My Sulcata

[Yvonne G]

My tortoise partner in Philadelphia was in partnership with a gal in Bakersfield on two sulcatas, Dudley and a female a year older than the male. When the gal in Bakersfield could no longer keep tortoises, she gave the two sulcatas to me. At that time, Dudley was about 35lbs. I kept the pair for a summer, but it was too much trouble trying to keep them apart, so I adopted the female out. While she was here, she dug three nests and laid many, many eggs.

Dudley - Appx. 21 years old
male - 108lbs

 

[laramie]

He is one good lookin tort Thanks for sharing Yvonne

 

[Laura]

Dudly was the first big sulcata i met.. I think it scared my husband a bit.. but he thinks rescuing these guys makes more sense then Lions!
Yes,, i did big cat rescue for a while too.. www.wildaboutcats.org. but now all our cats are gone and we do very little networking anymore...
Chapter to that book is closed.. :-(

 

[Yvonne G]

That's kinda' sad. I love the big cats. Do you ever watch the shows on Animal Planet where your average-every-day Joe has an obsession with big cats, builds enclosures and keeps them on his property, and eventually gets killed by them? Makes you wonder.

 

[Torty Mom]

Dudley is very handsome, does he get into as much trouble as King Bob?

 

[Tony the tank]

Dudley looks great... Very relaxed

 

[Yvonne G]

I think most of Bob's problems are Maggie related...so, no, other than knocking down fences, Dudley really doesn't get into any trouble.

 

[Tom]

Interesting scute growth. Did all the smooth stuff start when you got him? It is clear that something in his routine change drastically at one moment in time. Is it when he moved outside full time? I saw something similar in a leopard that Neal had. It had been living indoors most of its life and was somewhat pyramided. As soon as Neal got it, it was outside full time, and you could clearly see the difference in the growth lines.

 

[Yvonne G]

Dudley was pretty badly pyramided when he came here. From that moment on, he started growing smoothly. I think in a larger tortoise's case, food has a lot to do with it. Humidity for babies, but diet and sunshine for larger ones. When Dudley came here he stopped being fed and had to forage for himself, and had full access all the time to water whenever he wanted it.

 

[dmarcus]

Thats cool that he smoothed out so well after having pyramiding problems when you got him..

 

[cemmons12]

He is a good looking guy! Love them Sully's!

 

[Neal]

Interesting scute growth. Did all the smooth stuff start when you got him? It is clear that something in his routine change drastically at one moment in time. Is it when he moved outside full time? I saw something similar in a leopard that Neal had. It had been living indoors most of its life and was somewhat pyramided. As soon as Neal got it, it was outside full time, and you could clearly see the difference in the growth lines.

Actually all of my tortoises have been raised outdoors in AZ. I think I know which one you were talking about, but he spent his life outside in Tucson before I got him. The only things I did different were: soaking, and a better diet. The tortoise was raised solely on Kale before I got him and from what I understood, never received any water whatsoever. I have some pictures here showing the new growth after I got him which has been about 4 years now. The most visible difference can be seen on the top portion of his coastal scutes.

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Hydration-Vs-Humidity-Adults-Only#axzz1cYwpQjtY

I have a picture of one of my sulcatas on that thread showing the same thing. The only difference in husbandry was hydration (internal).