'Original shipment' cherryheads

[Jacqui]

I had somebody on another site, imply that today's Cherryheads were so much more colorful then those collected from the wild. Your pictures clearly indicate that is not correct at all. As to having let them go, don't we all wish our hindsight was actually more a foresight and we never did half the stupid things we do.

 

[terryo]

If your interested in the "old days"...read this book. Stolen World: A Tale of Reptiles, Smugglers, and Skulduggery by Jennie Erin smith. I don't know how true anything in the book is...and there are some who have called her (the author) out on things she wrote. I did hear that she got most of her information by doing some underhanded things.

 

[EricIvins]

I had somebody on another site, imply that today's Cherryheads were so much more colorful then those collected from the wild. Your pictures clearly indicate that is not correct at all. As to having let them go, don't we all wish our hindsight was actually more a foresight and we never did half the stupid things we do.

They actually are.......Some people are producing F4 or 5 animals that blow these out of the water with the amount of red they have......Very few wild animals have alot of red.......Most have the typical Rudolph nose with a few red scales on the head and legs.......


Pictured is an F3 animal that like the animals pictured earlier, was let go......Now I want them back.......

 

[cdmay]

I had somebody on another site, imply that today's Cherryheads were so much more colorful then those collected from the wild. Your pictures clearly indicate that is not correct at all. As to having let them go, don't we all wish our hindsight was actually more a foresight and we never did half the stupid things we do.

When I pick an animal out of a group the first thing I look at is the overall health of the particular tortoise and how 'perfect' it is. The color, or how outstanding an animal is when compared to the rest of the shipment comes second with me. So I will say that I saw many cherryheads in the original shipment (and following import groups) that were much, much more impressive in color than mine were. But they might have been light in weight, or had sunken eyes or flaws on their shell that would cause me to pass them up. Most would probably have been just fine with some good care but since I could only get a few at a time I wouldn't take risks-- while another person would pick the prettiest ones no matter what. For example, Rob MacInnis' male from that first shipment (that he still has) will blow your eyes out of your head even now--but since Rob worked for Pet Farm he could pick through the entire group before anyone else. Plus, he had the luxury of setting his 'picks' aside to see how well they did after a few weeks. He could also get them treated, if need be, right there at Pet Farm since the place was owned by a veterinarian.
On average though I would say that the groups of imports that I have personally looked over were all about the same. Certain individuals are astonishingly colorful but most are only average.
In fact, most cherryheads are not the really outrageous red that their name implies and as a rule most imported cherryheads have only a few colored scales on their legs when compared to a Surinam or Guyana red-foot.
As breeders have selectively bred the most colorful tortoises together during the past 25 years many of the captive hatched cherryheads today are much, MUCH more colorful than past imports were.
Still, some of the imports were incredibly colorful and downright jaw dropping.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Yep, you beat me to it, you shoulda kept them! Great story, very informational from one of the old timers.

 

[turtlelady80]

WOW!!! I want them lol... They were BEAUTIFUL!!!