Live naked people

[Kapidolo Farms]

Rose hips are a good part of variety. They have a very high content of the beta-carotene. See HERE.

All species of tortoise can benefit from rose hips in their diet. The frequency and amount should be less than 2-3% per meal or week. The idea is too make each food prep different. A little goes a long way for that purpose. Leafy weedy greens should be the bulk of the diet for the species you mention. Forest dwelling species can have more rose hips in their daily food, but still skip a few days before offering it again, no matter the species.

I have a question, I am currently soaking cactus and hibiscus for my tortoises tomorrow. (Leopard, Eastern and Western Hermanns) can I give all of them the rose hips? Thank you

 

[Ink]

Thank you I give it as a treat. And tomorrow they will have a feast from your farm.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=225913722287302

Do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight.

 

[Sarah2020]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=225913722287302

Do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight.

Brilliant, what a character.

 

[Yvonne G]

@Kapidolo Farms : Your thread about pit tags in "Advanced Tortoise Topics" is it for all members to add their info or just for your own tortoises?

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

@Kapidolo Farms : Your thread about pit tags in "Advanced Tortoise Topics" is it for all members to add their info or just for your own tortoises?

It's for anyone, and a few others have added animals.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

@Yvonne G

 

[Yvonne G]

Thanks, Will.

 

[TeamZissou]

@Yvonne G

I really enjoyed this podcast and hearing about your background. It also inspired me to get more variety into my tortoise feed via dried food. When I started with tortoises, I was grew stuff to feed from seed mixes, but eventually got busy and have been feeding a lot of grocery store stuff over the past year+. I bought a bunch of your stuff and am determined to get them to eat it!

 

[Yvonne G]

So irritating! I set up a spotify account then clicked on Will's link and it took me to the app store. So I clicked on the download button and got spotify MUSIC downloaded onto my Kindle. Misic is the LAST thing I'd EVER want on my Kindle, but I figured I needed it in order to watch and hear the podcast. so I clicked on the link Will provided again and finally it looks like I'm going to get to the podcast. BUT the sound is SO quiet I can't even hear it with two hearing aids and Kindle pressed onto my ear, and the sound on the Kindle turned up far as it will go. I've spent 15 minutes on the darned thing and am so irritated I need to go take a Nervine and pet the dog!!!! SHEESH!

 

[jaizei]

So irritating! I set up a spotify account then clicked on Will's link and it took me to the app store. So I clicked on the download button and got spotify MUSIC downloaded onto my Kindle. Misic is the LAST thing I'd EVER want on my Kindle, but I figured I needed it in order to watch and hear the podcast. so I clicked on the link Will provided again and finally it looks like I'm going to get to the podcast. BUT the sound is SO quiet I can't even hear it with two hearing aids and Kindle pressed onto my ear, and the sound on the Kindle turned up far as it will go. I've spent 15 minutes on the darned thing and am so irritated I need to go take a Nervine and pet the dog!!!! SHEESH!

You should be able to listen thru a browser on the page that opens up, without a Spotify account or using the app. Just 'x' out of any popup windows.

Alternatively, this should let you listen thru a browser also. Just click play

RAD Reptiles

A podcast dedicated to turtles, tortoises and people who love them. We talk about Care, conservation and anything related to our shelled friends.

rad-reptiles.com

 

[Yvonne G]

You should be able to listen thru a browser on the page that opens up, without a Spotify account or using the app. Just 'x' out of any popup windows.

Alternatively, this should let you listen thru a browser also. Just click play

RAD Reptiles

A podcast dedicated to turtles, tortoises and people who love them. We talk about Care, conservation and anything related to our shelled friends.

rad-reptiles.com

I don't have speakers on my computer, so I have to use the Kindle. When I click on Will's link it takes me to the app store. Later after my chores I'll try your link on the Kindle, thanks!

