Wild Sulcata Pics

[Tom]

Are they finding that Sulcatas are scavengers of sort or is this just last resort when no other food is available?

According to what I have been told, they are protein lovers and opportunistic scavengers. There is not a time of year for them when food is scarce over there. They line their burrows with weeds and grass near the end of the rainy season, and so they have plenty to eat, or they can eat the dried out grasses above ground too.

The late Bert Langerwerf used to toss raw chicken and turkey bones with meat and gristle still on them to his sulcatas and they devoured them like candy.

Please don't misunderstand. I am NOT advocating we all start feeding our sulcatas fresh road kill. Just relating things I've been told, or read, that are interesting to me. I tossed a recently trapped, dead, tree root eating, rat-bastard, interloping, gopher to my sulcatas one day. They all ignored it. Dave Friend tells a story of one of his sulcatas that used to actually hunt, kill and eat gophers.

 

[kanalomele]

Hmm... with all this conversation about coloring I'm wondering if possibly they have developed more and darker pigment as a natural sunscreen. It might help shield them from too much uv and dehydration... We know that darker pigment in most other species including humans is beneficial to those who live in very sunny locals.

 

[Tom]

This new book, is it basically a sulcata book? About them in the wild? Whatever it is, I must read it.

Yes. It is all about the sulcata. What they eat, where they spend their time, how deep, what temps, what humidity, how far they roam, how big their territories are, their mating and social habits, etc. All the questions we don't have answers to. Well not ALL the questions. No one knows what the hatchlings do, or where they go, or what they eat, to this day. I'll be working on that one in about a year.

 

[Weda737]

I must have this book. Yeah... I read a lot. That's usually my time spent when I'm off work (night time anyway or when it's too darn cold to take the animals outside.) I'm all over the internet reading all I can about every species I keep. It just fascinates me to think, they actually line their burrows with food? I mean, I know the gears turn in those little brains, but to see one in the wild bringing home mouthfuls of grass ( I assume that's how they do it anyway, I don't think they have lunch boxes ) Just to see what goes on in their daily lives would make me a giggly school girl. Your friend is so lucky.

 

[mctlong]

Hmm... with all this conversation about coloring I'm wondering if possibly they have developed more and darker pigment as a natural sunscreen. It might help shield them from too much uv and dehydration... We know that darker pigment in most other species including humans is beneficial to those who live in very sunny locals.

Thats a very good point. My RT's shell and exposed legs tend to darken up in the summer months and I atttribute this to the increased exposure to sunlight.

However, I've noticed the opposite with sullies here in SoCal. Sullies kept outdoors tend to be lighter than those kept indoors. The sun appears to be lightening their shells.

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I must have this book.

Me too! You'll let us know when it comes out, right Tom?

 

[Yvonne G]

I was thinking more along the lines of dark absorbs heat while lighter repels it.

 

[Tom]

I must have this book. Yeah... I read a lot. That's usually my time spent when I'm off work (night time anyway or when it's too darn cold to take the animals outside.) I'm all over the internet reading all I can about every species I keep. It just fascinates me to think, they actually line their burrows with food? I mean, I know the gears turn in those little brains, but to see one in the wild bringing home mouthfuls of grass ( I assume that's how they do it anyway, I don't think they have lunch boxes ) Just to see what goes on in their daily lives would make me a giggly school girl. Your friend is so lucky.

They use their gulars, necks and shoulders to drag vegetation into their burrows.

 

[DeanS]

Yes. It is all about the sulcata. What they eat, where they spend their time, how deep, what temps, what humidity, how far they roam, how big their territories are, their mating and social habits, etc. All the questions we don't have answers to. Well not ALL the questions. No one knows what the hatchlings do, or where they go, or what they eat, to this day. I'll be working on that one in about a year.

While you're gone, I'm SURE you'll need someone to take care of your SUDANS...especially Gargantua

Or else, I'll have to figure a way to get down there as well!

 

[summonerofdoubt]

kewl, that ones seems pretty healthy for a wild

 

[Shannon and Jason]

Are they finding that Sulcatas are scavengers of sort or is this just last resort when no other food is available?

According to what I have been told, they are protein lovers and opportunistic scavengers. There is not a time of year for them when food is scarce over there. They line their burrows with weeds and grass near the end of the rainy season, and so they have plenty to eat, or they can eat the dried out grasses above ground too.

The late Bert Langerwerf used to toss raw chicken and turkey bones with meat and gristle still on them to his sulcatas and they devoured them like candy.

