"The Great Red-foot Tortoise" by Richard Cary Paull, Green Nature Books, 1997, 115 pages, color illustrations, $42.50 from the publisher (http://www.greennaturebooks.com) ISBN 1888089377
I learned about this book through a blurb in Mike Pingleton's first Red-foot book. In it, Pingleton says "Self-published guide by a long-time tortoise keeper. Somewhat confusing in structure, it contains a lot of hard-won knowledge and information. Paull's prose is loose in style and peppered with opinions on a variety of other subjects; not everyone's cup of tea."
Having read it myself, I have to concur. I get the feeling that it would be very entertaining to lock Paull and some other keepers in a room to debate their very, very different viewpoints.
It is difficult to argue with success, but some of Paull's advice is tough to accept on face value. But... he backs much of it up with personal examples, private communications, and so on, and he makes liberal use of other people's work which is all well-documented and credited. Two big influences are Debra Moscowitz and Peter Pritchard.
The format is a bit... interesting. Some chapter headings, in the order they appear, include: "An Invitation to See Tortoises", "Some Philandering", (a few skipped chapters) "Slavery and the Caribbean Red-Foots", "Religion and the Red-Foots" and more. One chapter is called "Laws" in which Paull encourages you to research the laws in detail, with instructions of how to do it... and instructions on keeping anyone from knowing you made the inquiries.
Some examples of what might be considered eccentric opinions, controversial ideas, etc. in the book include:
- Using 'Testudo' for the genus name rather than Geochelone or the newer Chelonoidis (although he does explain his reasoning for this and many other opinions, ('Taxonomy', p. 19.)
- Providing calcium at least in part by feeding on calcium-rich sand ('Diet', p. 35- although both Moscowitz and Pritchard note that these tortoises ingest a lot of sand in their usual diet.)
- Keeping Red-foots in temperature and humidity ranges outside what many of us would consider safe or comfortable (he mentions seeing frost on the head of one of his tortoises.)
- The use of wire mesh or chicken wire for the walls of habitats.
On the other hand, here is a man who has been in the midst of the Red-foot industry since the '50's- visiting key breeders, seeing hundreds of tortoises, etc. He has a wealth of experience, research, and friends to draw on. He has also bred more Red-foots then I will probably ever see in my life.
The breeding section is probably the main selling point. To be honest, I don't think this book is a good value for the 'casual keeper' with a small Red-foot herd- that person can get all they need from internet sources. But once you decide to actively breed them, I think this book starts to offer a better value. Detailed (although still strongly opinionated) sections on every phase of breeding from courtship to caring for the hatchlings.
I cannot honestly say I recommend this book although I liked parts of it. I mostly include it here because I am home sick and bored... er, I mean, for the sake of completeness.
(Reposted from www.turtleforum.com and edited by the author)
I learned about this book through a blurb in Mike Pingleton's first Red-foot book. In it, Pingleton says "Self-published guide by a long-time tortoise keeper. Somewhat confusing in structure, it contains a lot of hard-won knowledge and information. Paull's prose is loose in style and peppered with opinions on a variety of other subjects; not everyone's cup of tea."
Having read it myself, I have to concur. I get the feeling that it would be very entertaining to lock Paull and some other keepers in a room to debate their very, very different viewpoints.
It is difficult to argue with success, but some of Paull's advice is tough to accept on face value. But... he backs much of it up with personal examples, private communications, and so on, and he makes liberal use of other people's work which is all well-documented and credited. Two big influences are Debra Moscowitz and Peter Pritchard.
The format is a bit... interesting. Some chapter headings, in the order they appear, include: "An Invitation to See Tortoises", "Some Philandering", (a few skipped chapters) "Slavery and the Caribbean Red-Foots", "Religion and the Red-Foots" and more. One chapter is called "Laws" in which Paull encourages you to research the laws in detail, with instructions of how to do it... and instructions on keeping anyone from knowing you made the inquiries.
Some examples of what might be considered eccentric opinions, controversial ideas, etc. in the book include:
- Using 'Testudo' for the genus name rather than Geochelone or the newer Chelonoidis (although he does explain his reasoning for this and many other opinions, ('Taxonomy', p. 19.)
- Providing calcium at least in part by feeding on calcium-rich sand ('Diet', p. 35- although both Moscowitz and Pritchard note that these tortoises ingest a lot of sand in their usual diet.)
- Keeping Red-foots in temperature and humidity ranges outside what many of us would consider safe or comfortable (he mentions seeing frost on the head of one of his tortoises.)
- The use of wire mesh or chicken wire for the walls of habitats.
On the other hand, here is a man who has been in the midst of the Red-foot industry since the '50's- visiting key breeders, seeing hundreds of tortoises, etc. He has a wealth of experience, research, and friends to draw on. He has also bred more Red-foots then I will probably ever see in my life.
The breeding section is probably the main selling point. To be honest, I don't think this book is a good value for the 'casual keeper' with a small Red-foot herd- that person can get all they need from internet sources. But once you decide to actively breed them, I think this book starts to offer a better value. Detailed (although still strongly opinionated) sections on every phase of breeding from courtship to caring for the hatchlings.
I cannot honestly say I recommend this book although I liked parts of it. I mostly include it here because I am home sick and bored... er, I mean, for the sake of completeness.
(Reposted from www.turtleforum.com and edited by the author)
