My 2017 South African Leos

MichaelS

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Here are some beauties that @Tom brought into the world and I was lucky enough to acquire;) I'll try to update this every so often to share their progress. These 6 came from 2 different breeding pairs and hatched in mid May 2017. You can see Tom's thread about their life before I got a hold of them here:

https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/realization-of-a-long-term-dream.154942/

They are all housed together in a closed chamber and kept at comfy temps and about 90% humidity in the basking area. They are all active, healthy, eating great and putting on weight.

This was on August 24th on arrival day!IMG_1342.JPG


This was on an outdoor soak September 12th. You can see the new white growth really starting to pick up steam.
IMG_1377.JPG


This is from October 2nd. (not the same arrangement of individual but now that I have this posted I'll try to keep them in the same position moving forward so we can all see the progress each individual)
IMG_1386.JPG
 

Yvonne G

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They're very pretty. Are the parents from the 2010 SA group?
 

diamondbp

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@MichaelS looking awesome brother. I'm guessing your hoping for all females from this group? lol I know I'm really hoping my 3 yearlings turn out female. I need to balance my group long term.
 

MichaelS

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@MichaelS looking awesome brother. I'm guessing your hoping for all females from this group? lol I know I'm really hoping my 3 yearlings turn out female. I need to balance my group long term.

Yes all females would be ideal;)... But just comparing these 6 based on tail size, carapace shape and growth rate, three are looking male-ish alrady:( ...time will tell.
 

Tom

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Yes all females would be ideal;)... But just comparing these 6 based on tail size, carapace shape and growth rate, three are looking male-ish alrady:( ...time will tell.

One nice thing about the SA leopards: You'll know the sex by about 12-18 months.

Eggs were incubated at 88, and temp in the incubator would sometimes creep up to 89 on hot days. I'm thrilled that I will get to know the sex of these ones eventually.
 

diamondbp

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One nice thing about the SA leopards: You'll know the sex by about 12-18 months.

Eggs were incubated at 88, and temp in the incubator would sometimes creep up to 89 on hot days. I'm thrilled that I will get to know the sex of these ones eventually.

I found that it was quite difficult to sex my SA Leos. I was wrong on virtually every single one lol. I still have one 9" 3yrd old that I can't pin down what it is. Hopefully Michael has better luck
 
N

no one

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Very nice!! I wish I could buy Torts from Tom. Enjoy and thank you for posting. I will follow...
 

navyblu

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I found that it was quite difficult to sex my SA Leos. I was wrong on virtually every single one lol. I still have one 9" 3yrd old that I can't pin down what it is. Hopefully Michael has better luck
Agreed....I wasn't sure till they were 10"...what they were unless they showed me. One thing for sure with SA...at least the 20 plus I have raised so far...if they are fast growers...99% sure they are male...all my males turned out that way and all females were slow growers.
 

Cowboy_Ken

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I wish I could buy Torts from Tom.

There’s nothing stopping you other than him not having any or you not having the $. Contact him on PM and maybe make an arrangement with him. I’ve found him easy to work with in the past.
 
N

no one

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Well I was born here. But all the good Tortoise stuff is on the other side of the ocean. Like breeders and climate, interesting Tortoise people. So therefore I am sad. ;)
 

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