I know the people i bought him from arent lying about his age or anything. They are a nice couple. They bought him as a hatchling in Nov. '04 at a reptile expo in tampa. They were told he was about 6 weeks old. They gave me a piece of paper in which they had charted his growth for a couple of years. Then apparently they forgot about that. They also traced its shape on the paper after they had it for about 4 months. They bought it for their daughter and she has recently went off to college so they all decided to find him a new good home.
HA! No such thing on a tortoise forum. ESPECIALLY no such thing with such a gorgeous perfect tortoise like this one. Keep them coming. Now we need some eating shots. Then some burrowing shots. Followed by some of those yawning shots like Dean always captures.
Well i just found out he climbs stairs. I just went out on the front porch and he was up there. I watched him get down by himself too. But i cringed. I almost helped him bit he did ok. I just dont want him to get hurt or scape up that pretty shell of his. I dont know if i should make him a ramp or block off the stairs somehow or just not worry too much about it. It is three steps.
Nice shots! Here's something I noticed. I think he is definitely a younger animal...because for a 110-120 pounder his head seems small...he's gonna be with you a long time...and your pictures are great! Now...your next task! Shoot about a thousand more pictures and we'll be square. Nah, seriously! Great stuff! Congrats and keep up the good work!
Thanks dean. He seems to have a little bit of sheen to his shell like the young little guys. Does that sound crazy? It seems like the babies are shiny and the old big ones are dull like maybe their glossiness gets worn off. Lol maybe thats not the case at all.
I was looking at another big one and he had a decent shell but he just looked older and his shell looked a lot drier and duller. I dont know how old he was though. It didnt look to me like he had much new growth in a while. But Im definately not an expert.
On top is a pic of my 42 pound 12 year old i bought last year. And on bottom is the new guy who is almost ten and 116 pounds. Quite a difference. The older one is much smaller and his shell is duller. I think he was started off with the "dry" technique.
Thanks guys for your compliments of my new tort and for sharing your knowledge. I will post more pics of him and his yard and house soon. His name is Ralph. Thats what his previous owners named him so i guess i wont change it. Im not sure he looks like a "ralph" though. I might give him a nickname. Like "Haus". Lol