Uncle Bri Update

Fredkas

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Apr 5, 2016
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Hi all, I've been exceptionally delinquent in providing updates on Uncle Bri. I love seeing updates on ALL the other Aldabra's on the forum and so I am embarrassed that I have not provided any myself.

Uncle Bri - He is approx. 4 years, 9 months old. He is between 50 and 56 pounds depending the day I weight him, and he is 20" long. He's as awesome as ever! Thank goodness it's finally summer here and Bri can spend much of his time outside. He is eating and growing well. I think maybe he has slowed his growth slightly, but i am not sure about that. He definitely goes through growth spurts. For example, he passed 50 lbs for the first time 7 weeks ago, and hit a high of 56, but has weighed between 50 and 53 lbs every week for the past 6. I had him on antibiotics for the first time ever for a short time over the winter because he had a runny nose. His activity level and eating had not changed. My vet was unsure if it was RNS or not, was not very concerned, but decided to prescribe just in case. It was a challenge to administer the meds. We decided on large pills that I could break into peices as needed and it was easy to fool him the first couple times by hiding it in a bite of banana or something, but he wised up pretty quick and started to really smell closely everything i fed him, so i had to get pretty creative with masking the smell and the visual. I also turned up the heat a bit. The meds worked or he recovered on his own.
He's doing great now.

My fence enclosure is still not fully done, though I continue to make progress.

The big news is that in March I added two new Aldabra's to the herd. I simply am convinced that companionship has value and did not want Uncle Bri to go through life alone without another life nearby. I will begin a new post on those guys soon. I am including a photo! They are kept separate for now because I needed to quaranteen them and because they are way too small to share space with Uncle Bri.

Uncle Bri does live with Larry Bird, a 4 year old African Leopard tortoise, and has for 3 years. They seem to get along fine, although we've discovered that Larry Bird is a male and tries to mount Uncle Bri all the time. I am not sure if I should be concerned about this or not? Larry Bird is only 4 pounds and seems to be nothing more than a bit of pest. If anyone has thoughts on this behavior I be happy to listen.

These photos are Bri after he walked through the sprinkler.

Please note that only one image is uploading. Tiny pic is not working and I keep getting "deleted" notifications in my post. Such a pain! it's so time consuming to use tinypic. Is there another way?!!!

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I love him very much. So pretty, sorry i missed your update. Well, i need more and more picture if you don't mind.
Look at that rear leg :<3:
 

ben awes

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Jul 30, 2013
Messages
436
I'm in the Twin Cities - yep, we share the winter problem! Are those your first large tort species? How big are they now?
 

Shuo

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Jun 16, 2017
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I'm in the Twin Cities - yep, we share the winter problem! Are those your first large tort species? How big are they now?
I had them only for 2weeks so I'm pretty new
And one weigh 24g one is 34g now
Do any breeders around in the twin cities area ?
 

Alaskamike

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Great updates Ben , I so wish I'd bitten the bullet and got 2-3 when I bought CupCake. They are one of the few torts that play well together. Truly gentle giants.
 

ben awes

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Jul 30, 2013
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Uncle Bri and friends are doing well. New ones are growing and active and healthy. Just started letting them spend some time together. They've been here 7 months and have been healthy the whole time. Uncle Bri seems interested at times and they all hang out nearby each other.

I do have a question that concerns me that I wanted to ask you all about. Last time I checked in i still had Larry Bird, my last holdover Leopard Tortoise hatchling. He was 4ish pounds, several years old and was trying to mount Uncle Bri. You all advised that I might need to consider removing the leopard from the scene because they can bite as part of the mating deal. I did see him nip at Uncle Bri and so I, very reluctantly, sold him this past spring.

Well, just last week Uncle Bri was trying to mount Job 12:7 (that's my more round one's name)!!! Uncle Bri is just 5 years old, but is he old enough to be mounting? WTH! I thought they were not sexually mature until 25 years old! And, btw, Uncle Bri has always looked female to me; very short tale, more round shell, no concavity to plastron.

What do folks think? Do females ever exhibit this behavior? Does this mean that Uncle Bri is for sure male?

Thanks all!
Ben

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Alaskamike

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I've had several experiences with both males & females " mounting " another tortoise. Several species also. And it not be a sexual move.

Someone with more Aldabras would have a better idea - but. Mounting frequently is a " get outta my space " move. It can be dominance. Not. necessarily a sexual one.

5 is too young ( I think ) for an Aldabra to have the hormones raging.

I'll let other more experienced Aldabra keepers weight in. :)
 

ben awes

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Jul 30, 2013
Messages
436
What are your plans for housing them when they get much larger?

I’m constantly thinking about what my plan will be. Currently In the winterthey are housed in my basement, they have an area it’s about 10‘ x 8‘ that will soon be expanded to be about 18‘ x 15‘, with plans in the works for a heated garage, with the possibility of moving to an entirely new property at some point.
 

wellington

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Uncle Bri and friends are doing well. New ones are growing and active and healthy. Just started letting them spend some time together. They've been here 7 months and have been healthy the whole time. Uncle Bri seems interested at times and they all hang out nearby each other.

I do have a question that concerns me that I wanted to ask you all about. Last time I checked in i still had Larry Bird, my last holdover Leopard Tortoise hatchling. He was 4ish pounds, several years old and was trying to mount Uncle Bri. You all advised that I might need to consider removing the leopard from the scene because they can bite as part of the mating deal. I did see him nip at Uncle Bri and so I, very reluctantly, sold him this past spring.

Well, just last week Uncle Bri was trying to mount Job 12:7 (that's my more round one's name)!!! Uncle Bri is just 5 years old, but is he old enough to be mounting? WTH! I thought they were not sexually mature until 25 years old! And, btw, Uncle Bri has always looked female to me; very short tale, more round shell, no concavity to plastron.

What do folks think? Do females ever exhibit this behavior? Does this mean that Uncle Bri is for sure male?

Thanks all!
Ben

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Omg, when did you get two more? I am so behind on your updates here.
Oh and @ALDABRAMAN if he's not too busy getting his place back together can probably answer your concerns the best.
 
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