my breeding group

[cvalda]

Got a pic of my breeding group (since I moved the two little ones out when the two new big girls came)! Hope these sweeties produce a lot of FERTILE eggs this year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Going CLOCKWISE from the top is:
Hurley (male), Calypso, Billy (male), Mithril, Roland (male), Varda, Oofda, Isis

 

[stells]

They look great Kelly
I really would have quarantined the females before adding them to the group though

 

[egyptiandan]

They look great Kelly I was just wondering though why the 2 new females weren't quarantined.

Danny

 

[cvalda]

They were coming from a reliable source who has had them for over five years. I definately trust what he has told me, and therefore didn't have any concerns with putting them right with my group. Had they come from a petstore, or someone/somewhere where there was even an inkling of a doubt about getting reliable information, etc, then I definately would have quarantined them!

 

[JustAnja]

These two girls are from a closed herd, with no new acquisitions in the last 5 years. Some of the herd he has had over 10 years.

 

[egyptiandan]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that doesn't matter. I will relate my story that happened to a friend of mine and from this I learned to quarantine everything no matter where or who it came from.
A friend of mine quite a few years ago had a long term group of Leopard tortoises. 8 years was the last time an animal was added to his group. He had another friend who had a small group that had been together 10 years. He had to give them up and offered them to my friend. He had known this person for over 10 years and had seen his tortoises first hand.
He was sure the group was just fine and added them to his group. You do know whats coming next. He lost every single Leopard tortoise and a lot of his other tortoises, which weren't mixed but in the same room. He had no idea what went through them but i have to think it was probably protozoa and maybe a few other nasties.
That tale showed me you can never take anything for granted when it comes to tortoises and you have to have at least a minimum 3 months quarantine. I have always stuck to that and so far have had nothing run through any of my groups.
Not that your going to have any trouble, but please watch everyone like a hawk for the next few months.

Danny

 

[JustAnja]

That is a pretty heartbreaking story Danny. You mentioned he lost torts that were in the same room. I currently have the new RF female in my laundry room for quarantine BUT everyone else is in my dedicated herp room due to space constraints. Im assuming this could cause problems down the line if something should come in and a problem develop? My laundry room is not heated as much as the herp room, most tortoises I would not put in there for that fact. (Its probably 72 in there. The RF I knew would be OK and she has a heat lamp on one end, with 2/3 of the stock tank covered.

 

[cvalda]

That really sucks for him! But it sounds like whatever went through them woulda hit many of those torts even if they were in a seperate enclosure in the same room.

 

[egyptiandan]

I think the problem was that he was sure they were fine Anja and Kelly, so he didn't follow protocals of doing new animals last and washing hands inbetween animals.
It's possible it would have caused a problem anyway, but it would have taken more time and the new ones got sick first. If they had been seperate and new ones had gotten sick it probably could have been contained.

Danny

 

[Coldliz]

Nice looking group you have. Are you breeding for yourself or to sell?

 

[cvalda]

mainly for myself, but hoping to squash some of the IMPORT market here in my area by having some nice CB for sale (tho' I'm not looking to MAKE money on it, of course, but just get CBs out there and infringe on the WC thing... if ya know what i mean!)

 

[Laura]

The group of Torts that was lost.. were they able to pin down what it was? Could it have been something toxic? In the Air? enviroment or food?
Do you know what symptoms they had or how long it took to happen..?
Just curious.. how devistating...

 

[wayne.bob]

Great Idea Kelly. i cant wait to see some of your babies. (when you get them) lol.

 

[egyptiandan]

Laura it was over 20 years ago, so no, no one was able to pin down what happened. All those things you mentioned were ruled out as the diet didn't change nor did where they were kept. Also nothing toxic was used around them.
They basicly stopped eating one by one. Not sure what any of the other symptoms were, but there were others. They died over a period of almost a year, with the new animals dying first, than his original Leopards, than most of a group of Burmese brown tortoises. The last two were happening at about the same time and I believe an original Leopard was the last to die.

Danny