Suprise Elongated

mrscruffy

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Surprise Elongated,



I found myself in a situation of angst that most tortoise/turtle lovers can relate to recently. My sister in law turned up with a juvenile elongated tortoise which she purchased while passing through a rural market. I was ill prepared to the arrival, but I just couldn’t say no.

At first the little female was shy, but didn’t seem too traumatised and no visible parasites or injuries. I got her to eat on the second day and now she has quite the appetite. In my opinion after handling her, she has gotten stronger over the few weeks I have be taking care of her, which I attribute to better diet and care. I put her in my pen area for quarantine purposes, as my two other torts Betty and Ernest (Manouria Impressa) have graduated from the pen and roam freely around the garden.

I am worried though, Impressa and Elongated’s range does overlap, but I am concerned that Ernest and my new tort might hybridise. I caught Ernest (spider tortoise) just as he managed to climb into the pen! I can only assume he was motivated by the scent of frisky endeavour.

So has anyone heard of Impressa and Elongated hybrids (a situation that I want to avoid)?

How old do you think she is and what is earliest possible age of sexual maturity?

Any advice for a name?



Cheers

Scruff
 

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Yvonne G

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I'm not experienced enough with this subject to know the answer, but my guess would be that they aren't closely related enough to be able to hybridize.
 

Kapidolo Farms

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Any pictures of your impressa or spider tortoise or whatever the other species is? No matter, chance of hybrid offspring is remote. I would not risk mixing the elongated with impressa either way.
 

mrscruffy

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Any pictures of your impressa or spider tortoise or whatever the other species is? No matter, chance of hybrid offspring is remote. I would not risk mixing the elongated with impressa either way.

Hi,
Sorry for the confusion, they are both Manouria Impressas not genus Pyxis. I called Ernest a spider tort, because of his ability to climb, perhaps 'monkey tort' is more apt?
Here is post I just made about them. http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/laotian-manouria-impressa.99501/

Cheers
 

mrscruffy

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I would like say that I appreciated your article on Impressa from 1994. Do you still study them in the field?
 

theresal

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How lucky to get a surprise elongated! You usually hear about surprise sulcatas, russians or red foots. I don't know the age but a full grown adult is around 11-12". I'm no expert in elongated torts but she does look female as her tail is pretty short. She is a pretty one and I vote for her name to be Matilda. I don't know why but I like the name for a tortoise. I have a single male elongated and he is constantly wearing his breeding color of pink on his nose. LOL
 

mrscruffy

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Thanks, I feel lucky to have her and she eats daily, seems comfortable in captivity. She is not that shy, she started sleeping in the open in the pen. But she is not social like my manouria, who will come up and investigate you if they are in the mood.
 

turtlemanfla88

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Elongated and Forestni can be very aggressive to each other and anything else. My male Forestni went after my dog. I have a sad story I had 7-8 Forestni in a 12 by 32 pen. one day I looked out my kitchen window and saw all of tortoises eating something it was the smallest tortoise they killed it and ate it legs and head off now this animal was alive and eating that morning this was late afternoon.I would not mix any species especially Indotestudo.
 

mrscruffy

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I am sorry for your loss, its upsetting to loose an animal in such a way. I read they will consume the carcass of other torts, but didn't realise they would butcher a live tort, especially if they were already well fed. I have a few years before it will become a problem, as she outgrows her enclosure. So I have time to plan further pen modifications. My little unnamed female doesn't seem aggressive at all.
 

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