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

A new better functioning web page is closer to completion. Once done these options and better Cactus Chips, the love and bain of Kapidolo Farms, will be on it.
I've tried many methods to produce a consistent quality product. Each method effort sells out quicker than I can produce. I partnered to optimize throughput and quality with associates. The top bag is what I've made for the past 5 years, the bottom is the result of the new method. These will still be 'backyard harvest' the more common boutique term is 'wild crafted'.
I had enough feedback that the larger pieces, now former method (top of the frame) were too stringy, those bits that look like white thread, also the much desired fiber, would not be consumed by smaller tortoises.
I decided to try and get a better cross cut on the fresh pads to retain that fiber, but as shorter lengths. These new Cactus Chips accomplish that. The method that creates this particle size is also more efficient in the dehydrator taking less time at the protein retaining low temperature I use.
They also pack better. Production method is streamlined and produces a more consistent product, more quickly.
I hope I don't have to post 'out of stock' once the ramp up in production is complete. The price will drop a little and 2 ounce bags will be included as part of the 'soaker' variety pack under the 'Backyard harvest' submenu on the webpage. The other items in the 'soaker' variety pack are organic sourced, hibiscus, rooibos, honey bush, and rosehips. As the Cactus Chip are backyard harvest this variety pack will be in that submenu.
'Super Soakers' comprised of all organic sourced items will still list in the 'organic sourced' submenu. That variety pack is four ounces each of hibiscus, rooibos, honey bush, and rose hips.
'soakers' are item with a dual use, make a cold brew tea and color flavor any pelleted foods, and also include the moist softened item.
Cactus Chips are whooly unique to Kapidolo Farms. Invented by my pancake tortoise colony in 2014.

 

[Mikey’s mom]

@Will - I hope you don't mind that I post my feeding here too. Afterall, you are the one who gave me the idea.

So yesterday I went grocery shopping and outside the front door of the store they had these "bushel baskets"??? stacked up to sell.

Will had been telling me it would be much easier in the a.m.s when I'm mixing up the tortoise food if I were to use a big cement mixing tub like he does and just get in there and toss it all around with my hands. So I looked at those tubs outside the store, placed my fist under my chin, and said, "Hm-m-m-m-m. . ." I bought one. And he was right. It IS much easier to mix up the food in a larger container:

View attachment 204291

First I put in three scoops (a 2-cup measuring cup) of Mazuri, then one scoop of bermuda grass pellets and a scoop of Purina Layena. I added water until it was all submerged and let it sit. In the meantime, I went outside and cut several small branches off the mulberry tree, a couple stems of prickly lettuce and a couple stems of mallow. By the time I got back into the house all the pellets were mushy. I added the stuff from outside along with 6 heads of romaine, a bag of collards and a bag of kale. I had a bit of iceberg garden salad left over from my lunch and I also added that. Mixing it all up with my hands, I was able to break apart the clumps of soggy pellets so that it coats the greens. And now, with the handles, I no longer have to balance three dish pans of food while trying to open the door to get them all outside. I cut the leaves off the stems, and cut up the lettuce so it would all mix together better.

I used to chop up food for the babies, but I'm going to try feeding them from this mixture too. If they eat it, no more baby chopping! Whoopee!

I also have a wonderful food grinder given to me by a very nice friend, and on the days I feed veggies like zucchini, carrots, etc. I will grind up those with the food grinder and mix it in too.

Thanks, Will.

I feed this to all my tortoises and box turtles (leopard, manouria, YF, RF, Aldabran, desert, sulcata. For some I also add in the occasional fruit)

Thank you so much for this iam always looking for new ways to feed my sulcata tortoise she is 9 years

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Forever and a day ago I posted content here. Kapidolo Farms is now a DBA of Lone Star Tortoises Ranches. When you register your corporate name in one state and move and incorporate in another state you need a new original name. I'm in Texas now with a 36 and 33 acres farm. I bought the first place in May of 2024 then the second place that fall. Im on a very steep learning curve, I had to throw myself into chaos or experience a slow living death in SoCal.

I've been on the ground here since the week before Xmas 2025. In a little over three months I've gotten much done, but it seems like such a small amount of what I need to do. A cactus garden is well established now, more to come to go in the ground soon - bunnies will eat it if I don't protect is with no larger a wire mesh than 2 x 2. 1 x 2 would be better. They push their face as far as possible into the wire mesh to reach any piece of any pad close enough.

