Kevin's Mediterranean Breeding Thread

KevinGG

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These are the two Testudo Hermanni Hermanni (Sardinia locality) that were shipped over from Chris Leone last week. The female is just huge. I'll include a shot from above that shows the juxtaposition between the two of them. This thread will be here to record as I, hopefully, notice breeding behavior all the way through to hatchlings and everything in between. It will also include boring daily feedings and anything else I deem interesting. First feeding pictures will come later today. For now, enjoy past feeding pictures:)

Chicory and Chickweed. (good turtle names?)

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Here, you can really see the size difference. Meal is assortment of weeds, dandelion greens, and mazuri.

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KevinGG

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Same idea here as the Hermanni thread. They may eventually get squeezed into one. Here are the Mesopotamian (Golden) Greeks that I received last week from Chris Leone. One male and two females. I'm hoping to get breeding behavior soon. This thread will serve to record that process all the way through to hatchlings. As with the Hermanns, I'll probably include boring daily chores, like feeding, and anything else I find interesting. Thanks for reading. Here's the trio.

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Mazuri and Weeds

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More pictures later today.
 

KevinGG

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Nice looking torts!

What are you housing them in?

Thanks. They are housed in 24 square foot plywood tortoise shelving units. The male also has a separate area to give females a break and to help induce breeding behavior. In a month or two, they will move outdoors to large pens.
 

KevinGG

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Today's meal: Chicory with a sprinkling of wheatgrass.

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The Greeks get two plates. It can get cramped around a little plate.

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The is the smaller female going to work, one sprig at a time.

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Biggest female is on the left. She's also the darkest of the lot. Male on the right.

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And I'll give my lonely male Russian a little love since he doesn't have his own thread.

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KevinGG

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I've been trying to soak these guys everyday, until they get totally accustomed to the new habitat. I've noticed they've taken a while to figure out the terra cotta saucers (Chris uses pie tins). One thing I hadn't expected was the size of the poo from these guys, or rather the female and the Greeks. I'm used to my small Russian and box turtle poops, but these must be three times bigger! The big females broke my small electric scale, so I ordered a much larger one. I'm thinking that I'll start posting weights here. Might be fun to see the weight gain in gravid females and the subsequent weight loss. Anyways, today's meal was chicory, dandelion, red and white clover, and strawberry leaf.

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KevinGG

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This is starting to get redundant. :) I'd like to merge this and the "Sardinian Hermanni Hermanni" thread. If a moderator reads this, please PM me. Maybe they could be combined under the Mediterranean section with a new joint title.

Meal for the day: chicory, dandelion, red/white clover, and strawberry leaf.

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Tortoise tongues fascinate me.

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Notice the gash between the last vertebral and supercaudal in the larger female. This was already present when purchased. Evidence of what can happen in breeding groups if not monitored closely.

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KevinGG

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Thanks to @Yvonne G , both threads are now one. Thanks Yvonne:).

I ran out of Mazuri yesterday, so I picked up ZooMeds Grassland Tortoise Food. They hated it. They didn't even like it a little bit. ZooMeds Tortoise food to my tortoises is the Mazuri LS to most other tortoises. (My tortoises actually like, or rather eat, LS.) The Hermanns picked out the weeds and left the rest.

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This is what the Greeks did.

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In the end, all that was left was the remnants of a failed Zoomed diet and the weeds that took thirty minutes to find.

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I also have some big news. You know how we thought we had mostly figured out how to prevent pyramiding? Turns out it isn't moist conditions and proper basic care, it's this Zoomed diet. Yup. It says so right here:

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You're all idiots...

At least they acknowledged humidity in the fine print.
 

KevinGG

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Today's Meal: Dandelion Greens. That's it. No combination today. I want to take a walk around our property with a botanist as the tortoise diet is really limited to what I can recognize. Yesterday, I planted a large area with chicory, dandelion, plantain, California poppy, coneflower, red and white clover, sowthistle, purslane, and wheatgrass. Hopefully we'll get a little more rain soon. Just a little bit though. Either tomorrow or Monday, I'll post pictures of the closet that was converted into the indoor enclosures. Finishing up the last one and going to take pictures of those last few steps. Building a large box is pretty self explanatory. I'm always saying this, but I'll start using the good camera for this thread (maybe). Here are the tortoises shot with the iPhone:

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She's camera shy...

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I'll send you off with a tiny bit of tongue:)

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KevinGG

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Hm. For some reason that last picture is hanging around. Doesn't show up when I try to edit it out. Well, you'll just have to deal with it.
 

KevinGG

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I finally did it. I pulled out the real camera. Well, for the tortoise pictures at least. The plant pictures are done on the iPhone. Todays meal is a smorgasbord. A mix of weeds and traditional greens from our garden. Running low on the weeds. Going to have to start venturing off of the property. Meal consisted of kale, chard, tree collards, chicory, dandelion, strawberry leaves, and red and white clover.793EB2B2-7F7E-4AE6-BDDA-91F016AC3399.JPG

It's going to be a while until they have chicory again.

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Nope. That's not my finger, it's a terra-cotta pot hide.

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KevinGG

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Today we have two different types of dandelion, kale, and tree collards.

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These tree collards are huge!

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If you garden, you should have a tree collard (sometimes called tree kale). They grow very large, perennial, and can handle frost. These are ours after only one year. They were seedlings when we began.

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And the tortoises:

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