My 2014 South African Leos

MichaelS

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I've been meaning to start this thread for oh about a year or so but life kept getting in the way. I bought a dozen South African leopard hatchlings in September 2014 ... kept 4 and sold off the rest.

Here are some photos of them, their enclosure, and a few of their room mates - some regular leos that I had over the time. I still have 2 regular leos that are kept with the 4 SAs but I will most likely sell them as my SAs get closer to maturing.

I'll try to update this post on a somewhat regular basis... enjoy.

The unboxing and first soak...
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Their indoor enclosure
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Outside enclosure
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Chow time...

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A close up of what became my 'Super Star' TriDot... more pics to follow
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The four I kept TriDot, Clover, Mancha and Tiny II...starting to put on some weight.
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Another eating pic with a couple of 'regular' leos
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And another
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Another soak on Feb 12 2015. This is Tiny II top right, bottom left is Mancha and above her is Clover.
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Some outside time
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Group shot March 27 2015 clock wise they are: TriDot, Mancha, Clover, Tiny II
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More eating on April 3 2015... clock wise from the top dark normal leo: BB, Mancha, Clover, Whitey, Tiny (Sold), Tiny II, TriDot
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I'll add some more pics soon to get this thread up to date.
 

diamondbp

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Gosh this wants to make me get a clutch of pp babies again lol. Glad to see you start this thread. I'll be following it for sure
 

Blakem

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Very nice collection! I'm never cease to be amazed at how beautiful that pattern is
 

bouaboua

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Very nice bunch Leo you have. Very pretty!
 

MichaelS

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Here is a group shot of them soaking from May 4 2015... Now the big white one 'TriDot' has to soak alone as she is too big to share the plastic tub with others.

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Some outside time in their enclosure June 2 2015

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Here is a profile of TriDot from August 3 2015. She is a year old here at 13cm and 430 grams ... the belief of "if they grow fast they will pyramid" has been debunked;)

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Group feeding on September 4 2015

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The group of four in a line up on December 17 2015 from left to right... TriDot, Clover, Mancha, Tiny II. I'm amazed at the growth rate variation in the group. I wish that I had an explanation for it but I don't... some tortoises grow fast and some grow slow... it is as simple as that.

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A full line up on my yearling group from February 5 2016 from the left... Whitey, BB, TriDot, Clover, Mancha and Tiny IIIMG_20160205_093436.jpg


A plastron shot of each for the four SAs

TriDot:
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Clover:
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Mancha
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Tiny II
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Surprise!... this is how they looked when I took off their plastic humid hide wash tub. You can just make out the border mark from the wash tub at the bottom. That is quite a tight fit.

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Tom

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Gorgeous leopards. Simply beautiful. Like Diamond, this makes me want to start with new babies again too!

I have some theories about growth rates for related hatchlings. There is always some variation, but I find there is more variation the drier they are started. I see less variation when they are started with the wet routine, but there always seems to be at least one "super-grower" in every batch.
 

MichaelS

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Thanks Tom, I agree young SAs are striking indeed;)

These are from Randy's stock. They most likely are not clutch mates but yes were started dry. That is an interesting observation on the 'dry vs wet started' growth variance. These four have been raised together from the day they came up from the ground.

My "super-grower" eats like a she is a starving lion... taking huge bites out of what ever she is eating and she eats everything I offer her... not a picky eater at all... something in her is telling her to grow, grow, grow! As of 2.1.16 (almost 18 months old) she was 7 1/2 inches SCL and weighed 1225 grams.
 

diamondbp

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@MichaelS I'm proud of you and how your group is turning out. I can't say enough about them. It sure does look like you have a herd of young females (especially Tridot) but the smaller ones could still change overnight.

I'm currently considering getting a few more with @Elohi but the economy in South Louisiana is in the tank right now so funds are tight.

I just would love to start a group knowing all that I know now just to see how different they would grow. Thank God I didn't wait to long to take Tom's advice with my current group and I ended up with some smooth healthy beauties.

I'm looking forward to watching this thread develop . You can count on me to "like" whatever you post lol
 

motero

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7.5 inches in 18 months? Amazing! Thanks for posting your group.
 

MichaelS

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@MichaelS I'm proud of you and how your group is turning out. I can't say enough about them. It sure does look like you have a herd of young females (especially Tridot) but the smaller ones could still change overnight.

I'm currently considering getting a few more with @Elohi but the economy in South Louisiana is in the tank right now so funds are tight.

I just would love to start a group knowing all that I know now just to see how different they would grow. Thank God I didn't wait to long to take Tom's advice with my current group and I ended up with some smooth healthy beauties.

I'm looking forward to watching this thread develop . You can count on me to "like" whatever you post lol

Thanks Byron I appreciate the kind words. I'm hoping I have four girls. When I selected these four to keep, looked at their tails and picked the ones that were kind of on the short side compared to the others in the group. As they grew I figured I would either have all males or all females since their tails all look to be about the same as time went on.

Yes I'm very thankful for this forum also and that I found it when I did. I have a 2 1/2-year-old male Sulcata that I cooked for about six months before switching to a closed chamber ( thank you Tom ) luckily there's very slight pyramiding and he's growing nicely now.
 

Neal

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They are all looking good.

That plump white babcocki looks fantastic!
 

MichaelS

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Well I got a pretty big surprise from my big white SA female 'TriDot' a couple of days ago... 'she' is officially a 'he'. I'll try to get some updated pics posted soon. He is about 8 inches SPL and weighs 1570 grams at 20 months old. Now I need to cross my fingers that some of the others are female.
 

Yvonne G

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I know it's easy to say after the fact, but I figured Tri-dot was male from his picture.
 

diamondbp

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Well I got a pretty big surprise from my big white SA female 'TriDot' a couple of days ago... 'she' is officially a 'he'. I'll try to get some updated pics posted soon. He is about 8 inches SPL and weighs 1570 grams at 20 months old. Now I need to cross my fingers that some of the others are female.
We'll I guess I totally wiffed on Tridot lol. That's strait downward position if the tail in the photo had me fooled. Overall SA leopards are tricky to sex. My two confirmed male SAs both developed quite differently. Those darn " super growers" typically end up male lol. Well at least you'll have one incredible male PP. Congrats
 

BeeBee*BeeLeaves

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They are all awesome. Fun to see them progress, grow. And whoa, surprise on Tri-Dot not being a Tri-Dottie. The fast growers do seem to end up being male most times. While I love them all - you so lucky - I am partial to lil Ms. BB. Little and feisty Ms. BB, yes?
 

J.P.

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Well I got a pretty big surprise from my big white SA female 'TriDot' a couple of days ago... 'she' is officially a 'he'.
Do you have updated pics of tridot's tail? the plastron shot you posted a while ago looks very much like one of mine who is about the same size.
i have three leos and i'm very much hoping for a good sex ratio.
 

J.P.

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OT: @MichaelS
Is your large babcocki male or female? perhaps i should be comparing mine with that instead of tridot since i also have babcocks. my suspected female has a very nice round dome just like yours.
 

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