Biggest Sulcatas I've Ever Seen.

Tom

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I think one of the most appealing things about sulcatas for those of us who keep them is their size. They get big. Really big. I'm pretty used to seeing big tortoises. I'd been looking at a really nice group of mature adult Galapagos tortoise earlier in this same day. Yesterday, I learned that I didn't know what a big sulcata really looked like. There were some really big ones. HUGE ones that were bigger than any I'd seen in person...

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Now those are all big sulcatas. Bigger than I've seen in person before. But THIS one takes the cake. I think he probably takes whatever he wants.

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He wasn't interested in coming up so I could take a decent pic, but this thing was giant. His weight is estimated at 280, but I've lifted 400 pound aldabras before, and this guy was every bit as large as they were if not bigger. People have a tendency to over exaggerate about tortoise size, but I am telling you, this tortoise was as large as any I've seen. I can only think of one 90 year old male Galop that was bigger.
 

Josh

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Great shots, Tom. Looks like TTPG perhaps? I should've gone. :-/
 

chazd1984

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Tom, do you think down the road that the sulcatas who have been raised in captivity with what is now known to be the proper way(humid, daily soaks, etc) will be much bigger than what we see in adults now? Or do you think we will see them start to grow much faster and smoother but they will eventually reach the same or similar plateau in size?
 

Tom

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Tom whats the weight of the largest sulcata in the world?

This one is the biggest I've ever seen. I don't know what the record is, but I can't imagine one bigger than this guy, There were several 200+ pounders walking around, but they were nowhere near this guys size.
 

Neal

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There's definitely no exaggeration in your description. I would be surprised if there was a bigger sulcata out there somewhere.

I wasn't excited about driving to far just to see sulcatas at first, but it turned out to be one of the highlights of the conference for me.
 

Tom

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Tom, do you think down the road that the sulcatas who have been raised in captivity with what is now known to be the proper way(humid, daily soaks, etc) will be much bigger than what we see in adults now? Or do you think we will see them start to grow much faster and smoother but they will eventually reach the same or similar plateau in size?

I'm sorry, but even after 20+ years of sulcatas, I don't have any frame of reference to even guess at an answer to that. Your theory sounds logical, and there is evidence to support it with what is being done on the Galapagos Islands, but I just don't know about sulcatas. It seems that genetics play a role with the sulcatas. Different morphology from different locales. The ones from Sudan get much bigger and higher domed. I'm guessing, purely guessing, that Sudan is where these giants originated.
 

stojanovski92113

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Thanks for sharing your pics!! They are beautiful, but that last one is insanely gigantic :) Amazing & stunning!
 

Jacqui

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I love the large enclosure for them. Whose place was this?
 
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