New Hingeback

[Alicia Hoogstra]

@zovick here are hopefully better pictures. Thank you Soo much!

 

[zovick]

@zovick here are hopefully better pictures. Thank you Soo much!

Hi Alicia,

The first picture (http://www.tortoiseforum.org/attachments/1503231119159-jpg.216055/) is definitive. It clearly shows the "bump" and the 90 degree drop-off in vertebral scute #5. These two things are indicative of Kinixys homeana, the Home's Hingeback Tortoise. In a way, that is fortunate for you in that they are about half as costly as the K. erosa species if you want to get a female or two. Exotic Pets in Las Vegas has adult K. homeana listed now for $55 each. Tell Ken that I recommended that you contact him to get one or two nice and healthy large females if you contact the store. He should take good care of you. Here is a link to the ad: http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=50&de=1143826

Good luck!

PS: Did you try feeding your male some worms yet? How about the mushrooms?

 

[Alicia Hoogstra]

He finally all ate mushrooms, he wasn't thrilled at first..lol. I'm going to try works today...I bet he will LOVE them! Do you recommend 1 or 2 females?

 

[zovick]

He finally all ate mushrooms, he wasn't thrilled at first..lol. I'm going to try works today...I bet he will LOVE them! Do you recommend 1 or 2 females?

The number of females is up to you. As W. L. Kohler stated, having two females means he will not constantly bother a single female which could happen with only one. However, even with two females unless you have a large enclosure with a number of hiding areas, you might still be better off to set up two separate ones, one for the male and one for the female(s) in order to keep things under control as far as breeding activities go. If you do that, you only need one female. Then you would just introduce them to each other periodically for breeding purposes.

Keeping two females together by themselves might open up the possibility of bullying in some peoples' opinions (though I haven't seen it in this species), so maybe one or three are the numbers to consider for females, depending upon the space that you have available for this project.

Simplest thing would be to get one female for now and be prepared to give her an enclosure of her own if the male persists in breeding attempts to the point where she is being constantly harassed and cannot eat and relax due to his relentless attempts to breed her.

 

[Alicia Hoogstra]

Have you had any luck with breeding?

 

[zovick]

Have you had any luck with breeding?

I haven't had either species for ten years now. I did get a couple of eggs laid when I had them here, but the eggs were cracked when they were laid, possibly because the females were just getting large enough to breed. I sold off both breeding colonies so that I could concentrate on Burmese Star Tortoises and Radiated Tortoises.

Here are some pix. Ruler in second photo is 13" long.

 

[Alicia Hoogstra]

Wow! Those are great photos! So if I definitely decide to get a female and breed would you be willing to help with questions? (I'm hoping).

 

[zovick]

Wow! Those are great photos! So if I definitely decide to get a female and breed would you be willing to help with questions? (I'm hoping).

Sure, I will help you whenever you need it. When you want to discuss anything, start a conversation message with me so I will see it since I don't check these threads all that often.

Good luck.

 

[Alicia Hoogstra]

Perfect! Thank you!!

 

[Anyfoot]

@Will ok, here are the pics, what do you think...View attachment 213576View attachment 213577View attachment 213578View attachment 213579View attachment 213580

It looks like s homeana to me. Erosa don't have a nuchal scute.