Tortoises from the Seychelles

[Sesel]

Hi Sesel
Thank you. I have a spreadsheet with all of my weights from two months old.I will post this tomorrow- if you have any weight records I would be very interested to know. I think all new keepers of this amazing tortoise should keep these records- it is vital to monitor weights in captivity.
Regards

We only have records up to 3 months old. It's not much but i will try to put it all on a spreadsheet.

 

[Gillian M]

A very warm welcome to the forum @Sesel .

What a lovely tort! GOD bless.

Mind you, even I am having trouble with the pics you posted: cannot see all of them which is too bad.

 

[Gillian M]

Update concerning the baby whose yolk sac burst. At 1 month old, it is 47g & 6.5cm/2.5in, well below average.
However, it is very active and is usually the first to wake up and look for food

View attachment 224410

Above, you can see the difference from siblings (the thick lines between scutes which i presume are signs of first growth).

Oh they are adorable! GOD bless.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Update concerning the baby whose yolk sac burst. At 1 month old, it is 47g & 6.5cm/2.5in, well below average.
However, it is very active and is usually the first to wake up and look for food

~ Outstanding!

 

[Alaskamike]

It's been great to have you join the group here. Those of us who love the Aldabras and are raising them 1,000ds of miles from their natural habitat are intrigued by your experiences there. Hope one day I can visit !

I saw my first Aldabra in the 60s on a Wild Kingdom TV show. Swore one day I'd have one.

Where I live in South Florida the temp ranges are much broader. We have from 100f to 32f but those are rare. 9 months of the year it's between 65f for a low at night and 90f in the day with 75-95% humidity. Our winter ( 3 months ) is less predictable but it rarely gets below 40f at night, & most days are sunny and 70-75f. I use a heated hide for night.

The pyramiding you see is most likely caused by fast growth in dry conditions. It most effects them in the first years of life Daily soaks & misting the shells , & or an enclosed chamber keeping 80% humidity in their first 2 years will prevent most of it. The pyramiding in itself is not a health issue as much as a cosmetic one.

You asked earlier about the gray lines between shutes. Yes those are growth lines. They will widen and as they harden with build up of keratin , they darken till almost gone and start widening again. I've tried to take notice in CupCake how long this takes & it varies from 3-6 weeks. Probably an indicator of how fast she is growing at that time.

Any pictures you can post of the islands & Aldabras in their natural habitat would be interesting.

Wish you great success raising your little ones.
Mike

 

[Sesel]

Botanical Gardens, Mont Fleuri​

These 2 are in quarantine:

 

[Sesel]

Cassava​

Mulberry​

Breadfruit


Golden apple​

Jackfruit​

Hibiscus​

Moringa​

 

[Alaskamike]

Quite a troop you have there

 

[Sesel]

From SIF's (Seychelles Islands Foundation) facebook page:

 

[Alaskamike]

Interesting. I love reading about the Aldabra’s home. Sounds like a difficult place to survive. It’s quite amazing what these animals can endure. Evolution has equipped them for hardship.

Unfortunately their endurance also made them a target for sailors who collected the big ones & stored them up to a year without food in the hulls of ships. They had no refrigeration & the Aldabras stayed alive till put on the menu.

This happened to the Gallops too. Darwin helped save them.

With conservation & breeding efforts they have been saved from extinction, although several of the unique types did go extinct.

Thanks for the pics & info

 

[mayavn]

Could you please give me some info of the importer/breeder in Seychelles. I'm planing on raising some aldabra torts.

 

[Sesel]

Could you please give me some info of the importer/breeder in Seychelles. I'm planing on raising some aldabra torts.

Hi and welcome. Sent you a PM~

 

[Sesel]

More from SIF's fb page:

 

[Sesel]

I have a spreadsheet with all of my weights from two months old.I will post this tomorrow- if you have any weight records I would be very interested to know.

@Tobagomon: we are still waiting

 

[Sesel]

Our 2 females:


Right: 69cm/27in
Left: 70cm/27.5in
Both are 28 years old.

