Radiated tortoise pictures

[Ergotaxon]

These are my radiated tortoises. Some of them are approaching 2 years old. They’re my favorite tortoises. I hope that you enjoy their pictures.

 

[wellington]

Beautiful. One of my faves but couldn't get a hold of one in my state.
So I went with my other fave, leopards.

 

[dd33]

What color is the paint dot on the one at the top in the first picture and the bottom right of the second picture?

 

[Ergotaxon]

Sleight blue and green

What color is the paint dot on the one at the top in the first picture and the bottom right of the second picture?

 

[dd33]

It seems like you have been adding a lot to your group. I have learned the hard way that you need to be very cautious with that. There are several incurable diseases prevalent in Radiateds and I suspect that some breeders aren't testing, I know that some who do test continue to sell potentially infected animals. Others have these 100% fatal diseases in other species in their collection but continue to sell radiateds without testing individual animals. There are radiated breeders in Florida and possibly Arizona with TINC actively selling hatchlings and companies in Florida selling animals with Cryptospordium though it is unclear if they were infected in Florida or at their source in Texas.
I would not buy a radiated without seeing a repetitive testing history for Cryptospordium and TINC showing negative results for every adult animal in the breeders collection. A single test is not enough, 3 or more spread out over a year might suffice but these diseases can sit "dormant" in older animals for years. Because they can remain undetected for so long quarantine is simply not effective.

 

[Ergotaxon]

It seems like you have been adding a lot to your group. I have learned the hard way that you need to be very cautious with that. There are several incurable diseases prevalent in Radiateds and I suspect that some breeders aren't testing, I know that some who do test continue to sell potentially infected animals. Others have these 100% fatal diseases in other species in their collection but continue to sell radiateds without testing individual animals. There are radiated breeders in Florida and possibly Arizona with TINC actively selling hatchlings and companies in Florida selling animals with Cryptospordium though it is unclear if they were infected in Florida or at their source in Texas.
I would not buy a radiated without seeing a repetitive testing history for Cryptospordium and TINC showing negative results for every adult animal in the breeders collection. A single test is not enough, 3 or more spread out over a year might suffice but these diseases can sit "dormant" in older animals for years. Because they can remain undetected for so long quarantine is simply not effective.

That’s terrible, I invested quite a bit in this group. So far they are all doing well. I don’t plan to add any more. It seems like I can only hope that they aren’t harboring anything fatal. I would be devastated if anything were to happen to them. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Ergotaxon]

Beautiful. One of my faves but couldn't get a hold of one in my state.
So I went with my other fave, leopards.

Thanks, Wellington. I’m very proud of them and also love leopards.

 

[dd33]

That’s terrible, I invested quite a bit in this group. So far they are all doing well. I don’t plan to add any more. It seems like I can only hope that they aren’t harboring anything fatal. I would be devastated if anything were to happen to them. Thanks for the advice.

I didn't want to be a downer, I am just frustrated with my experience and what I have learned since. If I could offer a few pieces of advice. . .
Record the weights of each animal weekly. Any animal that is not growing at the same rate as the others should be isolated and tested.
Find a local vet that specializes in reptiles before you need them.
The two diseases I mentioned are spread fecal/oral. Keep the enclosure, feeding areas and water dishes as free of poop as possible.
Soak daily with each tortoise in a separate bowl. This drastically reduces the amount the poop in the enclosure and keeps them from coming into contact with each others poop.
Sanitize things that have come in contact with poop with 6% peroxide for 20 minutes.

 

[Ergotaxon]

I didn't want to be a downer, I am just frustrated with my experience and what I have learned since. If I could offer a few pieces of advice. . .
Record the weights of each animal weekly. Any animal that is not growing at the same rate as the others should be isolated and tested.
Find a local vet that specializes in reptiles before you need them.
The two diseases I mentioned are spread fecal/oral. Keep the enclosure, feeding areas and water dishes as free of poop as possible.
Soak daily with each tortoise in a separate bowl. This drastically reduces the amount the poop in the enclosure and keeps them from coming into contact with each others poop.
Sanitize things that have come in contact with poop with 6% peroxide for 20 minutes.I’m

That’s some great advice. I appreciate it. I’ll periodically post updates and hopefully others can learn from this post. I certainly have. Take care.

 

[zovick]

Beautiful. One of my faves but couldn't get a hold of one in my state.
So I went with my other fave, leopards.

There are two or three breeders of Radiated Tortoises in IL. All of them are in the Chicago area. You can buy a Radiated Tortoise from any of them without the need for a CBW, but you do need an IL permit which you may already have (not sure if one is needed for Leopards or not).

If you want their contact info, just let me know.

