ALDABRAMAN

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@ALDABRAMAN who actually raises them correctly
@Tom @Markw84 can also help educate you on how wrong Sam is.
~ Sam is a retailer, he has never produced a single aldabra tortoise. He imports from two overseas commercial farm sources and retails as many of them he can for a living. He typically gets the ones that the other markets pass over, this is why they are always at least 4" so they can legally be imported. I have been to his farm, it is disgusting.....dirty, crowded and totally unclean. I can not begin to tell you how many calls, e-mails, etc. i get from folks that are having problems after they purchase from Sam.
 

wellington

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~ Sam is a retailer, he has never produced a single aldabra tortoise. He imports from two overseas commercial farm sources and retails as many of them he can for a living. He typically gets the ones that the other markets pass over, this is why they are always at least 4" so they can legally be imported. I have been to his farm, it is disgusting.....dirty, crowded and totally unclean. I can not begin to tell you how many calls, e-mails, etc. i get from folks that are having problems after they purchase from Sam.
Thank you Greg. I never knew that about them being imports.
I always did figure though it was more a job/money maker then a passion.
 

ALDABRAMAN

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Thank you Greg. I never knew that about them being imports.
I always did figure though it was more a job/money maker then a passion.
~ Anything less than 4" you can almost guarantee they are not imports. They hatch out at 2.5" and hit 3" at about 30 days old. It takes about five months of proper growth to get to the 4" mark. 51697120_2258414664220644_193505263280455680_n.jpg
 

wccmog10

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The info given here is going to differ from the mainstream. The mainstream has been wrong for decades. I know this because I used to do it that way too. They've never done it my way, so its a one way argument. You've got people here on the forum that have done it extensively both ways, arguing with people outside the forum who have only ever done it the old way. We've been doing research, observation and experimentation here on the forum for over a decade now. Our experiment have been translated and duplicated all over the globe, literally. Most recently a forum member here has started a FB group in Italy with translated TFO info. We have evidence to back up what we are saying. I expect no one to just believe these things because we said so. Question any of it. I'm not selling you anything. My only goal is to see your tortoises thrive.

Well said.
 

Tom

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~ Sam is a retailer, he has never produced a single aldabra tortoise. He imports from two overseas commercial farm sources and retails as many of them he can for a living. He typically gets the ones that the other markets pass over, this is why they are always at least 4" so they can legally be imported. I have been to his farm, it is disgusting.....dirty, crowded and totally unclean. I can not begin to tell you how many calls, e-mails, etc. i get from folks that are having problems after they purchase from Sam.
I didn't know that. This is good info to have.
 

ALDABRAMAN

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I didn't know that. This is good info to have.
Captive breeding efforts in the USA have been extremely challenging for most. There are several these days that have had limited success, typically low fertility rates and limited clutches. This species is not complicated, they need room, proper diets and to simply acclimate to the proper environments with minimal limited human intervention and they will produce. There are many reasons why many have no or little success with fertility, especially zoos and crowded inadequate room like most zoos and Sam's habitats. If anyone remembers back in the late 70's and early 80's when Disney in Florida had all the giant tortoises in a large field that the overhead monorail passed over them and they had no visitor contact, they were having fertility. When they moved them into the small congested circle pen they now have them on display at, no fertility. I have gotten two calls this week asking about getting two and not one, that Sam pushes customers to purchase two and that they do better with a buddy. This is a sale tactic, they do not do better as one or ten, they do not naturally seek out or reguire companionship, they simply all do the same things for the same reasons and it appears they want to be together. Many humans overthink and tend to put human emotions and needs into the tortoises and it is not the same. Some mature males seem to accept and relish human interaction better than the females, however this is also greatly misunderstood. They do not think like humans and simply associate the interaction as food, etc.
 

Tolis

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I was also confused for months trying to decide if I should get 1 or 2. I am grateful for the guidance I received from this forum aldabraman, Yvonne, tom, wellington helped me to make the right decision. I am also a bit disappointed that my young aldabra is extremely scared of me and probably will remain that way for a long long time if not indefinitely but I respect the fact it's not a dog and will never come to me for petting like aldabramans adults do. These torts were hunted to extinction for many years, the ones that survived and managed to breed are likely the ones most skittish of humans.
 

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