Update pictures of our Cherryhead Dale

[Candy]

I thought that I would post some updated pictures of our Cherryhead, Dale. He is about 10 years old now. We have two females for him, but have not yet put them together since the girls are younger. We had gotten Dale for our son for Christmas a few years back. At that time I had posted some pictures of him and a few members said that he was probably shipped over from Brazil since he had a sticker mark on his Plastron. I think that it was Terry K that had said that at the time. Anyway, we think he's turned out to be a beauty. I have him inside now in our kitchen and he follows me everywhere making that noise that they make. He also follows around that Labradors. They don't really know what to think about him, although they do enjoy when he leaves his pumpkin and butternut squash for them.

 

[Candy]

I tried to add these, but they didn't take so I'm adding them in a new post.

 

[Yvonne G]

You should post more often. We miss you. I always show your indoor habitat that you had in the boys' bedroom when folks are looking for RF habitat ideas. Do you still use that one?

The tortoise looks great!

 

[tortdad]

Awesome


0.0.1 Redfoot (Spike)
0.0.1 Cherryhead Redfoot (Bruce Wayne)
1.0 Sulcata (Hal Jordan)

 

[CharlieM]

Very handsome!
How old are the females? When will he meet them?

 

[Candy]

Thank you Yvonne. I do still have it although it is outside housing Houdini for the winter. My husband insulated it for him so he can stay warm. I keep him in it at night and let him out in the daytime. I have a pig blanket inside for him to use. Today it was 72 so I think all of the torts enjoyed their few hours outside.

The females are around 5 years old. I will probably put them together in the summer months. The funny thing is that I don't have any desire for them to breed, although I'm sure they do. I will post a thread on them soon so you can see what they look like too.

 

[terryo]

What a great job you did with him Candy. He is absolutely beautiful!!

 

[cdmay]

Wow Candy! Nice job of raising Dale up. He looks just perfect and has great color too.

 

[gingerbee]

I tried to add these, but they didn't take so I'm adding them in a new post. View attachment 105055 View attachment 105054

What a beauty!! Nice smooth shell.

 

[stojanovski92113]

That is a beautiful tortoise you have

 

[Candy]

Thanks everyone, but I can't take credit for his shell. When I got him he was smooth as can be. My other two that I raised from babies are not smooth like him. I'm not sure why that it. I know that others have their theories, but I have really no idea why Dale continues to be smooth and the girls are somewhat bumpy.

 

[stojanovski92113]

Even the face is just stunning

 

[allegraf]

Handsome devil!

 

[AmRoKo]

He is beautiful!

 

[immayo]

Very pretty coloring!
Do you have pics of the females?

 

[Redstrike]

Wow, he's a nice looking fella!

 

[Candy]

Here are the females. Although I tried, they do not have a smooth shell like Dale. The marbled one is Ruby and the other one is Little Eddie. Although Eddie is younger, she is the bigger of the two females. Ruby is one that I got from Tyler Stewart's and Eddie is one that I got from Douglas Beard. Dale we bought from a pet store. The last picture is of Dale. See the difference in the shells?

 

[stojanovski92113]

They are great looking tortoises!!! So beautiful! I can't wait for my 2 cherry heads to get big! I got mine from Jeff-N2Torts on the forum.

 

[Candy]

These are pictures of the girls taken tonight.

 

[cdmay]

Candy,
Those females are fine! Although they have some inflated scutes, it is all symmetrical and their shells are not flattened out or flared. Female cherry-heads are often more domed than males anyway and I would bet that even if 'perfect', both Little Eddie (great name) and Ruby would still be very different in shape to Dale. The prominent knob on the rear of Little Eddie's carapace is only slightly more inflated than many other female cherry-heads with otherwise normal shells. Plus, that marbling on Little Eddie is great!
Dale is a perfect beauty as anyone can see.