Sulcata variety

[doctrin13th]

I guess you're aware of the ivory sulcata. is it a rarity? i would love to have one.they're also a beauty. and they're the only white and the lightest colored tortoise (at least as i know by now)
i think a variation of colors in a collection would be ..."colorful"
i don't know if it is available here in my country but do you find it easy to acquire in yours?

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Hardly an expert, but there're always a few for sale at the reptile swap-meets these days, so if you have the price (much higher than a normal colored one), one can generally be had.

Normals are $50-75 for a walnut-sized youngster, and around $150 for one the size of an apple...the last ivory that I recall the price of (a few years ago) I think was $2500. Likely they're a bit less these days.

 

[wildponey21]

i know there is ivory ones for sale at king snale.com they are 2500+shipping

 

[SulcataSquirt]

Richard Fife sells Ivory sulcatas on his website, Their right around $650. check it out, google his name and you will find his website. From what people have said on here he is a good guy, who know how to start his tortoises on the right track.

 

[DeanS]

Ivories are rare...but not nearly as rare as they were when Fife discovered them...in HIS incubator in 2000. There are a few sources, but I'd still have to give my business to Richard!

 

[yagyujubei]

A lot of good answers here, but I'm not sure how many apply to you. In the states, there are ivorys and albinos. Basically, ivorys have dark eyes and albinos have red eyes. Unless you can import them to your country, which would be difficult, if not impossible, you're probably not going to be able to get one. Good Luck.

 

[Baoh]

I have a couple (adult male and juvenile/subadult female) as well as some adult female hets. For me, it has been easy to find ivories, but far less easy to find the exact ivories I have wanted. I typically come across the babies for $500-$600 these days. There was one going for ~$250 with really significant scute deformations a couple weeks ago. Back when they were new to the market, I think they went for something like $2000 each. Larger animals currently go for $1000 on up. Some folks' asking prices can be a bit "out of touch" with the market. Two different breeders/sellers wanted $10k+ for suspected-as-female juveniles right out of the gate. After some realization that what the market would bear was not aligned with their fantasies, they dropped ~80% (or more) from the price. I bought one of my current animals from one of these two sellers. I would have bought from the second, too, but the seller's attitude was rather poor for a person seeking the money of another, saying that it was impossible for me to have the animals that I have and saying I was trying to pull a fast one on him by claiming such. I vote with my dollars, so I would rather support another candidate.

The hatchlings you see listed on KS for thousands are albinos and not ivories. I have no problem owning albino animals of a great many types, but I would prefer leucistic or hypomelanistic animals when there is going to be significant light exposure. I have no use for a large grazing animal that is sensitive to sunlight. Besides the sheer inconvenience, some might also consider it cruel in a sense. To me, the bottom line is that, for a pet animal of this size and lifestyle, it takes the half-step over the line between simply being a morphological variant and being a manner of disability. For those willing to deal with certain potential restrictions, that may not be the case.

I really like my ivory sulcatas, though. They, along with my Aldabra tortoises, are my favorites. If I had to consolidate the number of tortoises I have for some reason, my ivories would be among those retained.

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A lot of good answers here, but I'm not sure how many apply to you. In the states, there are ivorys and albinos. Basically, ivorys have dark eyes and albinos have red eyes. Unless you can import them to your country, which would be difficult, if not impossible, you're probably not going to be able to get one. Good Luck.

I think the Fifes can export, but I am not sure if the OP can import easily.

 

[Katherine]

So I was not really aware of Ivory sulcatas prior to doing some research after seeing this thread. I have several very fair tortoises; (only pigment is around the scutes where new growth is coming in and even that is much lighter than in my other tortoises) but always thought it was natural color variation. Can't help but wonder now if they may be a genetic minority?

 

[DeanS]

So I was not really aware of Ivory sulcatas prior to doing some research after seeing this thread. I have several very fair tortoises; (only pigment is around the scutes where new growth is coming in and even that is much lighter than in my other tortoises) but always thought it was natural color variation. Can't help but wonder now if they may be a genetic minority?

Post pictures...we'll let you know.

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I guess you're aware of the ivory sulcata. is it a rarity? i would love to have one.they're also a beauty. and they're the only white and the lightest colored tortoise (at least as i know by now)
i think a variation of colors in a collection would be ..."colorful"
i don't know if it is available here in my country but do you find it easy to acquire in yours?

www.ivorytortoise.com

He can ship to you...no problem! Just email him and let him know what you want and how many...there is a significant savings if you acquire two.

 

[doctrin13th]

I've read somewhere that an ivory sulcata can be produced or is produced by even two normal colored sulcata? is it true?

 

[Baoh]

I've read somewhere that an ivory sulcata can be produced or is produced by even two normal colored sulcata? is it true?

Sort of. Only if those two animals are heterozygous for the gene. Non-hets (true normals who do not have one copy of the allele) will not pop out an ivory for you.