 

[zovick]

I didn't want to be a downer, I am just frustrated with my experience and what I have learned since. If I could offer a few pieces of advice. . .
Record the weights of each animal weekly. Any animal that is not growing at the same rate as the others should be isolated and tested.
Find a local vet that specializes in reptiles before you need them.
The two diseases I mentioned are spread fecal/oral. Keep the enclosure, feeding areas and water dishes as free of poop as possible.
Soak daily with each tortoise in a separate bowl. This drastically reduces the amount the poop in the enclosure and keeps them from coming into contact with each others poop.
Sanitize things that have come in contact with poop with 6% peroxide for 20 minutes.

Interesting posts. What bad experience(s) did you have?

 

[dd33]

Interesting posts. What bad experience(s) did you have?

We wound up finding Cryptosporidium ducismarci in two of our animals so far. They have both been euthanized. We have had negative test results on the rest of our animals twice since then but we are not in the clear yet. UF vets say that since the animals were co-mingled for an extended period the likelihood of the others being infected is extremely high. We have been fortunate to not find TINC in our Radiateds but I know it is present in several breeders collections.
At this point I feel very strongly that buying a radiated from someone without an extensive testing history is playing russian roulette with your entire collection, not just the animal you are purchasing.

 

[zovick]

We wound up finding Cryptosporidium ducismarci in two of our animals so far. They have both been euthanized. We have had negative test results on the rest of our animals twice since then but we are not in the clear yet. UF vets say that since the animals were co-mingled for an extended period the likelihood of the others being infected is extremely high. We have been fortunate to not find TINC in our Radiateds but I know it is present in several breeders collections.
At this point I feel very strongly that buying a radiated from someone without an extensive testing history is playing russian roulette with your entire collection, not just the animal you are purchasing.

Sorry to hear about the problems you encountered. It is devastating to have to deal with those things.

From your question regarding the color markings, it seems you may have traced the source of the trouble back to the actual breeder. Is that correct?

 

[wellington]

There are two or three breeders of Radiated Tortoises in IL. All of them are in the Chicago area. You can buy a Radiated Tortoise from any of them without the need for a CBW, but you do need an IL permit which you may already have (not sure if one is needed for Leopards or not).

If you want their contact info, just let me know.

Really, never seen one ever come up when I was looking way back when. Maybe they didn't have anything back then.
Unfortunately I have all I can handle now, besides hubbies health issues. Wish I had found or known this a few years ago. I will keep this in mind, if things change where I could get one, thanks
No permit needed for the leopards.

 

[dd33]

Sorry to hear about the problems you encountered. It is devastating to have to deal with those things.

From your question regarding the color markings, it seems you may have traced the source of the trouble back to the actual breeder. Is that correct?

I only have suspicions. We have animals from three different breeders. It turns out that two of those breeders didn't actually raise the animals they sold us so we may never actually know where it came from. After communicating with the vets at UF and other people having similar issues I think this problem is far more widespread that anyone wants to admit.

 

[zovick]

Really, never seen one ever come up when I was looking way back when. Maybe they didn't have anything back then.
Unfortunately I have all I can handle now, besides hubbies health issues. Wish I had found or known this a few years ago. I will keep this in mind, if things change where I could get one, thanks
No permit needed for the leopards.

One of my friends has lived in Lemont, IL forever. He has been keeping Radiated Tortoises since the late 1980's. The other two started more recently, but they have been at it since around the mid-1990's.

 

[wellington]

One of my friends has lived in Lemont, IL forever. He has been keeping Radiated Tortoises since the late 1980's. The other two started more recently, but they have been at it since around the mid-1990's.

Wow, I don't know what I didn't do when searching. I didn't know about fauna classifieds back in 2010/2011 when i searched. Once I finally did find it, I wasn't looking to buy any more, maybe that's where they sell? Even went to a couple reptile shows and never seen any there.

 

[Ergotaxon]

The radiated in my pictures were bred by Ed Elkas and Jay Russo. I’ve posted pictures and breeder information in the past. I’ve never heard anything negative about them.

 

[TommyTheV]

It seems like you have been adding a lot to your group. I have learned the hard way that you need to be very cautious with that. There are several incurable diseases prevalent in Radiateds and I suspect that some breeders aren't testing, I know that some who do test continue to sell potentially infected animals. Others have these 100% fatal diseases in other species in their collection but continue to sell radiateds without testing individual animals. There are radiated breeders in Florida and possibly Arizona with TINC actively selling hatchlings and companies in Florida selling animals with Cryptospordium though it is unclear if they were infected in Florida or at their source in Texas.
I would not buy a radiated without seeing a repetitive testing history for Cryptospordium and TINC showing negative results for every adult animal in the breeders collection. A single test is not enough, 3 or more spread out over a year might suffice but these diseases can sit "dormant" in older animals for years. Because they can remain undetected for so long quarantine is simply not effective.

Wow that is so scary. I immediately googled "Cryptosporidium tortoise" and couldn't really find anything that goes in details as to how to diagnose, with strain has them, etc.