Angulate Hatchlings

JeannineD

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These two hatched in October last year, when this pic was taken. They have done very well and are about 3 times this size now. We see them most days. They are very sweet and quite tame as they are used to being picked up by us. They still wave their legs and try to escape until we put them down though.6d8ded6d-d5b4-4c07-a755-6c9deaca6253.jpg
 

JeannineD

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And here they are about a month ago. Both times they are pictured in my teenage son's hand, to give you an idea of size. Interestingly, the one on the right has that fused marking on the top of his shell. We have an adult in the garden with the exact same marking, so it is genetic and passed on.
Are these yours or all wild but lives near you?

All wild and live in our garden. We have about 30 Angulates, with a wide range in age and size.
 

juli11

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Do you live in the south of South Africa? Do you also have other tortoises?
 

JeannineD

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Do you live in the south of South Africa? Do you also have other tortoises?
I do, I live on the Garden Route on the southern Cape coast. I have had a couple of Leopards in the garden, and once the sweetest parrot beaked padloper. Mostly, though, we have the Angulates, which are very common around here.
 

kingsley

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EE81D2A0-4631-41B0-88A9-D3627CE70751.jpeg 97C692BA-C3A3-4F70-83B1-6B7AD117397A.jpeg Wow Jeannine!!! Love those hatchlings !! Can you please tell me the weight of the hatchlings now? The reason being I hatched out one here in the US October 2016 around the same time and like to cross referance the growth in comparison to the wild specimens.Mine is at 150 grams at 12 months (as seen) and much darker in comparison to the wild hatchlings, and best of all it is looking like a FEMALE !!! I am sure not complaining at all.
 

MichaelaW

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View attachment 225640 View attachment 225641 Wow Jeannine!!! Love those hatchlings !! Can you please tell me the weight of the hatchlings now? The reason being I hatched out one here in the US October 2016 around the same time and like to cross referance the growth in comparison to the wild specimens.Mine is at 150 grams at 12 months (as seen) and much darker in comparison to the wild hatchlings, and best of all it is looking like a FEMALE !!! I am sure not complaining at all.
Outstanding!
 

JeannineD

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View attachment 225640 View attachment 225641 Wow Jeannine!!! Love those hatchlings !! Can you please tell me the weight of the hatchlings now? The reason being I hatched out one here in the US October 2016 around the same time and like to cross referance the growth in comparison to the wild specimens.Mine is at 150 grams at 12 months (as seen) and much darker in comparison to the wild hatchlings, and best of all it is looking like a FEMALE !!! I am sure not complaining at all.
Damn, just see this now! I had them a few hours ago. I will look for them and weigh one or the other as soon as I find them. Your little one is absolutely beautiful, so dark in colour. I wonder what causes that - diet maybe? I have posted a pic of the two of them in another thread - the difference in size is quite distinct and they live in exactly the same area with an identical diet. Both very healthy.
 

JeannineD

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View attachment 225640 View attachment 225641 Wow Jeannine!!! Love those hatchlings !! Can you please tell me the weight of the hatchlings now? The reason being I hatched out one here in the US October 2016 around the same time and like to cross referance the growth in comparison to the wild specimens.Mine is at 150 grams at 12 months (as seen) and much darker in comparison to the wild hatchlings, and best of all it is looking like a FEMALE !!! I am sure not complaining at all.
WOW!! This is really fascinating, Kingsley. I have just weighed them both on a scale exactly like yours. The bigger one, Otis, weighs 70grams, and the smaller one, Winston, weighs 45grams. So that is a big difference. They are both very active and walk quite large distances each day, I see them at one end of our large garden in the morning, and then at the other end in the afternoon. Also they don't eat everyday. If I had to do a rough guess they probably eat about 250 days of the year. They don't eat much in the winter, and they also don't eat on very hot days.
 

CarolM

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WOW!! This is really fascinating, Kingsley. I have just weighed them both on a scale exactly like yours. The bigger one, Otis, weighs 70grams, and the smaller one, Winston, weighs 45grams. So that is a big difference. They are both very active and walk quite large distances each day, I see them at one end of our large garden in the morning, and then at the other end in the afternoon. Also they don't eat everyday. If I had to do a rough guess they probably eat about 250 days of the year. They don't eat much in the winter, and they also don't eat on very hot days.
My little one is growing very slowly. She is only 60 grams. Since I have started giving her more variety as in not only hisbiscus flowers , leaves, dandelion leaves and instead of cutting it up into small pieces I leave it in bigger pieces. Anyway my point was that she does not eat as much anymore and is picky. Although yesterday she did eat some spekboom (elephant bush - i think is another name for it) directly from the plant I put into her enclosure.
 

JeannineD

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My little one is growing very slowly. She is only 60 grams. Since I have started giving her more variety as in not only hisbiscus flowers , leaves, dandelion leaves and instead of cutting it up into small pieces I leave it in bigger pieces. Anyway my point was that she does not eat as much anymore and is picky. Although yesterday she did eat some spekboom (elephant bush - i think is another name for it) directly from the plant I put into her enclosure.
I love Spekboom, as do the tortoises! How old is your little one? I had never thought of weighing them before kingsley asked. I don't feed them at all or give them anything, apart from dropping a Hibiscus flower or two when I think of it. These ones are wild and hard scrabble, come and go as it suits them. I can't believe how light they are. They seem very healthy and active though, so I guess they must be doing okay. They breed very well too. Often see babies.
 

