Cherryheads

[TylerStewart]

I've been trying to catch up with photos of cherryhead adults, and got a few shots last night. I'm going to get more this week, but let's start it off with an 8 year old captive bred cherryhead raised in Las Vegas, outdoors each summer (in and out in the winters):

Another larger female, also CB raised in Vegas:

 

[PeanutbuttER]

Love that marbeling.

 

[cdmay]

Beautiful animals. Its interesting that a lot of adult cherry heads have that bump on the rear of their carapace. It seems to be particular to that race of red foots.

 

[Tom]

Nice torts. Love the colors on that first one. It will be neat to watch it change as it grows.

 

[TylerStewart]

Beautiful animals. Its interesting that a lot of adult cherry heads have that bump on the rear of their carapace. It seems to be particular to that race of red foots.

A few of mine have that, and most of them don't. I never noticed it much before, but now that you said that, it does seem more common in cherries than regular redfoots. Seems like my cherries have deeper concave stomachs than reds, and don't have the thinner waistline like male redfoots have.

Nice torts. Love the colors on that first one. It will be neat to watch it change as it grows.

They all look better when they're wet, believe me. When it's dry here most of them get pretty drab, like the second photo compared to the first. Wet, they look pretty similar. She probably won't grow a whole lot more, but I think with time and sun the prettiness will fade.... The one in the second photo is my biggest cherryhead, around 12" or so, but most of the others are 9" at 8 years old, and probably won't get much larger. The big one is also 8 years old, and I have a smaller one maybe 7" that is 8 years old. Funny thing, the smaller one pyramided when the others didn't in the same conditions.

Another photo of the big girl:

 

[Tom]

No Tyler. Haven't you heard? Fast growth is the cause of pyramiding. That's why my 12 year old 40 pounder sulcatas are pyramided, don't you know.

 

[N2TORTS]

Beautiful animals. Its interesting that a lot of adult cherry heads have that bump on the rear of their carapace. It seems to be particular to that race of red foots.

Yup CD .... and a tell~ tell sign of Breeding females... that " Bump" will be worn down . Out of my adults its easy to see the " Breeders" within the herd because of that .

and Mr.. Tyler ... VERY nice looking CHerries you have there! Are those the mom's who hatched those dark lil guys you had at the anaheim show ?

JD~

 

[TylerStewart]

Here's another photo of the female in the first photo, showing the rear scute better. It sticks up a bit, but not as much as in the bigger girl.

I'm not sure who the exact parents of "Ruby" are, but it probably is the girl in the first photo (same as the photo below). She lays more eggs than the bigger girl, but with small clutches, I don't incubate them all in separate containers. I pretty much combine all the eggs from a given month into one container, with eggs from different females. Eventually, I plan on documenting and selling separate "bloodlines," but right now I don't have the space to separate a bunch of pairs and trios. It's on my to-do list.

My female cherries tend to be better looking (more marbled) than my males.... With my normal redfoots, my males are the better looking ones.