maui sulcata
Member
Figure I share with you guys some pics. Enjoy!!
My Sulcatas!
- Thread starter maui sulcata
- Start date
Nice big ones. How long have you had them?
maui sulcata
Member
Two young adults 16yrs and the big one is 30yrs old. Just got the big one a few years ago. Always had the younger pair.
No success on breeding though. Any tips anyone?
No success on breeding though. Any tips anyone?
Having two females and male helps
sure you have a female?
maui sulcata
Member
Having two females and male helps
Yes I do, my problem is I need a couple more females but I don’t know who has any. Here on hawaii sulcatas is not “over populated” like other places I read about so it’s hard to get your hands on females.
Very nice!
maui sulcata
Member
Thanks I appreciate it.
A single breeder will solve that problem in a few years...
maui sulcata
Member
Not true. There’s about two breeders here on my island. One is directly for the pet shops and the others just sell them. They been doing it for years but there prices for females are a arm and leg.
And yet it’s hard to find sulcatas here. So your statement is false.
Good looking tortoises you have there! Where I live there seems to be plenty of sulcatas and lots of breeders. However females are still hard to come by and expensive. They don't seem to ever get cheap.
How big is your tortoise yard? I had one of my females to breeding size for a few years and never got any eggs. Then I was able to get a place with a bigger yard and was able to give my tortoises a lot more room like I had always wanted to and I started getting eggs the next year. Could just be by chance but I now am a big believer of more space equals happy tortoises and happy tortoises equals eggs.
How big is your tortoise yard? I had one of my females to breeding size for a few years and never got any eggs. Then I was able to get a place with a bigger yard and was able to give my tortoises a lot more room like I had always wanted to and I started getting eggs the next year. Could just be by chance but I now am a big believer of more space equals happy tortoises and happy tortoises equals eggs.
maui sulcata
Member
Thanks I appreciate it!
I’m really not to sure on how big my yard is exactly but I’m more then sure it enough space for them even two more if I had. Males are sometimes interested in her but she’s not interested at all lol
I have now separated my big male and young adult male. Yard is huge but they always seem to bump heads and I’m not about to lose a 16-30yr old over my stupidity. I’m just hoping she gets gravid soon that would be a dream for me.
Each female can make 100 babies a year. Mine do. How many homes for sulcatas would you estimate there are in all of the Hawaiian Islands?
madbad
Active Member
maui sulcata
Member
I’m not to sure but I already know where this is going. So I’m gonna be honest l with you. I just want to experience egg laying and incubation just so I can tell myself I did it. And you would say why not just purchase a few eggs, well 1 that’s half the experience done by someone else already, 2 me breeding them myself saves me money, 3 when they hatch it’s gonna be all done BY ME AND MY TORTS no one else. If that makes any sense. But what I’m trying to say is I just want one clutch, being her first it shouldn’t be a huge clutch. And after that experience I can easily separate them. Then from there i would most likely keep all of them and if anyone wants to purchase some I could easily stack 20+ people who are serious and put the torts back together knowing I have a proven pair and boom I have homes for them. If everyone thinks like this sulcata breeding wouldn’t be such a big problem.
I hope you guys understood what I was trying to say.
Thanks again aloha!!
I understand where you are coming from. I had a similar goal back when I started working with sulcatas in the early 90s.
I went back and re-read your OP and my response, and I considered what my point was. Why did I feel compelled to mention that? Here is what I'm getting at: Over the years, I've read about a lot of sulcata activity and breeding over there on several of the islands. This species reproduces so easily and in such numbers, that I wonder how long it will be until there are too many over there for the number of homes available. Frankly, I am surprised to hear anyone say that it isn't already a problem. I wonder why a person would choose this species to breed? Why not a species that is easier to house and less destructive. Why not a species that is in need of being bred like russians which are still imported from the wild in fairly large numbers, or radiata which are listed as highly endangered, or Western Hermanni which are rare in the US, or pancakes which reproduce so slowly, but are easy to house, or so many others. I don't think anyone will argue that we need more sulcata breeding. Maybe in their native lands where they are going extinct, but not in the USA.
So I suppose my intention was to discourage sulcata breeding, and encourage breeding a different species that really needs it if you want to hatch some eggs. The only reason I reproduce them is because almost all of the breeders over here start them all wrong, too dry, and a large percentage of the babies produced die every year. I incubate two or three clutches a year for my experiments on husbandry and hatching techniques, and so that people have a place to get a healthy baby that is going to survive and thrive because it was started correctly.
There is my opinion on the matter based on the things I've seen over the years. I wish you good luck, whatever you decide.
Mort the Tort
New Member
Niiiiiice dinosaurs! Haha.
maui sulcata
Member
Thanks!! That’s what they are lol
Mort the Tort
New Member
Welcome. Makes my horsfields look mini! Good job! Tort love!
Thought you may interested.
http://www.midweekkauai.com/newsmaker/hungry-tortoises-come-to-the-rescue/
http://www.midweekkauai.com/newsmaker/hungry-tortoises-come-to-the-rescue/
Ok. Digression from original post. I tried contacting that project to ask if they would like another plant eating machine and no reply. I got a little concerned about my age versus Bomber’s so thought I would try to find a home. Hawaii sounded great...i’d Eat their plants in order to retire there. And, I’d pay to fly him there. Moot point now because wife says she’ll figure it out when I’m gone
She has a big heart and really likes Bomber...he listens to her, really. And to the chagrin of some on this forum, he just walked through our addition’s living room to go directly from food to his home. I swear he never stops to chomp on anything in here or knocks anything around, but he does move anything in his way when outside. Saw one of our chairs traversing the patio last Thursday. (Our addition is sort of bomb proof for animals because we had a blind golden retriever so had to make sure nothing dangerous.)
