Ten Years With Moe

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cdmay

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Well, it will be ten years this summer.
Tortoises like Moe are the reason I enjoy keeping these animals. Although I have had many, many tortoises over the years Moe is a standout. Not because of his color, which is average...

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...but rather because of his outrageous (for a tortoise) behavior. He is the closest thing to a Galapagos tortoise that I have seen in a small size in that he will confront and 'challenge' me when his females are around...

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Moe will literally rise up as high as he can and get right in my face if he thinks I need to be put in my place. You can forget about other male cherryheads being around him during the breeding season as he will attack them after his ritualized intimidation routine. This includes the aforementioned raising up off the ground and extending his neck as high as he can as well as him trying to stare down the other male. He does this to me too but he has never tried to bite me---he knows I would bite him back I think. He got some scars on his face from fighting with other males before I figured out that he won't tolerate them around.
Moe came to me after it became clear that the three juveniles I had been raising since the mid 90s were all females. The couple I got him from had kept him for a number of years prior and I am fairly certain that Moe was a member of the original Pet Farm shipment of cherryheads from the early 80s.
He was just 7.5 inches when I got him and now he is only 9.25 inches so I doubt he will ever get that big. What he lacks in size he makes up for with chutzpah---and good breeding. He has sired over 200 hatchlings in the eight years he has been involved in breeding here.
While his color isn't as great as some cherryheads...

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....many of his young turn out to be really nice....

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Moe is a great tortoise, easily the coolest I've ever had.

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If I could only keep one turtle of any kind it would be Moe.
 

terryo

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You always write such great stories Carl, and I love looking at pictures of Moe. Did he ever have marbling...did it fade from being outside all the time...or did ne never have it?
 

Stephanie Logan

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That is a great tale of friendship and bonding between human and reptile. ;)

Who says tortoises don't have distinct personalities? That's got to be pretty funny to be challenged by a tortoise; how do you react when Moe gets on his high horse? :cool:

Do you know how old he is?
 

chadk

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Love that 2nd pic full of attitude and personality :)
 

ChiKat

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Great story :) Moe looks like a character!
 

cdmay

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Terry-- Moe doesn't really have any marbling to speak of. Not even on his plastron...

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Taking that photo was really humiliating for him.
If you look closely you can see that his right anal scute had been partially chewed off at some point in his life. There are corresponding scars on the rear of the carapace and tail too. In addition, there are some teeth marks on his plastron. This makes me think he was a wild caught animal originally.

Stephanie--I generally ignore him when he breaks off from flirting with the females to come over and give me the stink eye. But it is funny when I am doing something in the yard and he circles around me to get my attention.
As for how old he is, I don't know. He isn't old by any means but I would say 25+ years at least?

This is a photo of R.C. ('Dicken') Paull holding his alpha male cherryhead circa 1990...

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...like Moe, this guy was a complete head case who was intolerant of other males in his domain. He too would march around his enclosure either looking for girls or waiting to engage in a fist fight. He was pretty old as you can see and only had a red mask of color remaining on his face. After Dicken quit writing tortoise books and moved from south Florida he parted with most of his collection including this male.
Too bad as I would love to have picked him up and made a home for him.
 

Madkins007

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cdmay said:
After Dicken quit writing tortoise books and moved from south Florida he parted with most of his collection including this male.
Too bad as I would love to have picked him up and made a home for him.

R. C. Paull quit torts? Is this a story that can be shared?
 

cdmay

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[/quote]

R. C. Paull quit torts? Is this a story that can be shared?
[/quote]

Oh, I don't know if he doesn't have any animals at all anymore... I know that he sold off much of his collection years ago. The point I was making was that I don't think he has written any tortoise books lately.
 

Candy

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I love Moe, he is so cute and seems like a very macho tort. Seems like he's just warning you Carl that he will take you on if he has to. :p What beautiful color on his legs. I loved that baby of his. The color it has is amazing. Beautiful story too. ;)
 

Kristina

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Great story :) It is true that while we love them all, there are always a few, of any animal, dog, cat, bird, horse... that really grab our heartstrings and are really special.

Kristina
 

Candy

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Hey Carl I was just thinking that you should post some pictures of Moe's girlfriends too so we can see what he's protecting from you. :D Always love to see your Cherryheads.
 

cdmay

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Candy said:
Hey Carl I was just thinking that you should post some pictures of Moe's girlfriends too so we can see what he's protecting from you. :D Always love to see your Cherryheads.


Well, this is one of his girls. He was hitting on her with a ratty dead flower in his mouth when I barged in...

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This is one of his first kids after being with me...

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I'm pretty sure most of these were his too...

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This is Aki, she was his first girlfriend after he came to live with us...

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Moe also has a real soft spot in his little black heart for Tambaqui. She is dumping a result of his affection in this photo...

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Bryan

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cdmay said:
Candy said:
Hey Carl I was just thinking that you should post some pictures of Moe's girlfriends too so we can see what he's protecting from you. :D Always love to see your Cherryheads.


Well, this is one of his girls. He was hitting on her with a ratty dead flower in his mouth when I barged in...

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Could you blame Moe for being defensive over Darth? ;)
 
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