My Home's Hingebacks

[chairman]

I already made my introduction, so now here's my Home's Hingebacks, Simon and Sam. My hingeback story actually starts many years before I ever saw a hingeback in person. When I was eleven I somehow convinced my mom to let me get a pet snake. A year later I got her a friend. A year later she laid her first clutch of eggs and I accidentally got into snake breeding. I ended up getting a subscription to Reptiles magazine after they published an edition that was pretty much devoted to my snake, and one month I found an article about a tortoise capable of closing their shells. I thought that feature was fantastic and vowed that if I ever got a tortoise, it would be a hingeback solely because they were blessed with hinged shells. Please keep in mind that this particular article did not contain any husbandry information or how inappropriate they are to new tortoise owners.

Eventually I had to find a new home for my snakes because my college dorm wouldn't let me keep them and the weekly purchase of live mice was never particularly popular in my house. Then, sophomore year, I was wandering through our local mall's pet shop and they had for sale two hingeback tortoises! They were both wild caught and about the same size (in the 3-4 inch range) but one of them weighed significantly less than the other, had weepy eyes and a runny nose. My finances and space constraints would only allow me to get one, so I picked the sick one because I felt sorry for him. Little did I know how hard they allegedly are to keep alive! But I kinda have a soft spot for rescues. I'm sure no one here will understand that, though...

Anyway, so I brought him home and nursed him back to health. Of course, I say him now, but then I thought it was a her due to a concave plastron and what I thought was a small tail. It was when he flashed me about a year and a half later that I figured out that "she" needed to have "her" name changed to Simon. Here he is now, 7 years later:


After Simon was healthy and I moved into my own place I suddenly had room for another tort. Since I thought Simon was a girl I figured that I was safe getting any old Home's since a girl would presumably get along with anyone, and I did have a desire to start breeding again. I ordered my second Home's, Sam, from a reptile store a couple hours south of me in FL (I lived in Tallahassee at the time) that mailed him to me same day delivery. I will never do THAT again if I can avoid it; in person pick-ups from now on! Simon was in rough shape when I got him, but Sam was worse. He didn't eat a thing for the first 4 months I had him. I really have no idea how he survived. The vet I went to who allegedly dealt with reptiles (the only one I could find local at the time) actually had to bring in their vet school textbook on tortoises during his exam. The only thing he could figure out was that it wasn't fluid in the lungs. After a lot of concern, and soaking in electrolyte solutions, and daily offerings of treats, etc, Sam finally came around and started eating. Now, here he is about 6 years later:


It was during Sam's quarantine that Simon started flashing, and even though I was fairly certain that Sam was a boy (same size tail as Simon's, etc) I tried to put them together. This did not work very well as Simon is quite aggressive and they have been mostly separated since. Simon is starting to tame down, though. I'm crossing my fingers that his aggression was just part of some sort of adolescent hormone thing and that eventually they'll live in peace.

But, that's my boys. Eventually I would like to get some girls to join them so maybe I can get some more captive bred Home's running around, but that's another endeavor for another day.

 

[Candy]

Wow Mike I love both of them. They are very beautiful and their shells are too. I've heard were these are somewhat hard to take care of also. I also have heard that they are very shy and they're loners is this true? Well thanks for the story and the pictures I myself love the Hingebacks I think they're very unique.

 

[tortoisenerd]

Thank you so much for the story! I love reading the history of people's torts. They are lovely. Are they the same subspecies? Not too many Hingebacks here on the forum. They are so lovely. Cute pictures! Best wishes.

 

[katesgoey]

Mike - You have a knack for writing and nursing hingebacks back to health - they are gorgeous! Thanks for sharing their history with us.

 

[chairman]

Thanks for all the kind responses.

They are both the same subspecies- kinixys homeana. From what I understand the key difference among the kinixys is that steep drop at the back end of the shell; all the others are more rounded than the homeana. If someone more knowledgeable than myself were to come along and call them kinixys erosa I suppose I wouldn't be too surprised, but erosa is supposed to be more rounded in the back and more serrated on the sides. But they do have very different coloration, don't they?

As for personality, neither is particularly shy. They both appreciate the occasional head rub and come out of their shells when picked up. If I whistle through my teeth at them they'll perk up and usually whistle back. Now, they aren't the type to chase me around the yard, but I think it is a size issue and not a shyness issue because Simon will chase my daughter (19 months) around the yard when given the opportunity.

As for being loners, well, these two are by default. Whenever I place them together Simon will chase Sam around and attempt to mount him. Sam just runs away. I think if I had two Sams then I could keep them together. However, Simon is starting to get a little less aggressive so I'm thinking about increasing the number of visual breaks in their enclosure and trying to put them back together again.