Aldabra Behavior

[marty4dive]

Marty4diveHello, my name is Marty and I'm relatively new to tortoises; used to keep Monitor lizards, so no stranger to reptile care in general. I am the proud Papa of Fred, 20", 60 lb Sulcata;Wilma, 24" 80 lb Sulcata, Petunia, 13" 15lb Sulcata, and Toothless, 13", 20 lb Aldabra. Wilma and Toothless just arrived from Arizona flying Southwest on 8-16-13. Totally hassle-free picking them up from cargo at Sacramento Intl; in and out of the airport within 10 minutes, I'm totally serious. My question from all of you way more experienced keepers is this: do some breeds acclimate slowly to their new homes, while some breeds act like they're on vacation and eat, eat, eat, while taking in the new sights and sounds? I'm just looking for some peace of mind with the Aldabra, who is way more timid and tentative in her(his?) new environment. She's eating, just not with the gusto of the Sulcatas. Can anyone address this please? Thanks, Marty.

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome mother answer is Yes. The Sullies are a more outgoing species then a lot of other ones. From what I have read on our own Aldabra breeder, Greg, the Aldabras are quite shy until older and the females much more then males. Give him/her some time. They just got into their new space. Btw, you are not housing different species together right? Also, you should keep your knew ones quarantined from your previous ones for 3-6 months.

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Also, for being a newb to tortoises, you sure jumped in with both feet.

 

[kanalomele]

Welcome to TFO! It is always nice to have a new member from my neck of the woods. This beauty needs more time and peace and quiet to relax. It would not be unusual for it to still be tucked in and not eating at all. You should have a vet clearance for it so rest assured it has no obvious signs of illness. Just be patient and quiet. Offer the food then leave it alone. It will adjust and "come out of its shell" eventually. I met Yvonnes recently. One of whom followed us around the yard.

 

[FLINTUS]

Aladabras are generally very laid back, not shy, they are very friendly, but not outgoing, kind of sleepy friendly. They have the most lovely characters.

 

[Baoh]

Younger Aldabras are often more timid/shy/semi-reclusive by comparison. They warm up significantly as they grow. If it is eating, I would not worry about it. It needs to get used to you, its surroundings, and factors the keeper may not even be able to perceive.

My favorite Aldabra, before I sold it recently, was starting to interact with me much more at a couple years of age, but still had a lot of shy habits and would still take off running if my movements were too sudden. It was beginning to show some surprisingly interactive signs of intelligence, too.

 

[FLINTUS]

Really? The numerous ones I met in Mauritius were very friendly.

 

[Baoh]

What size? Larger or smaller? I am talking about animals in the 3"-12" range.

How habituated to human interaction/presence? Frequently or infrequently? We do not have a semi-regular stream of visitors and I work a lot, but a vacation spot would be rather different.

 

[FLINTUS]

Well one place had a whole herd(by that I mean around 50) of half yearlings CB by them, and there were a few others in and around the foot mark. That said, there were also some big old adults as well. You might be onto something with the last point actually, most of the places we visited were tourist attractions/hotels, but there were a few private collections where they didn't get much attention usually, left on their own. There was also a conservation island where they had been let loose to roam wild, but the weather was bad the day we were going to visit so didn't go, but from the other people that went there they said they would purposefully come up to visitors-probably worth pointing out that as far as I know the diet was not supplemented by foods fed by keepers, they just ate the natural plants on the island.

 

[Baoh]

I am sure individual responses are potentially different. I can only go by the six I have now kept for varying periods of time in terms of the behavior of the little ones. Zoo adults were way more outgoing by comparison for me.

 

[FLINTUS]

No proper zoos there, closest we came was the bird park with the CB half year old ones. Oh, actually perhaps the best comparison were two left in a proper nature reserve, with thousands of acres, both of which were quite friendly and outgoing.

 

[Baoh]

Okay.

 

[marty4dive]

Hello and Welcome mother answer is Yes. The Sullies are a more outgoing species then a lot of other ones. From what I have read on our own Aldabra breeder, Greg, the Aldabras are quite shy until older and the females much more then males. Give him/her some time. They just got into their new space. Btw, you are not housing different species together right? Also, you should keep your knew ones quarantined from your previous ones for 3-6 months.

