I'm a caterpillar

[Kapidolo Farms]

The smaller female Forsten's going at some mulberry.

 

[tortadise]

Awesome Will. Have you tried any silky worms with these guys yet?

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

I've been staying with things that have a more universal availability. So far Fresh Pet select frozen cat food works well for everyone, it's in all the PetCo and PetSmart, and the ingredients list works for me. I also feed out lots of hibiscus flowers and they are covered in aphids.

 

[mikeh]

I like her manner. She seems content. Wish my Emys would eat mulberry leaves, they just sift thru them with occasional bite. What made you dive into Forsten's project?

Hard to beat those coconut husk chips isn't it?

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Hi mikeh, I dove into them because they are on a list of species I want to enjoy, and a good opprtunity presented itself. The manouria I share, also eat mulberry with great enthusiasm. No kidding, someleaves taste good and others don't. Try some yourself, in this case what tastes good to you also works for the tortoises, at least early on.

 

[mikeh]

Looking forward to the updates Will. I was going to go with Foresten's last year but last minute went with Emys. Perhaps next project. I am especially interested in what their personality is like.

 

[Anthony P]

Very nice, Will

She is beautiful.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Four females and three males, all with heavy growth. Introducing them to each other for what might be mating combat might cause some stress, so I wanted to have them all on solid ground health wise first. I got one female from Eric Ivins, she's doing great, but still a bit to small to be thrown in with a male. The other three females I am thinking will hold their own. They all got good growth so if they mate, I think eggs will be forthcoming, but like chickens, I guess I shouldn't count them before they are laid, nor neonates before they hatch.

Today was another Mulberry plethora day, hearing the beaks squeak all afternoon. The smaller female from Eric eats those leaves like crazy. They will all eat them, but she eats dried leaves in preference to anything else, the fresh leaves she runs up too. That is who is in the video

I suppose if I had the space I would get a bunch more. But I'm not sure I measure personality like others might. So hard to answer the question about that, I like them alot. They don't eyeball you quite like Manouria will, but they do look at your face different than your hands, or whole person. The males seem to regard me as the food person, but the females really look you up and down, just like what HR people call 'elevator eyes'.

 

[Turtlepete]

Beautiful tortoise. Pretty sweet you have a group of them! I've been thinking about trying to get a pair..any advice? The one from Eric was a WC fresh import right? How hard was she to acclimate?

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Eric had imports, not sure what you intend to mean by "fresh". All of the ones I have are imports, to many higgly piggly record keepers out there to trust what generation or what parents are responsible for captive bred animals available, then others want to keep their source private.

Studbooks in north America are for the most part kept by zookeepers who don't seem inclined to have private participation. Maybe for good reason or maybe not, I don't really know. Blah Blah.

I loose an animal once in while due to poor judgment, but for the most part wild caught is only different from captive bred by the treatment it has had along the path to getting to you, not the wild or captive part so much.

 

[Turtlepete]

Eric had imports, not sure what you intend to mean by "fresh". All of the ones I have are imports, to many higgly piggly record keepers out there to trust what generation or what parents are responsible for captive bred animals available, then others want to keep their source private.

Studbooks in north America are for the most part kept by zookeepers who don't seem inclined to have private participation. Maybe for good reason or maybe not, I don't really know. Blah Blah.

I loose an animal once in while due to poor judgment, but for the most part wild caught is only different from captive bred by the treatment it has had along the path to getting to you, not the wild or captive part so much.

Sorry, I didn't mean offense by "fresh". Just to mean that they were recently brought in. I think Ben Forrest (did I spell his last name right?) maintains the studbook for the species. Do you have yours listed?

Thats my opinion as well. There is no reason for them to be unhealthy right out to the wild. Only when the importers leave them sitting for two months without proper care and allow them to breed parasites....Just my opinion, but it certainly seems logical. There is no reason for them to be unhealthy.

The ones I'm thinking of getting, I know the guy, he takes great care of his animals. They've been in captivity for almost a month now.

 

[tortadise]

Sorry, I didn't mean offense by "fresh". Just to mean that they were recently brought in. I think Ben Forrest (did I spell his last name right?) maintains the studbook for the species. Do you have yours listed?

Thats my opinion as well. There is no reason for them to be unhealthy right out to the wild. Only when the importers leave them sitting for two months without proper care and allow them to breed parasites....Just my opinion, but it certainly seems logical. There is no reason for them to be unhealthy.

The ones I'm thinking of getting, I know the guy, he takes great care of his animals. They've been in captivity for almost a month now.

Ben partakes in it. But has a background in zoological profession at a point in time of his life. The keeper for forstenii and elongate is at the Houston zoo I believe unless she went elsewhere.

 

[tortadise]

Somewhere on here Will you mentioned a female I believe preferring the dry leaves. I have noticed this with a WC pair I got from Eric as well. I've been throwing in cut squash and melon leaves with the stock for the past month now. They love it. But prefer it the day after I put it in the enclosure and it's dried a bit. The Manouria just murder it anyway it's given. Good thing your working with these guys. Just prepare when placing them for conjugal visits. They can he rough. Both sexes. Quite interesting too seeing a female ram and bite a male.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Ben partakes in it. But has a background in zoological profession at a point in time of his life. The keeper for forstenii and elongate is at the Houston zoo I believe unless she went elsewhere.

Well, I actually wrote a studbook when I worked at the Philly Zoo. Ben declined an attempt to segway my interest into the forsteni book, or he DID forward my interest and it was not responded to. Either way, I have several species managed in studbooks and there is no "portal' for the AZA (which manages studbooks for the IUCN in north America) to receive interested parties. I suppose I should find whoever is running the CAG these days and offer my interest to them. The Manouria that Yvonne and I have are in the studbook, but that studbook keeper has become intractable now. They were put in the studbook back when Karla A. from the Minnesota Zoo ran it. I went to studbook school with her and she and I sorta thought we were in the minority then, just seems to have become more true. Frank and Kate Slavens (sp) ran a registry for many years, but most of you probably don't know who that is or what I'm talking about. I keep "studbook" quality records of my animals, so that works at least while they are under my roof.

 

[Benjamin]

Here is the most recent news in regards to the AZA regional studbook.

I was contacted a few weeks back from Christine Light, Collection Manager at Behler Chelonian Center. She has taken the title of Regional Studbook Keeper, Forsten's Tortoise since it's vacancy about one year ago.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Here is the most recent news in regards to the AZA regional studbook.

I was contacted a few weeks back from Christine Light, Collection Manager at Behler Chelonian Center. She has taken the title of Regional Studbook Keeper, Forsten's Tortoise since it's vacancy about one year ago.

Thank you Ben.