Where did my Marbled come from?And will it always stay a marble?

[Hustler]

To be 100% honest..... Ive never seen a marbled cherryhead in the 15 years ive been keeping reptiles.... And i chaulk this up to being from alberta canada (i shoveled snow this weekend.......).
The first one I seen i bought and shipped here from 4 provinces over lol and then I got to see all yours when i joined this forum and still there dont seem to be alot of them seeing the numbers or groups you guys have
Where do they come from exactly? And do they retain this coloring into adulthood?
Are they as rare as they seem?
Mine is about 6 inches now and from the pics as a baby its gotten more noticable as it grows.... Is this common?
If and when i find out the sex and can pair it with another cherryhead will the patterns be passed down at all to the offspring?
Also the top scute? scale? of its shell seems to be almost split in two, Ive seen a few on here like this, are they all from the same parents?
Here are some pics of my baby,

 

[Angi]

It is a pretty tort

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Come to think of it, I can not recall ever seeing one either. Your tort looksoutstanding. Also, love the background with all the other tortoises........Hustler you should really post more pictures from time to time, you are a natural!

 

[allegraf]

The marbling is not really "common" per se, but it is not unusual. There seems to be two different types of marbling, the more common type develops with new growth that will eventually darken with age and exposure to the sun. Likewise, if a tort is kept mostly inside, the new growth marbling may be more intense and last longer, like a suntan. By the time the tort reaches adulthood, the marbling tends to become faded and hard to see, unless you wet them up.

We have a sub female that has marbling patterns that are uncommon. Her marbling appears to be holding steady, even out in the Florida sun. Her marbling also appears to radiate from the areola instead of along the seams of the new growth. Carl May's 2010 marbled hatchling may be of a similar type, but we will have to watch it as it grows.

Allegra

Here are some pics of the more common marbling:
This is one of our holdback 2010 hatchlings:

Two of our subs where the marbling will eventually fade:

One of Carl May's 2010 hatchlings, may hold the marbling as it ages:

The most extreme marbling that we have:

 

[Candy]

I really love the second to the last picture Allegraf.

 

[Jessicap]

All are beautiful. I wish my Sid was so smooth.

 

[N2TORTS]

Very nice Marbled ya got Allegraf.... Explanation well read too!
Although I do have a " wild" one off.....I have never seen , nor some other "long termers".... and thats the one Redfoot I have ...." she has the most bizzar marbling that just dosnt show up on camera all that well" ... Its more of a patterned "varigated" and "YELLOW" not white ...She has retained this pattern with no other signs of growing or fading in color in the last 2 years ....sorta neat~o ... just thought I'd share!

JD~

 

[Redfoot NERD]

Hustler that is a very well "marbled" redfoot you have found!

My experience shows the marbling to start at about a year and hit full development at about 18 months +/-.. which on the average is 5-6 inches -- Hustler @ about 6" you must have enormous hands! I say that because of the intensity of that marbling compared to size. [ maybe it's the angle of the pics ]

Yes that is what's called a "split-scute" on the carapace ( top shell ) the cause in not yet proven only speculated.. high incubation temperatures.(?)

Allegra's is one of the most intense "marbling" you will likely ever see. Carl May had/has one similar.

And yes the marbling seems to fade.. most often.. by at least the 3rd year 7-8".

A few in my group.. 6" - 8" average ~

Above now at 3 years old.. ruler is 7" total - fading marbling -

Nice plastron -

The "bumpy/pyramided" ones were not raised with adequate humidity ( diet? ).. coming from different sources at 6-7". The others I raised from hatchlings.

Hope this helps...

NERD

 

[TebowHammer]

Hey guys!

This is my first time seeing a marbled redfoot, and I gotta say...

Simply Beautiful! All of them.

 

[Hustler]

Amazing marbles guys.....Simply amazing
I will be lucky to come across another probably in my lifetime up here i think but fingers crossed all the same
I truly love this guy and have been in awe of him since the first pic i saw of it, Up here what we have is pretty much all we have as we cannot import or bring them from the USA at all and that makes anything cool really really hard to get and expensive lol
NERD here is a pic i just shot to show size, I think i get what you were saying but my hands are kina big too so

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ALDRABA,
Thank you very much taking pics is another one of my hobbys mostly with fish

 

[N2TORTS]

Amazing marbles guys.....Simply amazing
I will be lucky to come across another probably in my lifetime up here i think but fingers crossed all the same
I truly love this guy and have been in awe of him since the first pic i saw of it, Up here what we have is pretty much all we have as we cannot import or bring them from the USA at all and that makes anything cool really really hard to get and expensive lol
NERD here is a pic i just shot to show size, I think i get what you were saying but my hands are kina big too so

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ALDRABA,
Thank you very much taking pics is another one of my hobbys mostly with fish

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Hustler..... you too buddy ! ... Very nice looking cherry , love the tape " lay out" .... gives me a good idea, and as others have stated, alot of the Adult Marbled Cherrys that have been known and shown the last few years , are scarce and just as a keen score here. Surprisingly enough alot of the RF/ Cherry keepers in here have direct related bloodines within their collection with other keepers in the US.... rather known, expressed or discussed. Even the so called 80's Herd has been distributed thru out over the last 5 years...... Adults , Subs and hatchlings.

JD~

 

[allegraf]

So you see, not so common but not unusual.

 

[N2TORTS]

Here are my four " Alpha " Females.....some a lil more marbled than others ....

HAppy Tort~N

JD~