---

Also, for being a newb to tortoises, you sure jumped in with both feet.

---

Hi Wellington; in answer to your question the Aldabra is housed separately indoors and has it's own roaming/grazing area. I very quickly learned not to let her roam in the same area as the Sulcatas; my 60 lb male Sulcata started stalking her(of course I was present and kept her safe; I may be a newbie but I'm not stupid). I never thought about quarantining the new ones, nor was it suggested at time of purchase from a very reputable breeder known to everyone here. I guess I'll take my chances on that one. Yes, I did jump right in; sort of the story of my life, but i needed a new purpose in life(besides my kids that is) and you only live once.Gave up the monitor lizards-too many escapes, too many hunger strikes, etc.Marty

 

[marty4dive]

Welcome to TFO! It is always nice to have a new member from my neck of the woods. This beauty needs more time and peace and quiet to relax. It would not be unusual for it to still be tucked in and not eating at all. You should have a vet clearance for it so rest assured it has no obvious signs of illness. Just be patient and quiet. Offer the food then leave it alone. It will adjust and "come out of its shell" eventually. I met Yvonnes recently. One of whom followed us around the yard.

Hello and thanks for your advice. Giving her lots of warm soaks and staying out of her way for the most part; can't resist tempting her with high-attraction type foods, i.e. yellow squash, bell pepper, grapes, all of which she will eat, just so I know she's eating something. I'm gone all day and don't know if she's eating the alfalfa hay, grass,weeds she has access to. My landscaper is building us a "cement pond" as Granny used to say, so she'll have access to soaking at will.

 

[marty4dive]

Thanks everyone for the great advice; as a relative newbie to chelonians I really appreciate the wealth of knowledge found on this forum. Just aquired another Aldabra-13"; very similar in size to Toothless; name is "Jet"(my 11 y.o. son named him/her); seems to be acclimating well; loves warm soaks; arrived from San Diego via Delta Air Cargo; Delta inexplicably, without giving reason or notice bumped him/her off the scheduled flight and put him on the late flight to SMF. So, two trips to SMF later I am the proud keeper of my second 13" Aldabra. Was never able to get a reason for him being bumped. So he sat all boxed up in LAX from 1330 to 2100, then made the flight to SMF. My question: how long can a tortoise tolerate that type of thing and do they travel in a pressurized space with temp control? Or are they treated like luggage? P.S. Don't use Delta if you need to ship!

 

[wellington]

Wow, that would be a nail biter for sure. I would be all over those people. Anyway, we have had a few members have their new purchased tortoises be kept in transit for 3-4 days. However, they were much smaller. Hopefully you won't see any signs of it being a problem. Good luck with them all and pictures are a must. Okay, pics aren't really a must, but sure would be nice

 

[AnnV]

Back when I used to ship dogs I found out about priority shipping. Paid extra for it and it was certainly worth it. They don't get bumped. Not sure if they still have it.

Ann from CT

 

[marty4dive]

Wow, that would be a nail biter for sure. I would be all over those people. Anyway, we have had a few members have their new purchased tortoises be kept in transit for 3-4 days. However, they were much smaller. Hopefully you won't see any signs of it being a problem. Good luck with them all and pictures are a must. Okay, pics aren't really a must, but sure would be nice

Ok, here's Toothless and his/her new companion Jet. Jet is the one in the foreground with the prominent white markings; Toothless is in the back, where she/he always heads after a warm soak when they're brought inside for the night. Jet really wanted that spot but had to play second fiddle as the newbie. New question: why all the white paint? I believe he's imported but I'm not sure where from; the importer is very secretive about his business. Is it just to keep track of individual tortoises? Marty4dive

 

[FLINTUS]

I don't think it's imported. Shell doesn't look good enough and importing a highly protected species would be very hard.

 

[Baoh]

Chris imports these.

 

[Yvonne G]

The paint is because there are many tortoises in the same pen and this way the keeper has a way of being sure each tortoise has been cared for.