I bought four 10 x 30' chicken coops from one of those Chinese web sites, they are here, BUT, the enclosures are as much or more about keeping predators out as tortoises in, so I'll surround each coops' perimeter with the abundant on site aluminum siding place a foot or so into the ground. Those predators include skunks, raccoons, badgers, opossums, bobcats, foxes, coyotes, feral pigs and javalina. The ground is so hard the full downward force of a skid steer won't push t-posts into the ground. So I bought a used trencher, which is getting serviced, I'll set at least one up with my idea of the siding into the ground and see what happens. I'll bait the coop with vulturine guinea fowl to see what happens. If no animal gets in there, they will hopefully have learned what predators are about, I'll let them out to free range and consider the coop tortoise safe. Did I mention Cara Caras, a bird that is predatory and flies enough to get ontop of poles, but also runs on the ground like a road runner. There are also road runners.

If the chicken coop 'proof of concept' works, I'll get a conduit/pipe bender and build more coops from scratch, I'll be able to make bigger coops.

I also bought a greenhouse, 10 x 40. I'll use the trencher to dig a double wide trench and put in a concrete and building block footer. I'll like to raise it from 6.5 feet tall in the center to about 8 feet tall, so I have head and small tree room. With a footer I'll also, be able to push the wind resistance up from 65mph to about 80-85 mph. I now have ginkgo, toon, many types of mulberry, moringa and fig trees here. Passion fruit and banana trees soon. I'm in the USDA hardiness zone 9b, but at least two winters in the last ten years have really pushed that limit.

Texas farms/ranch properties have two basic fence designations, they may have legal definitions, but the practical definitions relates to keeping hoof stock on one side or the other. All these leafy trees will have to be behind an 8 foot fence, maybe 10 foot (a tall fence). versus a cattle sheep, goat It's not just about keeping leaping deer out, but also feral pigs at the ground level. A 'low fence is what you might think of as strands of barbed wire, but also 4 x 4 woven wire, or 'cattle' panels.

I bought a skid steer, a JCB tele handler. My brother in law calls it a force multiplier. I've driven many exotic pieces of farm equipment and high reach forklifts etc. This is a whole higher level of eye/hand coordination. But I'm getting it. There are trencher attachments for skid steers, but then the 'trencher' would be 6 feet wide, the trencher I got is a toro trx 20, track laying but only 30 inches wide. and why run up engine hours on the skid steer.

I absorbed some of Sasquatch's collection, 12 very large redfoots, eight large (not giant) yellowfoots, and a few others. I'm getting eggs from the redfoots so far.

There was an "incident" while I was still in Carlsbad, and it seemed best to distribute most of my collection among trusted keepers. So the push to unburden these people with my animals is real, and so the chicken coops must get in ASAP. All the animals here right now are indoors until I get a grasp on the wild predators here.

There are also rats, damn it. The fowl should take them out, or I'll end up having chicken coop cats. Right now thats a tomorrow problem.


There's a large metal building on one of the two properties, 40 x 50 x 18. I had a wall built down the center so one end has two giant roll up doors a full size freight truck could drive through, the other side has a single man door. I had a small roll up door and a man door built on the divider wall. There was a person here (presence for theft deterrent) for while and he managed to make the two giant door dysfunctional. One had a chain hoist so tight that if I wasn't fat the door coming down would have picked me up. The other side had a power hoist which fell off the wall from incorrect use. I got those fixed as well as the new door in the new wall (which did not work because the installer tried an experiment for sealing around the door and it could not be raised.) All the doors work now. BUT the door with the power chain hoist was always open a few inches. A skunk came in, I did not know, until I was able to close the doors all the way. It got very upset and pulled insulation off the wall trying to get out. I'd open the door some and chase it, but hiding became more important when I was there, so I left to door open overnight and it left. They are really good looking little animals, I see the attraction people have for them, but rabies and the smell. No thank you.

More Lone Star Tortoise Ranches (LSTR) will be coming. I'm going to make short videos of building the coops and greenhouse for FaceBook and YouTube. I'll post the YouTube links here as they get made.

 

[COmtnLady]

Good to know all this... I wondered why you hadn't been around as much recently.

Have you tried electrifying the perimeter(s)? I'd think it would get the attention of the rabbits for sure. Pigs might be whole nother ball of wax.

 

[jaizei]

I'll end up having chicken coop cats.

For rodents, its probably the most effective solution. Having dogs on property helps deter most of the other predators you listed. AK for the hogs.

