yup, the faults are those improper shell growth. probably MBD, judging by her raised marginals and uneven scutes (looks like pyramiding).

i save this one from the food trade back in january/february. highly suspected it to be a long term captive that had outgrown enclosure/bored the previous owner and being released, as she seems quite comfortable with human. the deformed shell would likely be resulted from bad husbandry (kept indoors) and diet.

when i first had her, the right hind limb was broken, had necrosis and gangrenous. however, her unbelievable will to survive and her big appetite helps her treatment. nowadays, though she had lost the function of that limb, she's quite active and shows no sign of slowing down.

fact of the matter is, i'm sick of people keeping turtles indoors without proper setup (UVB or Vit D3 supplement) and then release them when they are no longer attractive. worse are people who try to sell off the poor animals at higher price due to 'unique shell formations'...

with those little ones, the 1st few minutes is very critical. should've prepared the proper setup first before you decided to buy them, because who knows what they've been through in the hands of those seller. and there are a few tips when choosing healthy ones, such us viewing them during active hours (early morning/early evening) to determine the active ones and soaking them in water to see the reaction (might cause problems with really small ones and i don't think most seller will allow).

all my stars (except one male sri lankan) are bought really tiny, and i have yet to experience any mortality as i keep their temperature and humidity in check. most keepers also would likely omit vitamin supplements but i'd say it really helps to boost the tortoises' immunities and resistances.

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do any of you guys have Cyclemis oldhami in possession at the moment? they remain the only local species that had alluded me (H. annandalii doesn't count LOL), so far only seen in pictures.

This post has been edited by camillenoir: Sep 18 2007, 06:51 AM

from what i've seen in real life, discussed with fellow collectors and a few pictures:-

C. dentata - the standard affair
C. oldhamii - physically looks like dentata but the face is paler with green hues
C. tcheponensis - brighter color than dentata and the stripes are clearer
C. pulchristriata - bright yellow stripes, can not mistake this one, looks like a cross between C. amboinensis and C. dentata

and yeah, supposedly C. oldhamii can be found locally but i've yet to see in person. C. pulchristriata i've seen only in a few pictures.

given the overlapped range of these turtles, intermixed genes are bound to happen (or they are indeed one single specie, with traits of certain bloodlines mistakenly classified by taxonomists as full species LOL)

yup... most TORTOISE (not turtle!) pellets contains adequate protein already. if any animal protein is to be given, it should be done in moderation

p/s: someone in malaysian vet forum suggested nutrafin for star tortoise. that's plainly misleading, as nutrafin are turtle food and would cause dangerous complications if taken as staple for star tortoises. someone please crack some sense into her before i do it... badly

in a year or so, your star WILL get bored feeding sawi. don't worry, happened to us all LOL.

This post has been edited by camillenoir: Sep 22 2007, 01:38 PM

try high fiber diets (grape leaves, hibiscus leaves) mix with tortoise pellet. usually they won't take (bitter taste) but mix with pellets can do. timothy grass/hay mix with pellet also do fine, in fact recommended more than supermarket greens. and of course opuntia.

p/s: had anybody tried GEX tortoise pellets? my tortoises seems crazy on them.

put them in blender, add some water and blend, then mix the blended hay with pellets. or just mix the two together and blend, though the blender would a little messy with the 2nd method (sticky pellet/hay mixture). blended hay can be stored for later use (dry it and soak when feeding), however blended hay/pellet mixture won't be fresh for long.

can also change the mixture to grape/hibiscus leaves/grass to make them appeal more to the tortoises.

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Added on September 27, 2007, 1:17 pm

just wanna share a pic of my friend's pardalis forcing himself on an underaged radiata..

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added on October 1st:

DISCLAIMER: PLEASE PREVENT INTER-SPECIES COPULATION FROM HAPPENING AMONG YOUR TORTOISES/TURTLES.

if the eggs are fertile, they would produce hybrids. hybrid chelonians are undesirable (they dillute the genes of original species) and are shunned upon by naturalist. please be noted.

