Smooth wild redfoot.

Pearly

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These two look about as fine as one can get in captivity. Their shells appear perfect.
Remember, these are not burrowing, or plowing through vegetation and thus every little ridge of growth is being retained.
It makes sense and I myself like those growth lines/ridges and bumps. In fact before i knew that pyramiding was "bad", I kinda liked that look (still think those are really cute looking torts), I just had few "worry thoughts" go through my mind about maybe "hurting them by overfeeding". I am a feeding fanatic by nature and have NEVER limited food to my animals and children, I always cook more then we can all eat, never use small pots and pans in my kitchen. I was brought up to always "invite the hungry to the table" only here I live no "hungry travelers" ever knock on my door at dinner time. It's a miracle that none of us in my house are seriously overweight. I found this thread interesting and know that Craig has done quite a bit of work on this, and he has been one of my many Mentors on this Forum. Thank you so much for your reply. Much appreciated. My tortkeeping tenure is only little less than 2 yrs and I still seek lots of validation from The Experts and can't tell you how much I appreciate this Forum for all of it's combined knowledge and expertise. Have a great day:)
 

Pearly

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Pearly if you don't mind me asking what type of red foot is the lightercolor one in the one post? And if I may ask where did you get him from? I'm looking at getting one like that, beautiful tortiose that's for sure amazing colors. Thank you. Peace.
Tucker is Brazilian Cherryhead (type of Redfooted tortoise that is found in certain locale). I got mine from some random place that i had just found via google search, place was called "Turtles and Tortoises" it was somewhere in Florida. Again gettting Tucker was completely random! If you know that this is the coloration you want, there are some fantastic RF breeders on here who will be able to point you out to some hatchlings with greatest chances of developing those colors. Thank you for your comments. And Peace to you too
 

Kapidolo Farms

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Diet and food preferences of the tortoises Geochelone carbonaria and G. denticulata in northwestern Brazil
DK Moskovits, KA Bjorndal - Herpetologica, 1990 - JSTOR
We present the diet of the two Amazonian tortoises, Geochelone carbonaria and G.
denticulata, based on feeding observations and scat examinations of free-ranging
individuals in the rainforest of Maracá, northwestern Brazil. Fruits were prominent in the diet
throughout the year, but especially in the wet season; flowers were prominent in the dry
season. Tortoises consumed live and dead foliage, stems, fungi, soil, sand, pebbles, and ...


This study, one of the best in-situ diet studies still some 30 years later on.
 

Anyfoot

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Diet and food preferences of the tortoises Geochelone carbonaria and G. denticulata in northwestern Brazil
DK Moskovits, KA Bjorndal - Herpetologica, 1990 - JSTOR
We present the diet of the two Amazonian tortoises, Geochelone carbonaria and G.
denticulata, based on feeding observations and scat examinations of free-ranging
individuals in the rainforest of Maracá, northwestern Brazil. Fruits were prominent in the diet
throughout the year, but especially in the wet season; flowers were prominent in the dry
season. Tortoises consumed live and dead foliage, stems, fungi, soil, sand, pebbles, and ...


This study, one of the best in-situ diet studies still some 30 years later on.
Thanks @Will. I'll look for this one too.

The one Carl is talking about is 1985, but when I go to get the Full version I have to fill in what researcher I am and where I'm studying.
The one I found was this. (10 pages)

Food Habits and Notes on the Biology of
Chelonoidis carbonaria (Spix 1824) (Testudinidae, Chelonia)
in the Southern Pantanal, Brazil
Ellen Wang1,6, Camila I. Donatti2, Vanda L. Ferreira3, Josué Raizer4, and Jeffrey Himmelstein5
1. Rua Anselmo Selingardi 228, CEP 79075‑020, Campo Grande, MS, Brasil. E‑mail: [email protected]
2. Department of Biology, Stanford University, California 94305, USA. E‑mail: [email protected]
3. Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Caixa Postal 549,
CEP 79070‑900, Campo Grande, MS, Brasil. E‑mail: [email protected]
4. Faculdade de Ciências Biológicas e Ambientais, Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados,
Caixa Postal 322, CEP 79825‑070, Dourados, MS, Brasil. E‑mail: [email protected]
5. William Patterson University, New Jersey, USA. E‑mail:[email protected]
6. Corresponding author.
Abstract. Here we present data on the morphology and habits of male and female individuals of Chelonoidis carbonaria and on
their diet based on scat analysis (n = 21) at Fazenda Rio Negro, Brazilian Pantanal, subregion of Nhecolândia, from January 2004
to April 2007. The tortoises in the Pantanal had an average larger weight than the ones sampled in the Amazon, which could be a
result of low local hunting pressure over the species and/or abundant resource availability. For both males and females, fruits rep-
resented the highest portion of items consumed, reflecting the importance of fruits in their diet. Because 90% of the seeds found in
scat samples were found intact, and considering both the retention time of seeds in the digestive tract and distance traveled while
retaining the seeds, tortoises can be considered important seed dispersers in the Pantanal. For instance, we found out that tortoises
can be extremely important in the dispersal and recruitment of Syagrus flexuosa, an uncommon palm species in the study area, the
seeds of which are not usually found in other frugivores’ scats. Also, the tortoise’s ability to ingest large-sized seeds that are usually
consumed by a limited range of dispersers make tortoises even more important especially in areas where mammals exist in low
density or are already extinct.
Keywords. Red-footed tortoise; Morphology; Diet; Fruit disperser; Pantanal; Brazil.
 