 

[Blackdog1714]

Good luck with the pigs! My buddy is from Texas and every 6 months goes back to help hunt his family's farm to cut down the population.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Forever and a day ago I posted content here. Kapidolo Farms is now a DBA of Lone Star Tortoises Ranches. When you register your corporate name in one state and move and incorporate in another state you need a new original name. I'm in Texas now with a 36 and 33 acres farm. I bought the first place in May of 2024 then the second place that fall. Im on a very steep learning curve, I had to throw myself into chaos or experience a slow living death in SoCal.

I've been on the ground here since the week before Xmas 2025. In a little over three months I've gotten much done, but it seems like such a small amount of what I need to do. A cactus garden is well established now, more to come to go in the ground soon - bunnies will eat it if I don't protect is with no larger a wire mesh than 2 x 2. 1 x 2 would be better. They push their face as far as possible into the wire mesh to reach any piece of any pad close enough.

I bought four 10 x 30' chicken coops from one of those Chinese web sites, they are here, BUT, the enclosures are as much or more about keeping predators out as tortoises in, so I'll surround each coops' perimeter with the abundant on site aluminum siding place a foot or so into the ground. Those predators include skunks, raccoons, badgers, opossums, bobcats, foxes, coyotes, feral pigs and javalina. The ground is so hard the full downward force of a skid steer won't push t-posts into the ground. So I bought a used trencher, which is getting serviced, I'll set at least one up with my idea of the siding into the ground and see what happens. I'll bait the coop with vulturine guinea fowl to see what happens. If no animal gets in there, they will hopefully have learned what predators are about, I'll let them out to free range and consider the coop tortoise safe. Did I mention Cara Caras, a bird that is predatory and flies enough to get ontop of poles, but also runs on the ground like a road runner. There are also road runners.

If the chicken coop 'proof of concept' works, I'll get a conduit/pipe bender and build more coops from scratch, I'll be able to make bigger coops.

I also bought a greenhouse, 10 x 40. I'll use the trencher to dig a double wide trench and put in a concrete and building block footer. I'll like to raise it from 6.5 feet tall in the center to about 8 feet tall, so I have head and small tree room. With a footer I'll also, be able to push the wind resistance up from 65mph to about 80-85 mph. I now have ginkgo, toon, many types of mulberry, moringa and fig trees here. Passion fruit and banana trees soon. I'm in the USDA hardiness zone 9b, but at least two winters in the last ten years have really pushed that limit.

Texas farms/ranch properties have two basic fence designations, they may have legal definitions, but the practical definitions relates to keeping hoof stock on one side or the other. All these leafy trees will have to be behind an 8 foot fence, maybe 10 foot (a tall fence). versus a cattle sheep, goat It's not just about keeping leaping deer out, but also feral pigs at the ground level. A 'low fence is what you might think of as strands of barbed wire, but also 4 x 4 woven wire, or 'cattle' panels.

I bought a skid steer, a JCB tele handler. My brother in law calls it a force multiplier. I've driven many exotic pieces of farm equipment and high reach forklifts etc. This is a whole higher level of eye/hand coordination. But I'm getting it. There are trencher attachments for skid steers, but then the 'trencher' would be 6 feet wide, the trencher I got is a toro trx 20, track laying but only 30 inches wide. and why run up engine hours on the skid steer.

I absorbed some of Sasquatch's collection, 12 very large redfoots, eight large (not giant) yellowfoots, and a few others. I'm getting eggs from the redfoots so far.

There was an "incident" while I was still in Carlsbad, and it seemed best to distribute most of my collection among trusted keepers. So the push to unburden these people with my animals is real, and so the chicken coops must get in ASAP. All the animals here right now are indoors until I get a grasp on the wild predators here.

There are also rats, damn it. The fowl should take them out, or I'll end up having chicken coop cats. Right now thats a tomorrow problem.


