shell question....

[Mortis_thetortoise]

sorry to the peoples pictures i used for this....nothing bad or negative just a question
dont know what its called to search

this first picture the darker brown lines between scutes is pretty thin...

a year later the same tortoise looks like this...
dark brown with small patch of light color per scute

whereas this tortoise has mostly all light brown with thin dark brown between

i couldnt find the picture with the huge tort in the fridge, but its shell is mostly all light color with minimal dark brown between scutes


any controllable reason for this? just genetic variation?

 

[Markw84]

Perfectly normal. That's the way they grow. The new keratin laid down as they grow is dark brown and lightens gradually over they first year. After two years it is normally matching the older lighter color.

Here's one of my 150 lb sulcatas. You can see the same thing with this last year's growth. The same with the baby on his back - the new growth coming in dark.

 

[Mortis_thetortoise]

very interesting ! thanks

 

[Bee62]

@Markw84

How old is the big tortoise of your picture ? She ( ? ) looks pretty good !

 

[Markw84]

@Markw84

How old is the big tortoise of your picture ? She ( ? ) looks pretty good !

I hatched him out in 1998, so he will be 19 this summer. He is from a pair I got in 1992 that were imported from Chad from what I was told. So I think he has some of the Sudan qualities. Higher dome and growing rapidly still.

 

[Bee62]

Thank you for your answer. He is really beautiful.
A beautiful bulldozer
How did he behave ? Does he like people and take food from the hand ? I am interested how easy it is to handle such a big tortoise.

 

[Markw84]

Thank you for your answer. He is really beautiful.
A beautiful bulldozer
How did he behave ? Does he like people and take food from the hand ? I am interested how easy it is to handle such a big tortoise.

He's very personable. Rushes over whenever someone ventures into that part of the yard. The grandkids love to hand feed him, but some are quite nervous as that's an impressive sized mouth coming towards a small hand! A couple of the grandsons love to ride him. He marches around the back yard just as if there was nothing on his back even with my 7 yr old grandson sitting on him. As far as 'handling him' - you don't. End of last year, was the last I bothered lifting him myself - two of us will lift him now with a towel as a strap under him, if we need to weigh him. Otherwise, no need. He certainly finds his own way to his house every evening. I never have had trouble with them burrowing, though. certainly will tip over large pots or anything in his way, but really no problems.

 

[Bee62]

Thank you very much for these lovely pictures and what you wrote about your tort.
I have three little sulcata babies and I hope that they get big soon and be so adorable as your torts.
Now they are still small and a little bit shy, but I hope that they get so personable as yours.

I really enjoyed your pictures. Thanks a lot !

with best regards
Sabine

 

[Mortis_thetortoise]

He's very personable. Rushes over whenever someone ventures into that part of the yard. The grandkids love to hand feed him, but some are quite nervous as that's an impressive sized mouth coming towards a small hand! A couple of the grandsons love to ride him. He marches around the back yard just as if there was nothing on his back even with my 7 yr old grandson sitting on him. As far as 'handling him' - you don't. End of last year, was the last I bothered lifting him myself - two of us will lift him now with a towel as a strap under him, if we need to weigh him. Otherwise, no need. He certainly finds his own way to his house every evening. I never have had trouble with them burrowing, though. certainly will tip over large pots or anything in his way, but really no problems.

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do you have a separate fridge to keep greens fresh in?
about how much does one eat a day at that size? what do they normally have available to eat?

 

[melissah]

He's very personable. Rushes over whenever someone ventures into that part of the yard. The grandkids love to hand feed him, but some are quite nervous as that's an impressive sized mouth coming towards a small hand! A couple of the grandsons love to ride him. He marches around the back yard just as if there was nothing on his back even with my 7 yr old grandson sitting on him. As far as 'handling him' - you don't. End of last year, was the last I bothered lifting him myself - two of us will lift him now with a towel as a strap under him, if we need to weigh him. Otherwise, no need. He certainly finds his own way to his house every evening. I never have had trouble with them burrowing, though. certainly will tip over large pots or anything in his way, but really no problems.

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I love love love your pics, my tortoise is only one year now but as everyone tells me to move him outside I worry that he's gonna be lonely out there so I love seeing all the kids interacting with your tortoises.

 

[Yvonne G]

. . . As far as 'handling him' - you don't. End of last year, was the last I bothered lifting him myself - two of us will lift him now with a towel as a strap under him, if we need to weigh him. . . .

I was suckered into buying one of those forearm fork lift thingeys (I'm a sucker for a good infomercial) but I haven't had a chance to use it yet. I'm wondering if it would work for tortoises. I'd love to be able to weigh the aldabrans.

 

[Markw84]

I was suckered into buying one of those forearm fork lift thingeys (I'm a sucker for a good infomercial) but I haven't had a chance to use it yet. I'm wondering if it would work for tortoises. I'd love to be able to weigh the aldabrans.

That "liftythingy" is good for bulky large items, but is made to have your hands braced against the item you're lifting for support as well. Also note the picture is moving a drier, that is quite light, just bulky. I bet she doesn't help move the washer!

Any straps under the tortoise works for me if I have help. If you have something long enough to go around your sholders and lift more with your legs, it would help a lot - but need two people. It's getting really hard for me to lift Crush by myself. He's over 150lbs now, AND bulky. I can do it, but don't like to any more. Help is better!

 

[Markw84]

do you have a separate fridge to keep greens fresh in?
about how much does one eat a day at that size? what do they normally have available to eat?

Yes I do have a dedicated tortoise fridge. however, I don't feed my sulcatas that stuff. Any leftover greens get thrown out to them as a treat. My sulcatas only get stuff they forage from their enclosure - never have mowed the grass - plus they eat a LOT of hay. You see the bale in the top picture! Orchard grass hay is a lifesaver for feeding sulcatas! I also throw in about 20 cups of Mazuri a few times a week. They just eat it dry, off the grass. We do usually sprinkle it and the tortoises down with the hose when we throw it out, though.

 

[Gillian M]

I hatched him out in 1998, so he will be 19 this summer. He is from a pair I got in 1992 that were imported from Chad from what I was told. So I think he has some of the Sudan qualities. Higher dome and growing rapidly still.

A handsome guy!

 

[Gillian M]

He's very personable. Rushes over whenever someone ventures into that part of the yard. The grandkids love to hand feed him, but some are quite nervous as that's an impressive sized mouth coming towards a small hand! A couple of the grandsons love to ride him. He marches around the back yard just as if there was nothing on his back even with my 7 yr old grandson sitting on him. As far as 'handling him' - you don't. End of last year, was the last I bothered lifting him myself - two of us will lift him now with a towel as a strap under him, if we need to weigh him. Otherwise, no need. He certainly finds his own way to his house every evening. I never have had trouble with them burrowing, though. certainly will tip over large pots or anything in his way, but really no problems.

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Lovely pics! Thanks for sharing.