RF Companionship/Age guessing

[llamas55]

Still wondering what the concensus is:
1)
do living in in groups help them in any way? I read they are solitary, mostly except for mating, in the wild.
What do you all think (since Tommi Tortoise is a solitary girl about 3-4 yrs old.)
2) Actually how old IS she? Plastron is 5" and she weighs 1.5#. I've had her 18 mos. and she was maybe 3 inches and a hollow 7 Oz. when I got her. Do shell rings mean anything like a tree?

this is her size March 08 when I got her and then Nov 08 as new shell growth started. I should get a new photo.

thanks

 

[Madkins007]

1. Red-foots are not as social as, say, dogs, but in the wild they are often found sharing hides even when not needed. They follow scent trails, share fruit falls, etc. Most keepers recommend keeping groups with more females than males.

2. I don't know all of my torts birthdays, but mine are about 2 years old at 1.5lbs. I'll let the more established keepers give a more accurate figure!

 

[terryo]

My Cherry Head is 6 in. and 28 months old. I never weighed him.

Does this help at all? By the way, too soon to sex?

 

[Madkins007]

Terry- based ONLY on the angle of the anal scutes, I would guess male. In general, torts look female until male characteristics show up, so I am going to say about 70-80% sure it is a male. HOWEVER, I don't see any signs of the plastron starting to curve in. Cherryheads, according to Terry K/NERD, have shallower plastron indents, so maybe I am just not seeing it.

(Anal scute angle- Look at the angle the two last plastron scutes make just above the tail. A sharp V-shape at about a 90 degree opening is a sign of a female. A wider, more rounded angle- almost straight across, is a sign of a male.)

How big is the gap between the anal scute points and the marginals? The bigger the gap, the more likely a male (he has to swing his big tail around in there.)

How big is the tail? Where is the tail tip? If it is up just behind the leg, it is a male. If it is still a dinky thing, it is still immature or a female.

 

[terryo]

Thanks Mark...guess we'll just have to wait and see. (he does have that "love rock" though) lol

 

[llamas55]

How are you guys getting the actual photo to show up, instead of a link, like I get? thanks

My Cherry Head is 6 in. and 28 months old. I never weighed him.

Does this help at all? By the way, too soon to sex?

 

[terryo]

Go to photobucket.com and make an account. It's free. Then upload all your pictures. When you put your mouse on the picture you want to post, on the bottom will come three or four different things. Pick the one that has img.code on it and copy and past it to your post. I hope I am saying all this right. If I'm not someone please correct me. This is how the picture comes on the post.

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1)
do living in in groups help them in any way? I read they are solitary, mostly except for mating, in the wild.

Remember this is not the right thing to do, as anyone will tell you, but I never seem to do the right thing...anyway. When I got my Cherry head, he was 1 month old and at the same time I got a Three Toed boxie who was 1 month old also. Being they needed the same kind of environment, humidity, temp. substrate, and I didn't have enough room to make another set up, I put them together. They lived that way for 1 1/2 years. As they grew, I upgraded their enclosure. Then when I posted this, everyone went nuts on me and I got scared and separated them. My Cherry Head didn't eat for almost a week, and paced back and forth in his enclosure, and then finally went in his hide and just stayed there. (and he is the best eater). The boxie couldn't care less, just continued eating and doing her thing as always. Finally I put them back together, and the Cherry Head started to eat again and went back to his normal routine. The Cherry Head always followed the boxie around and ate with her, and waited for her when she soaked. So...are they solitary? I have no idea, since I only have one tortoise. But I do know that when I took the boxie out, he was effected by her absence.

 

[llamas55]

You have the BEST habitats! seems like by then there is no danger of any contamination in the event it occurred. I'm glad to hear that, it seems to me (and I don't think I'm anthropomorphizing [sp?]) that she feels overly alone in the world. and others say they clump up unnecessarily to sleep and all, I think they do like company perhaps.

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PS how are you cleaning poops out of the mini pond, just scooping with a paper towel?

 

[terryo]

I had to change that because Pio got too big. I used to put a wad of paper towels in there to soak up the water and then another wad to clean it. A pain. Pio is alone now and will be when the summer comes in his own pen. I would get another one, because I have plenty of room outside, but inside is another story. Boxie's are my thing really, and I have tanks all over the house. BUT...you have to remember they were both just a few weeks old when I got them at the same time, I don't think I would do that if they were older. I would definitely give them a quarantine period if I got another one now.

 

[fifthdawn]

Most tortoise clump up because of the fact that if one tortoise is in an area, this signals to the other tortoise that its probably safe.

Even when basking, I think if you're not there staring at them, they both tend to look at opposite directions. As long as the tortoise behind you don't run away, its a good indication that there is no threat behind so you just have to look foward.

I own quite a few turtles and I notice thats their basking habits.

 

[Madkins007]

Fifth- that is called 'conspecific behavior', and is practiced by a lot of animals. It is why duck decoys work and Painted Turtles pile up on the same log.

Red-foots, however, take it to another level. They leave scent trails that are followed by other tortoises, they are often found in groups that are not in eye contact- unusual for con-specific behavior.

Again, they are not social in the sense of herd heirarchies (other than the biggest animal wins) or group roles or anything, they just seem to like and do better in captivity when in a group (assuming adequate room and resources, etc.)