Two big boys

bouaboua

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It's BO and SO. I saw Misty also.

HELLO! ! ! ! "WAVE".....
 

Yvonne G

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The first one in the video was BO (the Bigger One), however, he is now the smaller one. BO exhibited foamy mouth and weak limbs about 5 years ago. I didn't know if it was from eating the leaves and berries off the wax leaf privet growing in their yard, or from a calcium deficiency. I removed the privet, but the symptoms didn't go away. The vet didn't know either, but she put him on human calcium tablets daily. For most of the past 5 years BO has been pulling himself along the ground on his plastron, not having the strength to lift himself up and walk normally. It has taken all this time for him to start gaining strength, and you can see from the video, he's walking pretty good now. He's still not up high like they usually are, but at least he's not dragging along anymore.

The other tortoise is SO, (the Smaller One).

The last time Will and I were able to lift them onto the scale was two years ago. At that time they weighed 180lbs. I feel confident in saying that SO probably weighs around 250lbs now.

Regarding the calcium deficiency - I received these two tortoises as hatchlings. They have always lived in this same yard and shed. When I got them in 2000 the yard was mostly clover with a little bit of Bermuda grass. I can only assume the clover didn't have enough calcium for such a fast growing species. SO exhibited a little bit of weakness, but not nearly as bad as BO.

A word of advice: It's much easier to keep them growing strong than it is to get them back up to speed once they've suffered a deficiency. Make sure you feed a proper diet with good supplementation.
 
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ben awes

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Awesome! Thanks for the video! So great to see them move. They actually move better than I expected. I guess I just imagined it worse than it is. They are big!
 

Kapidolo Farms

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I think it may also be just to hot and dry in Fresno. I may be more sunny on an island in the Indian Ocean, but I don't find any indication the temps routinely get over 100F and then of course it's right on the Indian Ocean, so humidity would be much higher. It's be great if they were smoother, but I have seen some that looked like industrial waffle irons, so all things considered they are not so bad. They are naught animals though. and seek mischief.
 

Yvonne G

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Yes, indeed. SO will walk right through my fence if he sees me close on the other side. When I see him coming towards the fence I either have to step inside the habitat or move out of his sight.
 

Yvonne G

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Today's example of SO's naughtiness:

SO's destruction a.jpg SO's destruction b.jpg SO's destruction c.jpg

I bought two pieces of trellis and mounted them on T-posts on either side of the mud hole, then I arched a piece of vinyl lattice over the top and trained the grape vine across the top. It has lasted all summer. But I guess yesterday SO realized there were grape leaves up there and he totally demolished the cheapy trellises. I also saw him eating fig leaves off the little fig tree this a.m., so I guess that little tree is not long for this world either.
 

wellington

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A naughty tortoise, even as big as these guys are still so darn cute. I'm sure you didn't think that trellis was going to last that long anyway, I mean really, you let food grow on it, and they are suppose to look at it. I don't think so:D
 

Yvonne G

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A naughty tortoise, even as big as these guys are still so darn cute. I'm sure you didn't think that trellis was going to last that long anyway, I mean really, you let food grow on it, and they are suppose to look at it. I don't think so:D

One can only hope. ;) The trellises had a little wooden fence on one side and the big black tub on the other side. I really did think they could last longer than a summer.
 
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