally came from somewhere. But when dealing with 2nd and 3rd generation stock, you eliminate so many of the know issues.

It is not that you cannot find a good tortoise from a wholesaler or importer. It is that there are too many unknowns. Did they come from captive colonies or wild caught? Were they exposed to other species? Were they fed and housed properly? Were they locked in a shipping container for days or weeks? Were they housed in a large group with access to all the feces that then normally accumulates, etc, etc.
 
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