Anyfoot

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Diet and food preferences of the tortoises Geochelone carbonaria and G. denticulata in northwestern Brazil
DK Moskovits, KA Bjorndal - Herpetologica, 1990 - JSTOR
We present the diet of the two Amazonian tortoises, Geochelone carbonaria and G.
denticulata, based on feeding observations and scat examinations of free-ranging
individuals in the rainforest of Maracá, northwestern Brazil. Fruits were prominent in the diet
throughout the year, but especially in the wet season; flowers were prominent in the dry
season. Tortoises consumed live and dead foliage, stems, fungi, soil, sand, pebbles, and ...


This study, one of the best in-situ diet studies still some 30 years later on.
An interesting read @Will. I need to read it again in piece and quiet (huh, that's a laugh in our house).
Have you read this yourself?
 

cdmay

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An interesting read @Will. I need to read it again in piece and quiet (huh, that's a laugh in our house).
Have you read this yourself?

Here is an interesting side point...Karen Bjorndal was a student of Peter Pritchard's way back when. His nickname for her was 'pendejaha' which cannot be accurately translated without being deleted on this forum!
But she is extremely knowledgeable.
 

Anyfoot

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Here is an interesting side point...Karen Bjorndal was a student of Peter Pritchard's way back when. His nickname for her was 'pendejaha' which cannot be accurately translated without being deleted on this forum!
But she is extremely knowledgeable.
I just googled 'pendeja', plenty of them at my last work of employment. Lol
Carl is the one Will posted the same one you told me about a while back?
Have read that one?
Or the one I posted 'part of the text to'. The one I posted mentions redfoots in brackish water :eek::confused:.
 

cdmay

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I just googled 'pendeja', plenty of them at my last work of employment. Lol
Carl is the one Will posted the same one you told me about a while back?
Have read that one?
Or the one I posted 'part of the text to'. The one I posted mentions redfoots in brackish water :eek::confused:.
That's the correct spelling of that word. Thanks.
The Bjorndal paper came after Moskovits original thesis.
 

Anyfoot

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I've been looking at some of the fruits and plants they eat. Think it's safe to say that TTT is not based on diet for the red and yellowfoot.
Ficus(fig), passiflora(passion flower) and the philodendron are all 'do not feed' and infact are high on the food list for red & yellowfoot torts in the wild. I can grow certain plants from these families over here.
Philodendron is a huge plant family, this explains why my 3 Swiss cheese plants ended up as stumps. :D:D.
 

Anyfoot

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Good questions and an interesting subject.
My simple answer is one word---age.
The more complicated answer is age X habitat X population X diet X size/weight = smooth shell.
Young adult red-foot tortoises from Bolivia have thick, very uniform growth rings that appear so perfect that it's almost hard to believe. Even on their plastrons. But then of course older and larger tortoises have shells that are progressively smoother until you arrive at a point where you have a completely smooth surface. The general habitat is seasonally dry thornscrub that has mammal burrows and accumulated dead brushwood.
One can only conclude that over a long period of time (decades) these tortoises simply do wear down their shells. I also think that the larger they become, the more resistance they encounter simple traversing their habitat-- the bigger and bulkier you are, the harder it is to force your way through the brush.
I can't say for sure but I would bet that the tortoises in the Chaco region of Bolivia and Paraguay probably grow slower than animals in other parts of South America.

Another area that I have seen high numbers of imported adults from is the Suriname/Guyana region. These tortoises don't ever seem to be as sculpted as the Bolivians and Paraguayans although here again, the younger animals do have very nice and uniform growth rings. But for whatever reason, the larger individuals seem to be really smooth--is it their habitat? I think the various studies indicate that these tortoises are ingesting more fruits and flowers than the previous mentioned animals too. Could this be a contributing factor?

The fact that older or smoother imported tortoises suddenly develop deeper or more widely separated growth margins after some time in captivity simply means that they are likely getting a lot more food than they might have been in the past. They probably weight more in captivity (assuming they are healthy and eating well) than they did while in their wild habitat as well.
What do you mean by 'population X' playing a roll in carapace appearance?
Do you have any photos of young WC imports we can see please?
Think I already know the answer but I'll ask anyway, has there ever been any studies on wild juvenile reds(or any species)?
 

cdmay

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What do you mean by 'population X' playing a roll in carapace appearance?
Do you have any photos of young WC imports we can see please?
Think I already know the answer but I'll ask anyway, has there ever been any studies on wild juvenile reds(or any species)?
What I was getting at is that there are populations of C.carbonaria that are unique and therefore will grow and appear differently from other populations.
Don't know if I have any usable photos of WC juveniles though.
 

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