CarolM

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I love Spekboom, as do the tortoises! How old is your little one? I had never thought of weighing them before kingsley asked. I don't feed them at all or give them anything, apart from dropping a Hibiscus flower or two when I think of it. These ones are wild and hard scrabble, come and go as it suits them. I can't believe how light they are. They seem very healthy and active though, so I guess they must be doing okay. They breed very well too. Often see babies.
My little one hatched around the end of May beginning of June 2017. And I actually planted the spekboom in the enclosure to improve the air. As spekboom I believe is extremely good in improving the air around it.
 

JeannineD

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My little one hatched around the end of May beginning of June 2017. And I actually planted the spekboom in the enclosure to improve the air. As spekboom I believe is extremely good in improving the air around it.
I am obsessed with spekboom, it is a miracle plant. Not only great tortoise food but it has huge carbon storing capabilities. Its capacity to offset harmful emissions is equal to that of moist, subtropical forest. It needs virtually no water too, so brilliant for Cape Town!

Your tort at 60grams for six months old seems fine. I am worried that my wild ones are too skinny now at 45 and 70grams after a year! But, I will leave well enough alone. They have survived without my help for generations and will probably continue to do so! I love the creatures, am quite fascinated by them and their odd ways.
 

CarolM

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I am obsessed with spekboom, it is a miracle plant. Not only great tortoise food but it has huge carbon storing capabilities. Its capacity to offset harmful emissions is equal to that of moist, subtropical forest. It needs virtually no water too, so brilliant for Cape Town!

Your tort at 60grams for six months old seems fine. I am worried that my wild ones are too skinny now at 45 and 70grams after a year! But, I will leave well enough alone. They have survived without my help for generations and will probably continue to do so! I love the creatures, am quite fascinated by them and their odd ways.
I must admit that I was worried about baby not growing so quickly. But feel a little bit better after your post of your little ones. So thank you for that. And I agree they are facinating. I have been following your posts ever since I joined the forum. They have been very interesting.
 

JeannineD

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I must admit that I was worried about baby not growing so quickly. But feel a little bit better after your post of your little ones. So thank you for that. And I agree they are facinating. I have been following your posts ever since I joined the forum. They have been very interesting.
Judging by your pic Baby looks very healthy and beautiful! They might just be like us and come in all sizes. I guess if they are active, and eating and peeing and pooing, then they are doing fine. It is us who weighs and worries, not them!
 

CarolM

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Judging by your pic Baby looks very healthy and beautiful! They might just be like us and come in all sizes. I guess if they are active, and eating and peeing and pooing, then they are doing fine. It is us who weighs and worries, not them!
Lol. So true.
 

CarolM

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Judging by your pic Baby looks very healthy and beautiful! They might just be like us and come in all sizes. I guess if they are active, and eating and peeing and pooing, then they are doing fine. It is us who weighs and worries, not them!
And thank you.
 

kingsley

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02DD41AC-71ED-4EF1-9472-15D20224ABB4.jpeg FFDBDB83-D5E7-492F-A926-B305B9FEF7A3.jpeg 22311F2B-3C92-46A6-BE0A-26E829F15EC8.jpeg 1CA5A208-0108-457D-8B70-E256223325B6.jpeg E168AD1D-19C8-4EEF-A2EF-2F8AD0BF1589.jpeg 02DD41AC-71ED-4EF1-9472-15D20224ABB4.jpeg FFDBDB83-D5E7-492F-A926-B305B9FEF7A3.jpeg 22311F2B-3C92-46A6-BE0A-26E829F15EC8.jpeg 1CA5A208-0108-457D-8B70-E256223325B6.jpeg E168AD1D-19C8-4EEF-A2EF-2F8AD0BF1589.jpeg it is a well known fact that animals in captive situations grow much faster. But I didn’t even imagine a 300% escalation!!! WOW !!! This is a major eye opener!! As far as the color I think it is reigeional. I have found out that some that come form the Karu National park (hope I spelled it correctly) area are extreemly dark and almost black, the southern cape they are much lighter.
This hatchling was dark when it was born. Here are some pics over the past year.
 

CarolM

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View attachment 225856 View attachment 225857 View attachment 225858 View attachment 225859 View attachment 225861 View attachment 225856 View attachment 225857 View attachment 225858 View attachment 225859 View attachment 225861 it is a well known fact that animals in captive situations grow much faster. But I didn’t even imagine a 300% escalation!!! WOW !!! This is a major eye opener!! As far as the color I think it is reigeional. I have found out that some that come form the Karu National park (hope I spelled it correctly) area are extreemly dark and almost black, the southern cape they are much lighter.
This hatchling was dark when it was born. Here are some pics over the past year.
Oh thanks for sharing. Your little one is really beautiful. And it is spelt as Karoo. Please keep us updated so that we can compare notes. There are very few people on the forum who have Chersina. So it is nice to be able to read some posts pertaining to them on here as well. Other than my own.
 
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kingsley

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Carol thanks for the spell check!! Karoo it is!! Just a handful of us have Chersina here in the USA, and we are trying our best to learn more about this unique tortoise.
 
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