OK guys. During the past year I have observed/treated tortoises with Austwickia and documented the results. I have also discussed this disease with several veterinarians at this point and it's time for a data dump.
General information on the disease:
1. The "yellow bump" disease is caused...
I am looking for Chaco tortoises that may be out there as pets, etc. that are not in a breeding situation. While I'm interested in any age or sex, my primary goal is to find 1-2 adult "founder" males (meaning unrelated to existing breeding groups). I can purchase, or potentially offer...
So, I've considered making this post for a while. I see a lot of people keeping tortoises that are a real challenge in their home climate, and I've been down that road as well. Over time I have realized fighting against my local climate is hard and have put a lot of effort into considering...
Just a warning to folks: a close friend working with Bell’s hingebacks has relayed to me a positive diagnosis for TINC (intranuclear coccidosis) via necropsy.
These tortoises came in to the US in mass quantities in 2020/2021 through a single importer. They then got shipped all over and were...
So the 2021-22 hatching season is turning out pretty well - finally I have hatched four species in one season whereas previously I’ve only gotten one at a time. The real winner this year looks like Indian stars. I have two fully out of the egg, one pipped, and 10 additional eggs incubating...
I really need to make some space this spring. So I am offering some tortoises here before I have to list them on one of the other classified sites.
3.0 Cherryhead tortoises (CB 2018 by me). I was planning to raise them all to adulthood but ended up with too many males. All three of these...
So I am going to be trying to propagate hibiscus (rose of Sharon) this year and decided to try a few mulberry as well. The methods I am showing have worked for satsuma citrus and camellias, but I’ve never tried hibiscus or mulberry yet. It might take a few tries to nail it but I’ll document...
So, I am a bit distraught today. I have been incubating a spider tortoise egg for a long time now, and I'm about 2-3 weeks prior to expected hatch date. Today I noticed something looked "off" when candling the egg and I checked for a heartbeat (using the Avitronics egg buddy) and ... nothing...
The topic of differentiating between Chaco and Sulcata tortoises has come up several times on the forum. Several folks, including myself in the past, have struggled to get this one right. So, here are some guidelines and photos (please forgive my bad photography) to aid with the process...
So, I've bought and used a whole bunch of tortoise lighting over the past decade. I have considered writing down some notes before, but really felt like it would be pointless if I didn't have UV data. So I finally broke down and bought a Solarmeter 6.5R, and got UV index measurements on what I...
When measuring temperature in a tortoise enclosure, there are two temperatures that you can measure:
- The AIR temperature in the enclosure
- The SURFACE temperature in the enclosure
Both of these are important.
In an enclosed place without light, such as inside a hide box, these...
I know a lot of folks use the Mazuri tortoise diets, myself included. However I recently noticed that there are a lot of similarities with other grazing animal feeds.
For example, consider bluebonnet feeds - performance plus complete (info below). This is a horse feed but seems to look pretty...
So I've read in a few articles, both scientific and not, that female tortoises of some smaller species will develop a slightly flexible plastron when they start laying eggs. Some articles suggest this is adaptive, but without direct evidence, as it's also obvious that a gravid female will...
I know it's probably futile given how few have been bred in the US. I have attempted to reach out privately without success, so I'm hoping there's someone lurking out there with information. Are TSD conditions even known for this species? I know they need a diapause and incubate generally...
OK I'm more than a little unhappy right now. I've been excited all month as my redfoots are laying.
But came home from lunch today to find the incubator malfunctioned and eggs cooked. The incubator gauge indicated 39F, but a second thermometer inside was pegged at >140F. After powering...
So, I was going to post this in the burmese star forum but decided I might get more input here. I have 2 burmese stars that I have been raising by a variation of the "closed chamber" approach, but are still pyramiding. No pics at the moment but I'll try to post some tomorrow.
Both tortoises...