This post has been edited by camillenoir: Oct 1 2007, 07:52 PM

since uzairi like exotic pics so much, i guess i'll drop in a couple more





i posted them somewhere else before, so some of us might have seen it

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hay+tortoise pellets taste like pellets LOL, the hay taste being overwhelmed by pellet taste. exoterra pellets taste like wheat cookies. gex pellets smells like candy and taste like cod liver oil. yucky, but the torts love em. i asked my friend to bring in mazuri, see if he bring in next week.

that's kai choy.. a type of sawi too.

the turtles are copulating, but i'm not sure if there's any love involved (humans are also able to copulate without love wahahaha)

#not making eggs, as eggs are produced by females and fertilized by males' semen. sometimes un-copulated females too can pop out dud eggs.

i edited post #1996 to prevent backlash

This post has been edited by camillenoir: Oct 1 2007, 07:48 PM

water filter is a must, unless you want to clean the aquarium frequently. . best type is canister filter, but those overhanging filter box will do fine. other than that, like i told you, a basking spot for them to dry themselves off and for heat. the best timing is 12 hours a day, during the day.

assuming you're going to keep them indoors (out of direct sun), you can either install uvb lighting or opt for vitamin D3 supplement. commercially available (in malaysia) turtle pellets that contains vitamin D3 includes wardley's. reptomin, gex (that japanese one ). and sun them at least once a week for 15 minutes.

(frankly i'm not fond of the idea of using uvb, as uvb output would be reduced after an uncertain period and need to be replaced. basically, manufacturers state that replacement must be done after 6-10 months, but no exact uvb output reduction graph is the same between 2 bulbs. hatchlings especially, would suffer from prolonged periods without vitamin D3, as they need it to absorb calcium that are essential in their growth )

Asian Brown Tortoise, Manouria emys emys. yeah, they are wonderful.


yeah.. it could get much worse...

anyway, i hope that he'll find the star tortoise back..

looks like a salvator (sorry i'm varanus ignorant lol).. anyway, it's still a monitor lizard and monitors are known to eat young turtles.

growth rate differs. depending on food, a captive bred 3 old grandis could reach 8-9 inches, and i think it would be safe by then. and yeah, its a good idea to place them outside, natural sunlight is the best for them.

its good to see someone else whose interested in local species . one day, if those turtles turned out to be not a male-female pair, and you have intentions to breed them, i'll gladly help.

bro, check out my avatar

from the look of it, that tortoise measures well above 20", surely not small

StraxorX,
the only land tortoises (Testudinae) bigger than Asian Brown Tortoise are Galapagos Giant Tortoise, Aldabra Tortoise, African Spurred Tortoise (Sulcata) and Asian Black Tortoise. The tortoise in the picture is indeed big!

if below 1 meter doesn't fullfill you're criteria for 'big' , look no further than 2-3 subspecies of Chelonoidis nigra (Galapagos giant tortoise), which can only be naturally found in the islands of galapagos archipelago. those are they only tortoises with potential to exceed 1m mark. a foreign dealer had once offered me a juvenile pair for RM120k. despite the temptation , the price could win me 4 wives and those tortoises are in no way legal

lol.. that's just a metaphor bro. keeping 1 wife is 100 times harder than keeping 100 turtles

lansi show off from Ho Lan..





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oh yeah.. his name is lewis hamilton

This post has been edited by camillenoir: Oct 9 2007, 08:53 AM

leslie: do you give them 'cute' names like totti, toothie, daisy, gizmo, spike just like any Ho Lan would do? LMAO!

u're hamsap also urs is named pinkie dickie? just like the owner LMFAO!!

i suspect mine to be Carolina (based on the claim of the original dealer) and yours a Northern (in which don't know the original dealer LOL). anyway, can't find any raised posterior marginals lol.. anyway, whatever spp. they are, those are beautiful.

This post has been edited by camillenoir: Oct 8 2007, 07:54 PM

hey, i'm gonna go back raya @ Kluang tomorrow night. will be long 12 days without internet

see you guys at 22nd.

hey, leslie.. i'm still breathing here lol.

yeah.. cute for the 1st 18 months. most of those american emydidae lose their charms as they grow with age, thus explains why so many RES ended up rupturing our ecosystem.

luckily DBTs are valued in ks and don't do well in our waters, LOL

This post has been edited by camillenoir: Oct 9 2007, 06:49 PM

samperth has some of those lovely pancakes.

p/s: bro zeist, trust me, once you get hooked, rm500 is just (or maybe not) enough for monthly maintenance - food/filter media/electricity/vitamin/calcium/water tariff etc etc.. cost