 

[Sesel]

 

[Tobagomon]

Hi Sesel
Hope you are well. Amazing photos and information on our speciality the Aldabra!
Apologies for the delay in getting this to you- I have been away for Xmas. Please see my records of the weights of my two Aldabra tortoises Tiny and Titch. You will see that they both are almost the same weight at 3months and a day when I got them but they then diverge in growth rates. The question is WHY?. They have both been fed the same food comprising of a very varied diet consisting of grasses, weeds, lettuces, greens, peppers, carrots. This divergence seems to commence at around the six month age mark and I am puzzled as to why. Titch is obviously smaller than Tiny but just as healthy and just as active.Could this be related to metabolism. I would be grateful for your thoughts on this or anyone on TF. I notice from your records there is some divergence. I intend to monitor their weights indefinitely so I will post my recordings periodically. Speak soon Tobagomon

 

[Tobagomon]

Hi Sesel
Hope you are well. Amazing photos and information on our speciality the Aldabra!
Apologies for the delay in getting this to you- I have been away for Xmas. Please see my records of the weights of my two Aldabra tortoises Tiny and Titch. You will see that they both are almost the same weight at 3months and a day when I got them but they then diverge in growth rates. The question is WHY?. They have both been fed the same food comprising of a very varied diet consisting of grasses, weeds, lettuces, greens, peppers, carrots. This divergence seems to commence at around the six month age mark and I am puzzled as to why. Titch is obviously smaller than Tiny but just as healthy and just as active.Could this be related to metabolism. I would be grateful for your thoughts on this or anyone on TF. I notice from your records there is some divergence. I intend to monitor their weights indefinitely so I will post my recordings periodically. Speak soon Tobagomon

 

[Sesel]

View attachment 226380 Please see my records of the weights of my two Aldabra tortoises Tiny and Titch.

Nice, thanks

You will see that they both are almost the same weight at 3months and a day when I got them but they then diverge in growth rates. The question is WHY?. They have both been fed the same food comprising of a very varied diet consisting of grasses, weeds, lettuces, greens, peppers, carrots. This divergence seems to commence at around the six month age mark and I am puzzled as to why. Titch is obviously smaller than Tiny but just as healthy and just as active.Could this be related to metabolism.

Hihi, I don't have the knowledge to answer your question at this point. It could be related to metabolism. I simply know that males seem to grow (in length & weight) at a faster rate than females. Not sure if this is the case with Tiny and Titch or if it starts this early. Time will tell

I notice from your records there is some divergence.

True. What we have noticed is that in a particular clutch, the one who comes out first has the advantage with regards to growth, even if the difference in coming out of the egg is 1 or 2 days.
We can also see that even a 1 gram difference can increase to 10g and will continue to increase over time. The reason we do not know for sure.

 

[Alaskamike]

This discussion of divergent growth rates even amongst torts from same clutch occurres here with regularity. It is akin to the nature / nurture debates common in all developmental studies.

Growing up we had a family in our neighborhood with six boys. Two could have been twins - they looked so alike. The other 4 were very different.
By adulthood they ranged from 5’ 7” to 6’ 2”. Big difference. Yet they had the same parents.

We seem to accept this easily in us humans but are rather surprised when other animals show such differences.

Our torts show behavioral differences that effect growth rates. Some eat more , exercise more, hide more, drink more - etc. these behavioral differences effect growth rates. When you factor in male / female , and genetic differences it’s gets even more complex. Plus tortoises can store sperm for long periods , and if multiple males are around , are not exactly monogamous. It is possible to have a clutch with multiple male parents.

In these larger species like Aldabras , we see large differences. I’ve mentioned before that if we could log rates for several 1,000d. 2yo on a bell curve we would undoubtably have an average - with fewer and fewer as we approached the outliers , but that would not tell us about the health of our individual Aldabra.

I watch for other health indicators more carefully than growth rates.

Currently there are just not enough records to give us accurate statistics on this species. My CupCake will be 4 yo next month. She ( could be he , I don’t know ) is about 25lbs. I know of one who was 35lbs at same age. Big difference !

But certainly I don’t think that indicates CupCake is stunted or unhealthy. There can be a big variance for a great variety of reasons.