Manouria vocals

[harris]

My group are teenagers at 5 - 7 yrs old. This Winter indoors has been a remarkable one. I have one displaying the nest building; completely re-organizing the enclosure every few days. I come home from work and "ta-da", all of the ground cover is moved up into a hill, where she proudly sits. Anyway, what I find interesting is when I pick any of them up, they do the "croaking" sound. Not a cluck, but a croak. All of them. The only other species I've heard this same sound from is the P megacephalum. Which has me thinking.... Their visual appearance is similar, except for the tail. I had 3 Big Heads in the late 80's. I kept them all together. Bad mistake. Within 6 months I had one left. Only to find out they bitterly fight til death. They made the identical sound when handled. The Manouria are nothing like that towards one another though.. Just thinking out loud here.

 

[Yvonne G]

Mine just hiss. I don't hear any vocals except for the male when breeding.

 

[Benjamin]

My group are teenagers at 5 - 7 yrs old. This Winter indoors has been a remarkable one. I have one displaying the nest building; completely re-organizing the enclosure every few days. I come home from work and "ta-da", all of the ground cover is moved up into a hill, where she proudly sits. Anyway, what I find interesting is when I pick any of them up, they do the "croaking" sound. Not a cluck, but a croak. All of them. The only other species I've heard this same sound from is the P megacephalum. Which has me thinking.... Their visual appearance is similar, except for the tail. I had 3 Big Heads in the late 80's. I kept them all together. Bad mistake. Within 6 months I had one left. Only to find out they bitterly fight til death. They made the identical sound when handled. The Manouria are nothing like that towards one another though.. Just thinking out loud here.

Manouria are amazing tortoises. Mine regularly bob their heads towards me and vocalize as you decribe. My largest male routinely moves piles of sticks and leaves around. Then the other tortoises bury themselves in them.
Manouria impressa and platysternon megacephalum live sympatricly.

 

[tortadise]

My big male will croak when I pick him up. And of course when he breeds. My females don't croak they hiss like Yvonne said. They are an amazing tortoise. I'd have to say they are probably my favorite of all the species I keep.

 

[harris]

Thank you guys! I thought my "nest builder" was a male until he started doing it this year, then I thought female. They are so hard to determine. If I go by vocals alone I have 3.1. Visually they are 1.2.1. By far the most interesting and interactive tortoise I've ever encountered. Now, what I would do for a Platy megacephalum...

 

[wildak]

I'll take any Big Heads off your hands so you can focus on the Manouria.

I have been wanting to get a pair of them for a while now. You don't see them very often these days.

My Impressa mainly just ram each other out of the way and grunt a little while doing this. What Manouria do you keep ?

 

[harris]

emys emys. Wish I would've found these guys 20 years ago.

 

[Baoh]

My Mep has not made any noises other than hissing.

 

[Tom]

Thanks for the thread. Now we are all learning about this species.

 

[tortoises101]

Thanks for the thread. Now we are all learning about this species.

Agreed.

 

[pam]

Ditto

 

[free2bme78]

I agree. I'm here primarily for sully info but I love to hear about others too. I'm surprised nobody has asked for pics yet.

 

[tortadise]

Maybe I will try and get a video of the male "talking" to the female during pre breeding vocalization. They really are a very interesting amazing species. Very peculiarly in their habits in general as well as breeding behavior.