Please don't misunderstand. I am NOT advocating we all start feeding our sulcatas fresh road kill. Just relating things I've been told, or read, that are interesting to me. I tossed a recently trapped, dead, tree root eating, rat-bastard, interloping, gopher to my sulcatas one day. They all ignored it. Dave Friend tells a story of one of his sulcatas that used to actually hunt, kill and eat gophers.

That is very interesting. I have read a couple books on the care but of course those were full of info which isn't exactly correct in my opinion......... Don't worry I'll hold off on shoveling the roadkill up lol just good to know if later on in the future I see s/he eating something dead in the pasture I won't freak out and try to take it away.

 

[EKLC]

Amazing pics Tom, thanks for sharing. Those burrows look just like the gopher tortoise holes we have here.

I was thinking more along the lines of dark absorbs heat while lighter repels it.

Yea, I'm wondering if old caked-on dirt is making them appear a bit darker. A lot of reptiles in the southeast are pretty dark, and I always wondered if it was a way for them to make the most out of cool and sunny winter days.

 

[Weda737]

Okay, since they use their gulars to drag home food, is it done purposefully? Seems like maybe it just gets caught and dragged in, not really done with the intent of bringing it home to have later.

 

[Tom]

Okay, since they use their gulars to drag home food, is it done purposefully? Seems like maybe it just gets caught and dragged in, not really done with the intent of bringing it home to have later.

No, they do this very deliberately and line the entire burrow with a thick layer of it. I'm trying to get pics of it.

 

[Weda737]

Okay, since they use their gulars to drag home food, is it done purposefully? Seems like maybe it just gets caught and dragged in, not really done with the intent of bringing it home to have later.

No, they do this very deliberately and line the entire burrow with a thick layer of it. I'm trying to get pics of it.

I knew they were smart as far as reptiles go, I've seen my own make some pretty calculated movements, seen videos of others actually opening a sliding patio door. This is fascinating, I hope you can get some pics of that. And thank you for sharing all of this with us.

 

[Tom]

I don't know if it's smarts or just instinct. I don't see a lot of intelligent thought in any of my tortoises.

 

[Weda737]

I don't know if it's smarts or just instinct. I don't see a lot of intelligent thought in any of my tortoises.

Well, in comparison to my corn snakes, which I feel are mostly functional on instinct. I mean, I love them, but they're a little... dumb. Even my boas, they seem smarter than corns but still a lot of instinct action. My sulcata just seems so much more aware than they do. You would probably know better than me, I've only got this one tortoise and only two-ish years. I guess it's really a matter of perspective.

 

[mctlong]

Re: RE: Wild Sulcata Pics

I don't know if it's smarts or just instinct. I don't see a lot of intelligent thought in any of my tortoises.

Well, in comparison to my corn snakes, which I feel are mostly functional on instinct. I mean, I love them, but they're a little... dumb. Even my boas, they seem smarter than corns but still a lot of instinct action. My sulcata just seems so much more aware than they do. You would probably know better than me, I've only got this one tortoise and only two-ish years. I guess it's really a matter of perspective.

I agree, I think intelligence in torts is a matter of perspective. I don't raise snakes, but compared to my cat or my birds, the torts are not very smart. But compared to say, a rock, they are slightly more intelligent.

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Intelligence seems to differ slightly between tort species as well. For example, I've noticed that my Russian seems to make better decisions than my stars when given options (for example, which route to take from point a to point b or when to get out of a cold area when a warm space is available.)

 

[kjr153]

Thanks for sharing. These are very neat!

 

[thereptileenthusiast]

Awesome pics, I just have to resurrect this thread. I spend a lot of time monitoring temps in the native range as well. Glad to find out I'm not the only obsessed weirdo out there, I think most reptile keepers tend to get a little obsessive. I have found that the summer wet season(July-October)almost perfectly coincides with ours in S. Florida. I guess it makes sense because all of our tropical storms and hurricanes originate in Africa. I have also found that the winter dry seasons match up pretty closely. We just have higher air humidity and slightly lower overnight lows, although the overnight temps in some of the eastern part of the sulcata range aren't much different. I can't wait to see more pics, especially of the wet season. I know the difference on my property is drastic. I usually mow my property for the last time in late October to early November and don't have to mow again until late spring because everything goes dormant and dry. Come wet season I have to mow more than once a week to keep it looking groomed.

 

[cemmons12]

Very cool pictures Tom, thanks for posting them!!