Caatinga Cherry Heads. Anyone else skeptical?

[TC Tortoise Camp]

The last few years I have been seeing a few people selling sub adult Caatinga Cherry heads. These cherry heads usually have marbling but more orange/yellow heads. I was told they were all imported from a farm in Brazil and are micro-chipped. A close friend purchased a group of 10 from someone who remain nameless and all but one was dead within 3 months. Necropsy showed microplasm. I find it suspect that there is a farm in Brazil that is holding their stock for 3-5 years and then exporting them to the US. I have talked to a few others who have purchased them with most of them not making it more than a few months. I have also heard rumors that they are coming out of Venezuela. Does anyone have any accurate insight on them. I have seen some that look amazing but worry that people will purchase them and end up wiping out their entire collections.

 

[Yvonne G]

I'll send an alert to @cdmay

 

[wellington]

I sure wouldn't buy. I wouldn't buy any animal outside the USA.

 

[cooky_luvs]

I have 3 of these ‘Caatingas’. I have luckily had no issues personally but I was warned back in 2021 when I got them that many people have had issues with them. Mycoplasma was reported by one zookeeper owner.

I’ve also noticed a trend of now calling any lower color, cherry head a Caatinga. Certainly not the case. There seems to be a lot of confusion. The origins are definitely unclear. I hope someone has some insight on this.

Interesting to note after good care / maturity their colors often change to high red or bright orange. I purchased specifically wanting yellow but I can’t really complain, they look very nice now.