Our hinges.

[Mick.Ire]

Here's our group of K.B.Noguei.
One male, top left and 5 females.
Anyone ever see any like the big dark one on the right? She's huge for a K.B.N and much darker than the others. She gave us a clutch of 6 eggs and so far we have hatched 5 babies with the last egg still cooking. Amazing tort and we have her over 20 years so she is most likely WC.
enjoy.

their setup

 

[Jacqui]

Interesting and beautiful group! Mick if you ever get the chance, could I see more close up pictures of the two smallest ones. Like a side view, please. The female you have had for 20 years, what about the rest? Is this her first clutch?

 

[Mick.Ire]

No not her first clutch but first we've been successful with due to our newish male (have him a few years now) and our previous male wasn't up to the task (I think he was infertile).
the others, 1 we have about 7-8 years, 2 about 10-12, 1 about 3 years, the male about 4 years and the big girl about 22 years.
Yeah I'll get those pics for you, the small one (top in the first picture is the male).

Here's some old pics I took of the male

 

[Jacqui]

The ones I was talking about are in the first photo the one below the male and the one below the big female.

 

[Mick.Ire]

ok I'll get some close ups for you tomorrow. Gotta hit the hay now.
Cheers.

 

[mainey34]

Beautiful torts you got there...

 

[FLINTUS]

Nice to see you on here Mick. Always love your hinges pics

 

[Mick.Ire]

cheers guys and good to see ya too Flintus.

Jacqui, the pics you asked for. I think it was these two.

 

[FLINTUS]

You're tempting me even more into getting some. I couldn't bear the lack of tortoise chat without Shelled Warriors so decided I'd look through junk and try and find my lost activation code and join in here. Have you built up your group or purchased as a group?

 

[Mick.Ire]

You're tempting me even more into getting some. I couldn't bear the lack of tortoise chat without Shelled Warriors so decided I'd look through junk and try and find my lost activation code and join in here. Have you built up your group or purchased as a group?

They really are an interesting species to keep. The fact they're omnivours and when they hunt they are like raptors, real predators.
We built up this group over years. Some came from the UK, one was a rescue someone had and didn't really know how to care for it, one came from a zoo in Amsterdam, one my Dad bought in a pet shop here over 20 years ago. It was in with a group of hermanns. Most likely wild caught.
When I get more space I'd love to build up colonies of all species of kinyxs.

 

[Tortoise]

Great photos thank you.
I have a couple of male Nogueyi without females as we can't find any.
Also just got a pair of Spekii but they are still settling in.Hope to post pics soon.
Where are you? In the UK?
We emigrated from there to Canada.

 

[Mick.Ire]

Great photos thank you.
I have a couple of male Nogueyi without females as we can't find any.
Also just got a pair of Spekii but they are still settling in.Hope to post pics soon.
Where are you? In the UK?
We emigrated from there to Canada.

I'm in Ireland, not many here either. Can you get any from the US?

 

[Tortoise]

Not easily-lots of red tape and huge costs and still no guarantee it would all work out.
Very tricky getting anything into Canada and when you do you are under restrictions on breeding, selling offspring , adults etc.
Its a shame as there are many mis- matched rarer tortoises here and you cannot get groups together to help increase their numbers.
You are fortunate you have such a nice healthy group there-congrats on your success so far.
We all like any tips, advice on the hinges as you probably are aware that there is very little to read about them in publications or online and few of us breeding successfully too.

Thanks so much for sharing your pictures and info-we look forward to more postings.

thanks

Great photos thank you.
I have a couple of male Nogueyi without females as we can't find any.
Also just got a pair of Spekii but they are still settling in.Hope to post pics soon.
Where are you? In the UK?
We emigrated from there to Canada.

I'm in Ireland, not many here either. Can you get any from the US?

---

what substrate do you prefer for the hinges?

 

[Mick.Ire]

Not easily-lots of red tape and huge costs and still no guarantee it would all work out.
Very tricky getting anything into Canada and when you do you are under restrictions on breeding, selling offspring , adults etc.
Its a shame as there are many mis- matched rarer tortoises here and you cannot get groups together to help increase their numbers.
You are fortunate you have such a nice healthy group there-congrats on your success so far.
We all like any tips, advice on the hinges as you probably are aware that there is very little to read about them in publications or online and few of us breeding successfully too.

