my boy SAMPSON! 6 YERS OLD

[Bigkuntry]

Heres a couple of pics of my leopard male sampson! Every time i bust out the camera he doesnt wanna come out but i had to put a pic up anyways cause i love his coloring!! So tell me what you think of my man good or bad its ok i can take all comments either way. Oh and by the way he measures in at 9 and 1/4 inches is this big for a 6pair year old? Cuz he seems big to me. Thank yall!

 

[Levi the Leopard]

He looks smooth how did you raise him?

9" isn't big for a 6 year old. My almost 2 year old is 7". But really, it doesn't matter.
We would love to hear about how you care for him. It's not common to see a 6 year old smooth like that

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I'd like to see some plastron photos, too if you care to share. The underside, the tail and the anal scutes. I noticed the split scute on top and am curious about the gender of Sampson.

 

[bouaboua]

Very smooth and nice looking Leopard.

Please share little more how you rise him. We love to learn how you take care of this amazing creature.

 

[Bigkuntry]

He looks smooth how did you raise him?

9"isn't big for a 6 year old. My almost 2 year old is 7". But really, it doesn't matter.
We would love to hear about how you care for him. I bet he is nice and healthy!

Well team ive only had him for a year i got him when he was five from a pet store in east texas. He was 5" when i got him and he has put on 4" in just the year that i have had him. Which tells me they wherent really giving him the kind of attention he needed. But i mainly have him on a diet of spinach,cactus,alittle lettuce mix and a slice of apple every two days other than that the little guy is a bonified mini lawnmower! !!! Lol when hes outside he has his head down 24/7 i think thats why he has gotten so big so fast the little man is health and happy he loves eating the tall grass and weeds around the house. He goes crazy for flowers as well. Dandelions. Hibiscuses and four o'clocks are his favorites. All in all the little guy is doing great and he has the most awesome personality. He loves for me to pick him up and hold him like a baby and scratch his neck he cant git enuff of it and neither can i!!!!!

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Team i would be glad to git you some more pics of the plastrum i will take them in the morning when i git off work and post them on here first thing.

 

[diamondbp]

They're right he looks great. I'm curious to see if he is a male with split scutes because that would be interesting. He's shape screams male but I'd still love to see the plastron

 

[dar64]

I too would like to know if its actually a male with the split scute.

I wish I could get my three to eat grass or weeds. They have no interest in grass. No interest in hibiscus or flowers. Only greens. It frustrates me. All three were not raised properly so I don't want them to get too hungry and they probably are full from the mixed greens I feed. dandelion, turnip greens, kale, endive, spring mix etc. Is it ok that they won't eat anything else?

 

[Bigkuntry]

Alright everybody here are the pics of sampsons underside of the plastrom. I am still going with male he has a concave plastrum a nice split v shape at the base of his tale and not a U shape. Plus his tale is super long and tucked behind his leg. All in all a pretty healthy boy.

 

[diamondbp]

oh no doubt thats a male. Interesting

 

[dar64]

Sure is a male. So much for the split scute theory I guess.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Thanks for sharing those! It sure is a male.

I know of another who acquired some split scute leopards and a few turned out to be males. I specifically purchased a split scute leopard hatchling in *hopes* of it being female.... time will tell.

It's interesting to see the maturity of your 6yr old even though he's only 9" in length. My 23month old is not much smaller at 7" yet still doesn't have enough characteristics to determine the gender. I "guess" it's a male but it's really just a guess. Especially when I look at your photos.

Thanks again for sharing

 

[jshaw9_]

What is the weight of your 6 year old? Just curious as mine is approaching that age.

 

[littleginsu]

Love the split scute! They are so special!

 

[Subersibo]

Great lookin tort you got there!

 

[wellington]

That is a very nice leopard specially coming from a pet store. Just a couple suggestions though on his diet. Spinach and the apple is not really recommended for leopards and spinach not for most tortoises. If you can let him eat the grasses, weeds and flowers and cactus, that would be a better diet then adding in the spinach and apple. Also, if you added a little Mazuri tortoise diet once or twice a week, it would help to fill in anything he may not be getting and would also help put some size on him. At about two and half years my leopard was 8 inches, so yours is a little on the small size for his age. I'm sure he will catch up and put on some size with a better diet now. Also check out the tortoisetable.org.uk for more edible items.

 

[Neal]

I wouldn't be so quick to say he's small for his age. Do you have any information on the adults that produced him or any knowledge of any of the tortoises siblings? That would be your best comparison. With as much diversity as there is with leopard tortoises, even comparing two specimens produced from two separate pairs of adults can be like comparing apples to oranges. Another point to consider is that male leopards are typically smaller than females, more often with the variant that you have. So while he's not as big as others, that doesn't indicate anything wrong or unusual.

From my experience, I consider an 11 inch male babcocki to be pretty big. Yours being 9 1/4 inches (4 of which were grown in one year), I would say that is quite impressive. It will be interesting to see how big he gets to.

 

[jshaw9_]

here we go an update of my male leopard tortoise, 5 1/2 years old. 12.5 inches in length. Cheers.

 

[Neal]

here we go an update of my male leopard tortoise, 5 1/2 years old. 12.5 inches in length. Cheers.

Are you certain that one is a male?

 

[Sh3wulf]

Wow! Look at that beautiful shell! Gorgeous leopard

 

[jshaw9_]

100% male, he flashed at me-I was quite grossed out as never seen it before. He's on a combination of spring greens, weeds, various grasses, with a bit of zoomed grassland and now managed to get mazuri (I live in the uk so it's hard to get hold of)

 

[jshaw9_]

Awaiting breakfast