[split] RF statement

[aaronaugusts]

The cherry head tortoise is a smaller version of a redfoot, or redleg tortoise, that has a high amount of red on the top of the tortoises head and is a few inchs smaller when its an adult..

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Ah, I get it! You posted on two different sections to increase your audience...and got no response on either!

Funny how sometimes threads just slip through the cracks...

Your statement sounds true to this novice tortoise keeper, except I'm not sure that Cherryheads are always smaller adults.

 

[Madkins007]

The cherry head tortoise is a smaller version of a redfoot, or redleg tortoise, that has a high amount of red on the top of the tortoises head and is a few inchs smaller when its an adult..

Smaller version- not quite true. In fact, many 'cherrys' are bigger than a 'normal' Red-foot. The do seem to achieve sexual maturity faster/smaller however.

High amount of red- not quite true. The red can be several other shades as well, including salmon, etc.

Based on what I have learned here and other places...

The 'cherryhead morph' is a Red-foot from East-central to East-south Brazil, such as the Bahia region, a more temperate scrub forest than many other regions.

It has the mostly dark plastron of other Southern types, often presenting more of a mottling than a pattern.

The head and neck tend to show the same single red shade, often a bright red, on a mostly dark skin.

There is no hard and fast rule for their adult sizes, although they often seem to achieve sexual maturity at a smaller size/younger age. Males do not show the deep plastron indentation or wasp waisting of Northern Red-foots (neither do most other Southern Red-foot types).

The two most interesting characteristics include a slightly bulbous nose (the Rudolph Sign), and an enlarged, usually colored, scale on the inside of the front elbows.