Burmese Mountain Tortoises?

[playingeet]

Hi everyone

I would like to know what people think of the Burmese mountain tortoises? Like the personality, size, (compared to leopard they seem to Be similar in size?), and maybe just personal stories. I have wanted a leopard tortoise, and a lot of that was they are spectacular looking animals, but I have always liked the thought of these guys, I never hear about them. The Burmese also seem to be a little more cold tolerant and in idaho them could possibly be outside in the sun a bit more of the year. I am not planning on jumping out and getting one, but more would like to really learn about these animals.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Jeff:

These tortoises are truly dinosaurs! In my opinion, they are one of the more prehistoric tortoises. They move slowly, they think slowly, they see slowly. I have a wild caught female about 65lbs. When she sees me in her yard and starts towards me (begging) I can jump over her back and land behind her and she just looks around like, "Where did she go?" I'm convinced that they see in frames, kinda' like blink, blink, blink. And what they see doesn't register to their brain all that quickly.

As far as favorites goes, I rank my Manouria right up there with box turtles. I love them. They are a little more cold hardy, but that doesn't mean you should let them get cold. They can't take being in the sun with no shade. I had one overheat and die. I feed mine like the box turtles. They have access to grazing on broad leafed plants, but I also feed them greens, veggies, fruit and occasionally eggs. I've tried giving them moistened dry cat food, but they don't like it. Neither do they like Mazuri.

Because they move so slowly, they are very quiet. Back when I was still working, I went out at zero dark thirty to feed my birds before leaving for work. I was standing there at the aviary and happened to glance down at the ground. My biggest Manouria was reaching towards my calf with her mouth agape, getting ready to take a bite out of my leg. And the only thing that saved me not getting a run in my panty hose was the fact that they move so very, very slowly! To my Manouria, I'm not the food goddess, I'm the actual food.

 

[Kuro]

they sound like great torts. Yvonne do you have any pics of your Manouria?

 

[Yvonne G]

This is little Emmie. She was the only egg that hatched about 3 years ago:

This is a group of Manouria emys emys, with a purebred male at about 5 o'clock and the others are intergrade Mee/Mep. They're all about 12 years old:

This is the 65lb'er hiding under a Mallow bush:

And this is my group of Mep at breakfast a year or so ago:

 

[playingeet]

I like the head of these guys. So they do come towards you like the redfoots do. I was set on a leopard, but really like the sound of these guys. Either way I have some work to do before I am ready to have another tortoise that grows so large. Slightly off subject, but are yearlings any less "fragile" as hatchlings? I appreciate the info and pics!

 

[Yvonne G]

Yes. Once they get past that critical first 6 months, its pretty much a sure thing that they're going to be ok.

 

[Len B]

I believe the manouria family is the best choice for people in the colder climates that want a tortoise that will get large,But I am not sure it would be possible to breed them, unless you had some way to imitate the climate that is needed in the early spring.Temps and humidity seem to be large factors to produce fertile eggs.The youngsters are not very personable but as they age they look for you and pester you to no end if you are in their territory.They can eat anything a leopard tortoise can eat, plus food items that are not recommended for leopards, such as colocasia, alocasia, mushrooms, pothos, philodendron, some of which are grown as house plants, and a larger percentage of fruits, So it is easy to give them a more varied diet.I now have 5 emys emys hatchlings,3 phayrei hatchlings, 2 emys emys that are 3 years old, and a 09 hatched impressed tortoise, I sent my 4 adults to Vic Morgan for breeding.I have a few pics of my first phayrei Josie( hatched in 1996) taken this past summer to show how they feel about humans.I also like the RES,have a few of them too. Len

 

[Yvonne G]

She's gonna' climb right up into your lap!

 

[playingeet]

Ha that is great, looks how my Italian greyhound does begging to get in my lap

 

[Len B]

She's gonna' climb right up into your lap!

actually a male that is why I sent them to Vic there is a shortage of adult males and I had three

---

My niece has an Italian Greyhound her name is Lola and she is something,when I visit it takes about 10 minutes for her to settle down, and stop running so I can hold her, then she wont leave my lap, all legs, and she can eat more than any small dog I have ever seen.

 

[Yvonne G]

I wonder why that is? There are too many male desert tortoises, sulcatas etc. But the male Manouria are a little rare. I'm hoping little Emmie is female, but really it would be better for my group of 1.2 if she were male. I set the incubator for female, but all my babies have been male...leopard, box, yellowfoot. Every time I set up the incubator, I raise the temp a line or so hoping it will be female. Maybe some day...

 

[Len B]

I don't know either I didn't even know there was a need for males until this past summer, I have never hatched tortoise eggs but have hatched a lot of the local turtle eggs, snapper, box, and slider type, and never used an incubator, the closest thing to an incubator is on top of the refrigerator, here at the beach I use clear tupperware containers set on the north side of the house in the shade and get almost 100% hatched.maybe mountain tortoise eggs would hatch in the same manner, since the females don't lay eggs out in the direct sun as some of the non forest tortoise's, boxies and sliders usually lay in semi shaded areas. Len

 

[Millerlite]

They are great little tortoises, i have had 2 adult brown mountain tortoises, and now have 4 black mountain tortoises. The adults are very fun to keep, babies are fairly fun just not as active, just by nature they need to survive so they are scared of anything bigger then them. Mine are use to me though, and will come right to me.. they are 2 years old about 5 inches. I have pictures

Here is big boy, he was my 14 inch male mt. tortosie:

here are my babies,

kyle

 

[playingeet]

So are there many differences between the Brown and Black mountain tortoises?

 

[Yvonne G]

Asian brown, or Asian forest, or Manouria emys emys, is a smaller version. They basically have the same personality as a tame box turtle.

Asian black, or Asian mountain, or Manouria emys phayreii gets quite a bit bigger and also has a box turtle personality.

My fully grown, wild caught but long term captive female Mee is 25lbs while my fully grown, wild caught but long term captive female Mep is 65lbs.

 

[tortoises101]

Burmese mountain torts have a reputation of cold tolerance, especially the burmese blacks. The adults can handle temps in the high 50F's at night (they even hibernate in their natural range), but normally they shouldn't get exposed to such low temps (the burmese blacks are dark in color, so they're more suited to colder regions than the burmese browns). For colder climates, I recommend the burmese browns. Although they're not quite as cold-tolerant as the blacks, they do stay smaller (1/3 or 1/2 smaller) so are better suited to indoor accomodation when the weather isn't suitable.