ohai dere

[Spurtacus]

Hi all,
long time browser of tf.org, finally decided to sign up. ^^

Have a pretty diverse collection of tortoises down here in Tampa Bay, Fl. Currently have 6 juvenile redfoots
2 very large adult redfoots
3 huge bolivian "giant" redfoots, 2 with very pronounced orange heads
4 herman's tortoises
4 greeks
2 sulcatas
4 amazon basin yellowfoots
6 elongated tortoises

Collection still growing, have a very large irrigated outdoor tortoise enclosure in the back yard. Hoping to someday move this hobby to a farm and get some galopagos/aldabras, but I dont see that happening anytime soon

Of the torts I have, Id be hard pressed to pick a favorite. By personality, at least, by looks Id have to say Im biased to the larger ones. I find sulcata charging hilarious, especially when my little one does it. Though I did give away a 60 lb male who charged everything and anything. We affectionately called him the Leg-is-sore-us Wrecks. I didnt have the room for 2 male sulcatas so I chose the one who was more friendly- "Spurtacus" hence my name

Most of my.. um.. herd is healthy. 10 of them were imported within the last few months. 6 of them are in impressive health and behave like captive breds.
I made the mistake of buying tortoises online recently though, and ended up with 4 very malnourished, dehydrated elongated torts

Luckily my vet is very knowledgable with torts. 3 of them are doing well now, one remains really sick and lethargic- but Id say hes progressing, just moving at a tortoise's pace

This post is long. Hi.

 

[dmmj]

Welcome to the forum, I hope you enjoy your visits here..
That is a nice collection of tortoises you have.

 

[l0velesly]

Welcome!! You have a nice collection of torts! I would love to see pics

 

[Spurtacus]

Ill get some pics tomarrow ^^
have a few on my phone but the file system/image software is horrendous, picking out pictures would take a week ><

I do have this one on hand since its my wallpaper ^^

 

[coreyc]

Welcome

 

[dmarcus]

Hello and welcome to the forum...

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome.

What are we voting on for your poll?

 

[TORTOISEMAN1]

Very cool.Welcome to the forum!

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Spurticus:

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

What would you like us to call you?

I'm a little confused...or maybe I'm just not getting the joke. But why is this a poll?

I think your name for the bad guy you had to re-home is very inventive! I wish I could do that.

 

[cTraylo]

Welcome!

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome!

 

[Arizona Sulcata]

Welcome!

 

[pam]

Welcome

 

[Spurtacus]

ty all.
You can just call me Spurtacus ^^ I go by Chris IRL but so does 10% of the rest of the population..

Didnt have alot of time at home while it was light out- work calls :/
Did get a couple pics during lunch tho

This is my tort enclosure- pretty simple in design. 2x12s around the base, 2x6s on top on the outter walls, 4x4 posts supporting everything vertically. Metal pipes on top supporting the metal mesh


From the inside. Sprinklers do a pretty good job immitating rainfall, the winter grasses started dying off about a month ago- just reseeded summer rye and bermudagrass


Lots of hibiscus. Id get more but they blind the cameras.. All the torts seem to love them though, the flowers dont even make it to the ground. Easy way to get OJ the redfoot's attention.


I dont actually know for fact if my yellowfoots are "amazon basin", or just big yellowfoots. :/ The seller claimed they were, but you know how that goes. The price was good and they turned out to be friendly as hell.


I completely forgot these guys in my first post
Also have 6 russians, these guys are a handful. If/when they lay eggs Im not sure Id even find them, they're constantly digging everywhere >.>


Didnt have time to get pics of the rest.
Going to have to put another pen on the other side of the yard, every time I get new torts I steal space from the sulcatas pen and Im starting to feel bad lol

The poll is of the utmost importance, its vital that everyone keep their voting skills in good practice. As a Floridian Ive seen what happens when people forget how to vote :x


..so no, there was no real reason for the poll lol

 

[Tom]

Wow. Great enclosures. Nice set up.

 

[dmarcus]

Awesome enclosures you have there....

 

[Cadance]

Welcome. And great enclosure!!

 

[tortadise]

Welcome!

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I dont actually know for fact if my yellowfoots are "amazon basin", or just big yellowfoots. :/ The seller claimed they were, but you know how that goes. The price was good and they turned out to be friendly as hell.


Lots of people are claiming that basins don't exist. I still like to argue with them about it. Especially since I have two that have documentation from Peru and the parents were 90 pound males and 75 pound females. My two Suriname yellowfoots are about your size and 12 years old my basins from Peru are 4 years old and 3/4 the size of the suriname so it proves to me that they exist. I think a lot of importers will sell them as basins because theyre big. Usually basins have a lot of real defined black necks and black striated starring on theirs carapace. They do look very similar at a far but up close they show signs to differentiate themselves.

 

[Spurtacus]

Been a busy couple weeks, hope this isnt considered thread necro'ing(I know thats frowned on some places)

Very informative post Torta. Id have to agree about the importer, just a good selling point. To my understanding except for Suriname and Guyana most of their native range is in the amazon basin. So I have to consider its also possible that they've come from that area but dont share the traits of the infamous giants associated with that name.

Ive been trying to compare their necks and striating(after I looked that word up) to pictures of "real amazon basins" online, but Ive had very little success.

I think since I know nothing of their lineage, the safe bet would be to just consider them regular yellowfoots, and if someday they happen to get huge thatll be a bonus lol

I do believe they exist though. I dont know what it takes to qualify as a legitamate subspecies, but imo, if two significantly larger torts breed hatchlings that grow to a similar size thats good enough.
It sounds like your Peru yellowfoots are growing up to be a perfect example ^^