Our new baby Galapagos tortoises

Markw84

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Dustin:

I'd like to add your tortoises to the Galapagos studbook. I'll PM you info on the breeders 3Js have and perhaps you can talk to them to see who they call what color. I have names but don't know what color they assign to females.
 

dd33

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Sure, I have the info on the females.
 

Tom

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Why do they look so freakin' awesome??? This legs and the way they carry themselves. Man, I LOVE this species.

Your babies look great.

Is that mulberry leaves in the eating video? The frame size is small and I can't tell. I'm not able to enlarge the video.
 

dd33

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I turned a video into a gif so I didn’t need to host it somewhere but the quality is terrible. Those are hibiscus leaves. They like them a lot. More than anything else we feed them really. We grow at least 6 different types for them.
 
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Tom

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I turned a video into a gif so I didn’t need to host it somewhere but the quality is terrible. Those are hibiscus leaves. They like them a lot. More than anything else we feed them really. We grow at least 6 different types for them.
Yep. Now I see the shape after you told me what it was. That is fantastic. Do you have any of the Australian blue hibiscus? My torts love those flowers.
 

dd33

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Yep. Now I see the shape after you told me what it was. That is fantastic. Do you have any of the Australian blue hibiscus? My torts love those flowers.
Not sure about that one. Their favorite is just the standard hibiscus leaves from the plants with the big showy flowers. That type of plant is the hardest to grow without pests though.

Second favorite is the variegated type. It’s nice because it grows super fast and doesn’t flower much. The leaves seem very palatable, it’s a little more pest resistant but it doesn’t like the cold weather at all. We have another variegated one that has darker reddish leaves and they do t like that one quite as much.

We grow one called cranberry hibiscus that the go nuts for but we don’t have a lot of it now. It’s easy to propagate though.

The last one is called seaside hibiscus or mahoe. It’s nothing like the “normal” hibiscus but it’s a natural food for aldabras. It grows fast and is very hardy but the leaves are tough and leathery and they only eat it if you do t offer them anything else. I can send you some if you want.
 

Tom

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Not sure about that one. Their favorite is just the standard hibiscus leaves from the plants with the big showy flowers. That type of plant is the hardest to grow without pests though.

Second favorite is the variegated type. It’s nice because it grows super fast and doesn’t flower much. The leaves seem very palatable, it’s a little more pest resistant but it doesn’t like the cold weather at all. We have another variegated one that has darker reddish leaves and they do t like that one quite as much.

We grow one called cranberry hibiscus that the go nuts for but we don’t have a lot of it now. It’s easy to propagate though.

The last one is called seaside hibiscus or mahoe. It’s nothing like the “normal” hibiscus but it’s a natural food for aldabras. It grows fast and is very hardy but the leaves are tough and leathery and they only eat it if you do t offer them anything else. I can send you some if you want.
I'd love to try any of your seeds. Hold on to them and hopefully I can get them from you in person in the next few weeks.

I'll bring some of my African hibiscus seeds for you. Its the one called rosella, or sabradiffa. It produces a calyx to hold its seed pods, and that is what they make "hibiscus tea" from, not the flowers of regular hibiscus. The tortoises LOVE the leaves and calyxes. I can say without a doubt that it is universally the favorite food of all my tortoises of all species. They eat it with a vigor that they don't show for any other food. Not even Mazuri or regular hibiscus flowers, which are also favorites. Most tortoises will munch down a pile of the leaves with gusto even the very first time they see it. It doesn't tolerate cold temps at all, and dies off every November or December here when night temps get near freezing. I save seeds every years and grow all new plants each year. I'm thrilled if I get a nice full bush that is three feet tall and three feet wide. I pull leaves off all summer. My friend in GA grew some of my seeds and his plants were 10 feet tall with leaves the size of diner plates. I'm not exaggerating. Never seen anything like it. It appears this plant species like the Georgia heat and humidity, so I'm betting it will grow well for you too. It tolerates my extremely dry climate and 100+ summer temps with no problem, but I was astounded at what happens with south eastern humidity.
 

dd33

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I'd love to try any of your seeds. Hold on to them and hopefully I can get them from you in person in the next few weeks.

I'll bring some of my African hibiscus seeds for you. Its the one called rosella, or sabradiffa. It produces a calyx to hold its seed pods, and that is what they make "hibiscus tea" from, not the flowers of regular hibiscus. The tortoises LOVE the leaves and calyxes. I can say without a doubt that it is universally the favorite food of all my tortoises of all species. They eat it with a vigor that they don't show for any other food. Not even Mazuri or regular hibiscus flowers, which are also favorites. Most tortoises will munch down a pile of the leaves with gusto even the very first time they see it. It doesn't tolerate cold temps at all, and dies off every November or December here when night temps get near freezing. I save seeds every years and grow all new plants each year. I'm thrilled if I get a nice full bush that is three feet tall and three feet wide. I pull leaves off all summer. My friend in GA grew some of my seeds and his plants were 10 feet tall with leaves the size of diner plates. I'm not exaggerating. Never seen anything like it. It appears this plant species like the Georgia heat and humidity, so I'm betting it will grow well for you too. It tolerates my extremely dry climate and 100+ summer temps with no problem, but I was astounded at what happens with south eastern humidity.
I googled african hibiscus and its the same as the one we call cranberry hibiscus. We haven't tried to grow it from seed, its the only hibiscus that we propagate by just putting cuttings in water to start roots. It held up well for us in the freeze we had last week. Better than our variegated type. You are right, they do really love to eat it.

I will see if we can save up seeds from the seaside hibiscus for you. We have grown it from seed but my wife has recently gotten really good at stem propagation on it.
 

Tom

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I googled african hibiscus and its the same as the one we call cranberry hibiscus. We haven't tried to grow it from seed, its the only hibiscus that we propagate by just putting cuttings in water to start roots. It held up well for us in the freeze we had last week. Better than our variegated type. You are right, they do really love to eat it.

I will see if we can save up seeds from the seaside hibiscus for you. We have grown it from seed but my wife has recently gotten really good at stem propagation on it.
It must be a different type. The one that I have dies when temps hit the low 40s. It can't take any cold at all. One night in the 30s and it is done for the season. I've left the "dead" plants in the ground over winter many times to see if it would come back, and it doesn't. Things are different in FL...

I would love to learn how to propagate it from cuttings. I've been trying to do that with mulberry cuttings and nothing has worked at all.
 

dd33

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Is this the one? The leaf tips are burnt from the frost so the shape is a little off. In warmer weather the leaves are a little thinner and more weed like.
07335FDA-9987-48E3-99C0-0701BE61502A.jpeg
 

Tom

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Is this the one? The leaf tips are burnt from the frost so the shape is a little off. In warmer weather the leaves are a little thinner and more weed like.
View attachment 340366
Similar but different. I have two varieties. One has green stems and green leaves that look similar to a marijauna leaf. The other has maroon stems and pink flowers, but the leaves are green and shaped more like regular hibiscus leaves.

I don't have pics of mine. :( This looks similar to my maroon stemmed broadleaf variety:
fs1298-main-1.jpg

This looks similar to my other variety, but the stems should be all green and the leaves should be a little serrated:
il_fullxfull.2953720160_qd54.jpg

The tortoises love both. The original seeds were given to me by a friend from Senegal in 2011. He said these were one of the natural foods of wild sulcatas when he gave them to me.
 

dd33

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Both of those do look a bit different. We can give you some cuttings from this one. All you need to do it stick it in water and roots pop out.
 
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