# Colombian Red-Footed Twins



## cdmay (Mar 5, 2012)

After several years of thinking about it I finally dug out the few remaining slides images I had saved from back in the day. I took them to the local drug store where the lady assured me that the quality of their processing was, to quote her, "Not very good." I appreciate honesty and sure enough she was right. The quality of the images that were transferred to a disc are indeed pretty awful. But at least you can get an idea of what was on the slide.
The first photo is of egg #232. According the my slide (Ektachrome) it was laid sometime in 1984. The female that produced this odd, peanut shaped thing was named 'Bullet' because of the shape of her carapace. She was an import from Colombia that belonged to famed turtle lady Ellen Nicol who had been a great friend of mine since I was a teenager. Ellen had kept this female for 21 years before I got her in the late 1970's and I kept her for about 10 years after that. Bullet was one of those solid yellow and black Colombian red-footed tortoises that have been discussed elsewhere on this forum. Her carapace was mostly jet black and what little color her head and legs had was a clean yellow with a little bit of white. She was a sweetheart of a tortoise though and a very prolific breeder--I hatched over 200 eggs of hers over the years.
Anyway, here is a photo of the egg...







Although I deeply regret it now, I didn't keep any of my records from back then and so I don't have any measurements of that egg. But I can tell you that is was huge as all of Bullet's eggs (and hatchlings) were very large. This double egg was a giant. You can see by the size of it in my friend Ted Tuchak's hand how large it was.

When the egg hatched two perfectly formed and un-attached neonates were inside. Each was separate from the other with its own yolksac. 
Like the parents, these two were absolutely black and yellow red-foots without a hint of any other color except some greenish white around their eyes. In their own way these color forms of _C. carbonaria _are absolutely gorgeous I think.
This is the only image I have of the two fraternal twins...






While obviously very similar in appearance their head patterns show some variation. I wish that I had taken more photos and kept all of my old notes. But I wish more that I had kept that pair of yellow Colombians!


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## l0velesly (Mar 5, 2012)

Very cool twins!


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## nicoleandrocky (Mar 5, 2012)

wow thats awesome!


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## coreyc (Mar 5, 2012)

That's two Kool


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## Tropical Torts (Mar 5, 2012)

That is abosolutely amazing. I cant decide which is cooler, your triplets or the conjoined eggs!!


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## Snapper925 (Mar 5, 2012)

That is so cool! It would of.been pretty cool raising those two!


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## dmarcus (Mar 6, 2012)

Thats pretty cool...


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## allegraf (Mar 6, 2012)

Your hands are huge so those eggs must be XL! There must be something in your water since you also hatched the triplets! Very cool story and pictures. 

Allegra


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## ada caro (Mar 6, 2012)

This is awesome.


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## Redstrike (Mar 6, 2012)

Thanks for pics and great story! I think some people mistake this color morph as a yellow foot, even my vet seems convinced that there's been a lot of hybridization between redfoots and yellowfoots, I'm less convinced. I think there is more "hybridization" between localities (Northern, Eastern/Brazilian, Guyan, etc.), which could turn out to be subspecies.


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## N2TORTS (Mar 6, 2012)

Great thread .......and accomplishment ...thanks for sharing !


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## ALDABRAMAN (Mar 8, 2012)

N2TORTS said:


> Great thread .......and accomplishment ...thanks for sharing !



 Yes, interesting.


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