Radiateds doing well. Also an aldabra.

tglazie

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Hi guys,

Just a few pictures of some of the radiateds. Oldest is a 2013 born animal, youngest are 2018 born. They're all doing exceedingly well. I've got the 2013-2017s out of the baby screen covered house and into the main run. I still bring everyone indoors at night, given my paranoia concerning thieves and crafty mammalian predators who might get past my security protocol. Oh yes, I also acquired an aldabra in trade. Probably not going to keep the beast long term, but it will be interesting having a giant tortoise in the collection again. She's a flighty little bugger, and while most tortoises I pick up generally just shake their legs to free themselves, this little lady finds your hand and digs her claws in, you know, effectively causes you pain for having the audacity to touch. She's great. And she grows every day. Already she's a ten inch animal, and it's been just a little over a year.

T.G.
 

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zovick

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Hi guys,

Just a few pictures of some of the radiateds. Oldest is a 2013 born animal, youngest are 2018 born. They're all doing exceedingly well. I've got the 2013-2017s out of the baby screen covered house and into the main run. I still bring everyone indoors at night, given my paranoia concerning thieves and crafty mammalian predators who might get past my security protocol. Oh yes, I also acquired an aldabra in trade. Probably not going to keep the beast long term, but it will be interesting having a giant tortoise in the collection again. She's a flighty little bugger, and while most tortoises I pick up generally just shake their legs to free themselves, this little lady finds your hand and digs her claws in, you know, effectively causes you pain for having the audacity to touch. She's great. And she grows every day. Already she's a ten inch animal, and it's been just a little over a year.

T.G.
The Radiateds look nice. Did you ever get a handle on the illness you reported a couple of months ago? I cannot recall the details at the momemt, but am curious as to what happened.
 

tglazie

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The Radiateds look nice. Did you ever get a handle on the illness you reported a couple of months ago? I cannot recall the details at the momemt, but am curious as to what happened.
Thank you Bill. Yes, following the necropsy, turns out she ingested a piece of a bread tie, ripped up her insides. From what I can figure, some of the mulch I pulled from a sand and soil depot had it ground up in the mix. She must've found it when I spread it over the chicory growing in the enclosure. Just a freak incident.

T.G.
 

Tom

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What's up T? Glad to see you posting. Tortoises's look great. Sorry to hear about the one that died, but very glad you know the cause and its nothing contagious.

How are the margies?
 

tglazie

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Hello Tom,

The margies are great. Ten babies between Biggins and Lady Gino so far this year, another twenty five on the way, barring any dead in shell kiddos. I downsized the marginated group, so Marge and Joey were traded for the aldabra. Niece named her Smashy, which seemed appropriate to me, so it stuck. The quarantine period this spring gave me nothing but time, so I built a 1500 gallon pond and stocked it with a trio of rescued western painted turtles. Set up a couple hoop houses to put cover over my hibiscus over the winter. Got a bunch more hardy hibiscus (lord Baltimores) and althea plants, so now during the summer, I essentially have an endless supply of flowers. Finished a 200 foot long by 10 foot wide raised bed for cacti, so I took cuttings from all over the property and made up a giant, sun drenched bed to plan for the future (given that thirteen radiated tortoises consume, well, just about everything in their path). Did cuttings of the pakistani mulberry, so now those will be at other points of the property out front, reducing the stress I put on those trees every mid summer. Started growing a lot more in the way of grasses, given that the rads and aldabra really like the stuff. Weird, transitioning from the broadleaf fare favored by the Testudo to the more fibrous stuff for these grazers. I'm quite paranoid regarding the mineral demands of these rapidly growing beasts, but so far, they seem to be growing strong, so I won't tamper with the formula. Yeah, everything is going great with the tortoises.

T.G.
 

ataturt

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You probably don't mix them much, but do you know if your rad's and margie's get along? I have a margie now and defiently would love a radiated down the line when I'm ready and can afford it
 

tglazie

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Apologies for the late reply. Don't post on here as much as I used to. I maintain strict separation between species. One half of my rear property is devoted to marginated tortoises, the other to the rads and the aldabra. Aldabra has her own large pen to graze in, though I will probably be selling her before too long, allowing her enclosure to be disinfected and allowed to go fallow, after which I will set it up as an alternate grazing pen for the rads. I use a separate hose for the margies and rads. Separate feeding utensils and bins. Separate watering bustubs, differentiated by color and type. And I have separate slippers for each pen. If I get a sick animal, I place a bleach dip outside the pen in which to step so that I don't spread illness. Thankfully, I haven't had a communicable illness strike the colony, at least not a symptomatic one, in years. But you can never be too careful.

T.G.
 

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