Thanks so much for sharing your pictures and info-we look forward to more postings.

thanks



Yeah we documented everything with breeding these guys and how the hatchlings are progressing so we are going to put a info sheet together and stick it up online because your right, there is very little info ref breeding these available.

 

[Jacqui]

Yeah we documented everything with breeding these guys and how the hatchlings are progressing so we are going to put a info sheet together and stick it up online because your right, there is very little info ref breeding these available.

Now don't be spreading this around, but there is coming out the summer of 2013 a hingeback book and a website also dedicated to the hingebacks.

 

[Mick.Ire]

Yeah we documented everything with breeding these guys and how the hatchlings are progressing so we are going to put a info sheet together and stick it up online because your right, there is very little info ref breeding these available.

Now don't be spreading this around, but there is coming out the summer of 2013 a hingeback book and a website also dedicated to the hingebacks.

Really????????? That would be great, they deserve their own website.
Who is writing the book??? You??

 

[Jacqui]

I have heard it is a work being done by two hingeback keepers from two very different countries, who between them have kept almost all the types of hingebacks.

 

[Jacqui]

Mick first I have yet to thank you for posting those pictures for me. I was wanting to see them up close, because shell shape in the group pictures made me question what I was seeing.

What do you normally feed your group? Are they inside all the time? Do yours experience slow downs? What temps are you keeping them at? Do you have a change between night and day temps? OR any other seasonal variations?

 

[Tortoise]

My Nogueyi boys seem to slow right down in the Winter here.
Interested in your substrate choice and egg laying medium etc too
Thanks

 

[Mick.Ire]

No problem,

We keep them in a section of the shed, open top. In the main part of the shed is our Sulcatas and leopards. And the whole place is pretty well insulated.
We have a pig lamp 250watt and mercury vapour UVB and a normal spot light in the humid hide in the hingeback area. The ambient temp in the shed would be above 21c (70f) during the day with all the tort lamps and our strip heater (only for extreme cold). Local temp in the hingeback area would be mid 20's up to 30c at the basking spot. At night the temp would rarely drop to 17-18, mostly 19-20 so stays pretty snug. Normally just one lamp on over night in the main section, oh and a 100watt ceramic thats on constant for the young leopards.

In summer time they get out in the garden once it's above 15c. If it's going to stay 15plus for the night we leave them out overnight sometimes for up to a week. This would be the longest constant here in Ireland. It's normally just for a day or two.

We encourage slow down periods and ours all do it at this time of year. We don't disturb them when they are in this aestivation mode. It's random though because the conditions in the shed don't change but one or two will go to the colder end beside the humid hide, dig half their body down into the substrate and sleep for up to two weeks. The male might do it 2 or 3 times in one year. Then they wake up, have a drink in the pool and carry on as normal. We never spray down that end if any are doing this as it's cooler and we don't want them sitting in damp for long.
We believe this encourages mating behaviour and is more natural.

Their diet would mainly be Dandoline weeds, banana and other fruits, mushrooms, Nutrazu/Mazuri pellets once or twice a week and in summer we give worms and snails weekly plus they actively hunt worms in the garden themselves after a summer rain shower which are common here. Makes it nice and humid. We don't give live protein too often in winter because they are in close quarters and they can become quite aggressive towards each other when competing for juicy worms.

---

My Nogueyi boys seem to slow right down in the Winter here.
Interested in your substrate choice and egg laying medium etc too
Thanks

Our substrate is a mix, 60% soil 40% horticultural grit with a top layer of forest floor substrate a couple of inches deep. The deepest part of the main substrate would be around 10 inches. We have had nests and fertile eggs dug and laid in there but normally they dig out in the garden.
While we have had fertile eggs before this is our first successful hatching apart from two babies maybe 12 years ago. Dead in shell last year, pipped and all, heart breaking.
We always know when one is gravid because like many species of torts they start climbing the walls and trying to escape all the time.
Sometimes they will just drop an infertile egg or two in the enclosure and we always stick them in the incubator anyway but they're never fertile.
We have three in there now but they are still very pink and show no signs of life.