Conserving space

[Yvonne G]

I have a yearling and a 3 or 4 year old Mep and now that its getting to be winter, I had to re-think where to put them during the cold weather. I already had a tort table inside the Manouria shed, and little Emmie (the three year old) spent last winter in there. I didn't want to have to set up another separate habitat for little Phaeri, so I experimented with putting the two together in Emmie's table. It took about a week for Phaeri to realize that the big ogre sharing the space wasn't going to hurt her, and they seem to be getting along just fine. In this picture I had just pulled Phaeri out of the hiding place, first thing in the a.m. and she still has her eyes shut, but they open...don't worry, she's not sick.

 

[luvpetz27]

Ahhh....so sweet!

 

[Millerlite]

Not to huge of a difference, as long as they both seem alright new friends. how olds that little one? That the one you took off of your sister?

 

[tortadise]

Awesome. I have a little male MEE with my big pair. Funny thing is hes more "get out of my way" than the big guys. Maybe little pheari will be the king bee of them both.

 

[Yvonne G]

Emmie, the bigger one, wouldn't eat right after she hatched, so I sent her up to live with my sister in Oregon for a bit. Maggie is really good with babies and I figured the baby would be better off with her. However, Maggie couldn't get her to eat either, so she sent her home. So the one that Maggie had is the bigger one in the picture. The smaller one hatched about a year and a half ago.

 

[Millerlite]

She's turning out great how big is she now? I think she's the same age as mine.

 

[Yvonne G]

I have medium sized hands and when I sit her on my palm, she hangs over all around. Its dark now, but tomorrow I'll take a picture with the tape ruler next to her (if the rain didn't ruin my camera).

 

[Benjamin]

I would be concerned about feeding time. My female MEP, Clemmy, tore a good chunk from an adult male elongate's neck last month. I had posted in the spring how I hoped they would get along, they had been alright until they were locked in due to cold weather.

I will say that Clemmy is not very freindly and that elongata likely was bothering her.

 

[Yvonne G]

Thanks, Benjamin. I'll be on the look-out for that. The little one could be hurt pretty badly if the bigger one decides she's something to take a bite out of.

 

[harris]

Little Emmie looks great!

 

[Yvonne G]

Yeah, she started out with pretty bad reverse pyramiding, but she's growing nicely now. And she's starting to develop from looking flat to having a dome shape.

 

[algoroth1]

Looking forward to the measurement pic. I'm always concerned about Ponce's growth rate and appreciate other's info on how their torts are progressing.
Ron

 

[emysbreeder]

Hi Yvonne. I was woundering what you mean by reverse pyramiding? The phayrei look fine. Their shell goes through a lot of changes as they grow. It is not that od for phayrei to be flat looking as youngsters. In captivity the growth rings between the marginals and Costals can grow at a faster rate than normal which gives them a "taller"or a more domned look for phayrei. I have seen every shaped e.e and ep captive raised/born/wild, so "Nothing is etched in shell" for Mt.tortoises. emysbreeder vm

 

[Millerlite]

Yeah the "reverse pyramiding" she was reffering too is when it dips in at the middle of the scute almost looks like dimples. One of mine has " reverse pyramiding" but the shell already starting to round out and get done it was just a flat one as a yiungster lol. They are Vic babies too that I have so def good healthy guys

 

[emysbreeder]

Yeah the "reverse pyramiding" she was reffering too is when it dips in at the middle of the scute almost looks like dimples. One of mine has " reverse pyramiding" but the shell already starting to round out and get done it was just a flat one as a yiungster lol. They are Vic babies too that I have so def good healthy guys

In some of the first reporting of emys and phayrei in the 1800's they describe the adults as having a slight dimpling of the costal scutes on the carapace. I have some imports from the early 90's that have dimpling on the 3rd and 4th costals and they have stayed like this even though they trippeled in weight. Juvies seen in the market place in Asia have the dimpled look from a natural diet. In captivity mine round out as young adults but it varries from one to another at what age/weight. I've had a few that have extreem deep dimpling as young adults I kept for about 10 yrs. Deep enough to hold water. What is intresting is it was raised side by side with others that looked normal. I have never seen a adult from the wild that the scutes are raised in the middle but see it all the time in captive born and raised. In fact just about everyones but mine! I have one that was born here at my place that I got back 18yrs later. Its shell looked much different than its sibling from the same clutch. It was raised in Maryland. All of the scuted were raised in the middle and it had about a quarter inch recessed grove between them, compaired to its brother with an even not bumpy carapace with a pincel line seperation between scutes. he none the worse from it but much different looking. i'll try to send a pic later. i could go on and on but my hunt and peck finger is getting worn out. Later emysbreeder vic