There's a large metal building on one of the two properties, 40 x 50 x 18. I had a wall built down the center so one end has two giant roll up doors a full size freight truck could drive through, the other side has a single man door. I had a small roll up door and a man door built on the divider wall. There was a person here (presence for theft deterrent) for while and he managed to make the two giant door dysfunctional. One had a chain hoist so tight that if I wasn't fat the door coming down would have picked me up. The other side had a power hoist which fell off the wall from incorrect use. I got those fixed as well as the new door in the new wall (which did not work because the installer tried an experiment for sealing around the door and it could not be raised.) All the doors work now. BUT the door with the power chain hoist was always open a few inches. A skunk came in, I did not know, until I was able to close the doors all the way. It got very upset and pulled insulation off the wall trying to get out. I'd open the door some and chase it, but hiding became more important when I was there, so I left to door open overnight and it left. They are really good looking little animals, I see the attraction people have for them, but rabies and the smell. No thank you.

More Lone Star Tortoise Ranches (LSTR) will be coming. I'm going to make short videos of building the coops and greenhouse for FaceBook and YouTube. I'll post the YouTube links here as they get made.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Sone of the hurdles in why it took so long to get here from month of fist purchase ot late Dec 2025. In retrospect it seems silly. At the moment cause for deep depression.

My niece had been helping me at reptile shows and that stretched into taking care of the animals when I was moving stuff from SoCal to Texas. She has a pretty busy life, I was grateful for the help. But it was very spotty and one trip every few months seemed to have pushed past her interest to help, I was paying her really well, but that has it's limits to be an attractant. So, I found a woman who was willing to live in a room in the house and the exclusive use of the bathroom closest to the room. She was there for four days before her dark secret (serious drug addition) came out. Details of that seem sorta stupid. After she realized that she was unreliable, I asked her to leave. She did right away. Her parting gift was to use the local Human Society to question how many tortoises I had, and the health of my cat.

My cat was indeed in ill health, and under constant veternary care ($2,000 to $6,000 a month). The tortoise were all doing great. But as we all know a fresh water tray is an invitation to drink and poop. So two young women (could have been in a TV show "SD-HS stat" came by based on the 'helpers' report. They saw the extensive medical history of my cat and let that go. They wanted to see the tortoises. There is a dichotomy here, tell them no, and be considered evasive etc. or let them see and be cooperative. I've almost always elected to be cooperative for the win in the situation. This time that was a mistake.

We walked around and looked at all the enclosures, it's well past n noon and all the morning water changes have poop in them. This was not considered okay. They left. I asked as they left what was going to be the follow-up. they had to check with there supervisor.

They called to come back, again a mid afternoon visit. Before I opened the door, I told them most of the water trays will have poop in them, it's just what tortoises do. To illustrate that I told them I'd chnage a water tray in the first enclosure, and by the time we circled around it would be pooped in water again. That's how it happened. Less than an hour, and the tortoises pooped in the water again. This visit Humane society people were also a little. more invasive, opening enclosures to take photos. Confusing algae with mold on interior plastic enclosure surfaces, not liking that plants flourishing in enclosures also had dead leaves, picky stupid stuff. They could not tell very different species apart, P. planicuada were no more significant than leopard tortoises. As they left I again asked about follow-up, and again they said their supervisor would make some determination.


A few days to a week later they called and wanted to come back again. I told them that I dispersed all the tortoises but a few. fFom well over 100, to about a dozen. So, Come back anytime. They set a day, but did not show up, did not respond to what going on inquires from me, ghosted.


They eventually called to come back that third time. I pushed hard, that they would need to make some determination, either cite me for something or give me some kind or 'matter is resolved' document. They never came back.


So, between the first and second visit I did a deep dive on the internet. The SD humane society is not well managed. They have endangered species in permanent holding, pygmy hippos, confiscated many hundreds of rodents that were transferred to other human societies that ended up with a snake breeder as food. I had a serendipitous meeting with that breeders "they all knew what I was doing" after invoking help from tortoise friends to hold my tortoises. I had nightmares that the more rare species would end up in weird places. It cost about $10,000 to get all the animals placed. But compared to the value of the tortoises, that was insignificant. I told all the holders what ever reproduction that happens on your shift is 100% yours. That's amounted to more than the cost to move them all.

What if my niece had just kept helping? What if that woman had just done what she said she would do? Question like bare no fruit, so I drop them. What if, what if?

Onsite property manager nightmare will come soon as an installment. Most of the time I consider the obstacles and challenges Greg @ALDABRAMAN narrated in setting up his place as inspiration to press on.