What type of hingeback is this?

[Neltharion]

My nephews saw this on a commercial site. They like the darker colors on these guys, and asked me if I knew anything about them. They want some now. I know nothing about hingebacks, other than that there are different types.

They're simply labelled as 'hinge-back tortoise', 4"-7" juveniles to adults. These are wild caughts.

 

[HLogic]

My guess is Home's Hingebacks (Kinixys homeana). It's a little difficult to tell from the pic but if I see the rear of the carapace dropping off correctly, that would be the identifying characteristic. The upper one may be a different species.

 

[Turtleswagg]

www.itis.gov

 

[Jacqui]

They are Homes from what I can see. Hingebacks come either as a fairly healthy, eating tortoise or as the one who can break your heart trying to get them to eat. Once they go down, they can be very resistant to wanting to live. The good news is once you get them acclimated and eating, they tend to get over their shyness and do well. Humidity can be a big issue for them and they need to be able to keep well soaked. Think of them as smaller, but pickier Redfoots and your getting onto the right track. Especially when new, they can stress easily and need a lot of shelter and low light. Often they do well with normal home temps and lights.

I am guessing your nephews are young? These are more the look at type tortoises, not the type for loud noises and handling. Not what I would recommend for a young person.

 

[Neltharion]

My older nephew is 11, the younger one is 8. They have a trio of leopard geckos. They also have a four young russians around 3-4" that were hatched by me a few years ago. The older one is not too much into handling. He seems to have a touch of OCD, and worries about Salmonella poisoning. He wears gloves when he's handling them. The younger one likes reptiles but doesn't handle them much. He's pretty apprehensive because of the bite scars I have on my arms from the snakes I used to keep. They do take care of the feeding and the soaks. They're actually pretty docile for boys.

When pets die though, they tend to take it pretty hard. I can't imagine them getting hingebacks only to lose them within weeks or a month or two. I'll have to do some reading on them and see what else I can find out. Of course their mother would be the final say in whether they could get more animals.

 

[Jacqui]

The death thing is hard for all of us, but certainly something I try to not expose children to more then they need to be. Hingebacks these days seem to come in from the wild in much better over all shape then they use too, but still we lose a lot of them.

I have worked with a lot of species of turtles and tortoises over the years and sadly the hingebacks are the ones which break my heart at times. Most animals never stop eating, even right out of the box. Sure you can have the Russians with their fall issues and it seems box turtles can be stubborn, but hingebacks have them beat by a mile. Taking months to get one eating well and consistently well is not uncommon. We even seem to have a high level of what appear to be healthy longish term captives, who just die for no outward reason.

It's strange to me how they can either be really hard to get going or be the easiest animal to care for. There seems to major rhyme or reason either. I have had tortoise keepers with long time experience with other tortoises, try the hingebacks and give up in frustration. Yet, other times a beginner can do extremely well with them.

I think a lot is we are just starting to understand these guys and their special needs. Do not get me wrong, I love these guys and normally for most folks I recommend them, but I am thinking they may be a little too much for your nephews. Not in their ability to care for them (I honestly think they could handle that), but rather in the emotional roller coaster they may bring.

 

[HLogic]

You could always call the company that is offering them for sale. I know Ryan, great guy. For the record, I would not recommend hingebacks to less experienced keepers, particularly wild caught (or field collected) individuals.

 

[Neltharion]

Thanks for all of the information.

I may consider getting a group for myself eventually, but I would rather not have the boys get set up for possible disappointment. Though 2012 is supposed to be the year that I add Greeks. The boys were supposed to be getting some of the Hermann's youngsters this year, assuming my larger females are ready to go this year anyway.

 

[Jacqui]

I think it is neat, that your allowing them to raise the youngsters. What a long future the boys and the tortoises have together.

 

[gargoileddie]

I'm new to this site but I saw the picture and I'm prity sure its from underground reptiles. That pick would be a homes hingeback but the actual tortoise they have is kinixys Spekii. I've called and asked them. Its ffor sale for a realy good price they had two males when I called.

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm new to this site but I saw the picture and I'm prity sure its from underground reptiles. That pick would be a homes hingeback but the actual tortoise they have is kinixys Spekii. I've called and asked them. Its ffor sale for a realy good price they had two males when I called.

Hi gargoileddie:

Won't you take a few moments to start a new thread in the "introductions" section and tell us a bit about yourself?