actually, those hot packs are intended to treat rheumatism/muscle spasm. hmm.. i don't think any petshops sell them.

example:

HOT PACK
HOT PACK

3 good reasons to not release your res in local waterways...


pastel


albino


two-headed

chances are about as much as any siamese twins surviving to adulthood without going under the scissors. slim. i mean, gisele slim. slimmer than my chances of hooking up with bar refaeli.. (things about erratic cell development, coordination, etc etc go google )

but then again...



This post has been edited by camillenoir: Sep 30 2008, 10:49 AM

most petshops won't bother stocking up on them because they're too pricey for the average turtle keeper and serious keepers usually order straight from importer/supplier. the albino res in jalan pasar lasted about a year on display the last time i check.

anyway, you could always ask the sellers to stock for you. retail price should be between 1.2k-1.5k, more or less for one head.

even collection of local species are impossible to complete, since their status on CITES (LOL) prevent them from being reared. play safe

pastel (although the term is vague and contains many many strains of colour variations) differs from normal res in terms of overall coloration, markings, and of course their price. those two in the picture are genetic pastel, which means that they would pass their genes to their offspring.

the thing with pricey morph is, people won't easily throw them away when they're bored, unlike their rm5 counterpart. the state of florida, for instance, had banned the sales of RES except for morphs, knowing that expensive things won't be easily disposed off (malaysia should do the same!!!)

not half as bad as this one seller who keeps his star in aquatic setup with RES!!!

(duyong aquarium in malacca, address: jln seri duyong 1/2, tmn. sri duyong. near fauziah clinic there. malaccans are welcomed to check on whether that star had miraculously survived!!! oh yeah, i hate the seller, hence the publication of address.)



yup.. makes a whole lotta differences mate. if you are caught with illegal specimens, its all on your neck, not the seller's. you'll be facing fines, confiscation, kopi money extor... oops.. in other words, let's just play safe

This post has been edited by camillenoir: Oct 4 2008, 03:33 PM

hey.. let's play a game. no prizes for the right answer though



those two are from the same clutch, hatched a day apart. they are now about two months old, both equally active and eating well.

the question: why is there such a huge size difference between those two?

max-oasism: i gave away lots of boxies, but nope, those two are still with me.

------------------------------------

they are kept in the same place and given the same diet. the size difference occurs since the 1st day. the bigger one is currently 5.0cm SCL and the smaller one 3.9cm.

clue: the answer lies in numbers

This post has been edited by camillenoir: Oct 5 2008, 09:31 PM

chetz.. anti-climax.

i should've stated that rafiqos, uzairi and mamba are barred from answering because they knew beforehand

3 babies came from that clutch.. one of the twins didn't make it. crossing my fingers for more twins from their parents (like i knew which, LOL!!!)

when it was a day old. sorry about lousy pic (taken with lousy phone cam, obviously i wasn't home) but can clearly see the comparison with 20 cents.



got pics?

This post has been edited by camillenoir: Oct 6 2008, 07:22 AM

under normal conditions, female RES grows much faster than male.

if it is the male that grows much bigger, then the female is either undernourished OR.... (pictures of both specimens is needed to "verify a few things.")

razorbacks.. occasionally they turn up at petshops.

price about starts at about 1XX for hatchling.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
uzairi: this thing below got paid in euro.. in the form of more seeds
http://www.rarepalmseeds.com/shop/JohLan.shtml

This post has been edited by camillenoir: Oct 7 2008, 11:45 AM

LOL, that big J. lanceolata costs more than RM2k.

anyway, what better way to compliment tortoise RES conservatory other than planting equally valuable plants (hey, some plants are rarer than ynis)

This post has been edited by camillenoir: Oct 16 2008, 08:57 PM

when it comes to local species that face extinction, i think none other face more threat than Malayemys subtrijuga. hard to find in the wild, hard to establish in captivity, specialised diet (though some specimens i kept before already took nightcrawlers and prawn), small clutch size and even CB hatchling acclimatise badly (US and European keepers report high mortality rate of Japan CB hatchling, even a friend here reports the same thing).

to make things worse, this species does not hold high commercial value (for private breeders to really concentrate on them) or high enough profile (for government-funded/NGO to start on a rehab center).

another one that might need attention is Amyda cartilaginea, although they are easier to establish in captivity and have high egg yields.

other local threatened and endangered species (spiny, chitra chitra, impressa, emys, etc) are highly valued in the market, so i'm not as concerned as many private breeders are working on them.

high profile species (Batagur baska, Callagur borneoensis, Dermochelys coriacea, Eretmochelys imbricata) of course took center stage as government agencies and WWF (should be WTF LOL) had established rehab facilities although it seems like they're doing some lousy works.

This post has been edited by camillenoir: Oct 10 2008, 11:17 AM

start breeding snails first bro, that would help very very much if you get the malayemys. and i should warn you that the balance between de-parasite procedures and acclimatisation for this particular species is damn hard to maintain; it makes acclimatising impressa looks like eating cotton candy.

callagur... too risky, too noticeable

bigger than leslie's...

have you been drinking?


clearly your friend is an impulse buyer who thought that keeping turtle is cool at the time of purchase...

just put it up on adoption. and make sure that the adopter won't release it...

my snapper can take care of them better than toilet bowl

separate them and monitor the growth.

not that simple bro... chelonian eggs are sensitive, otherwise i'd employ the 'no-substrate' method all this while to hatch my eggs

you are right about marking the top, but many other factors had to taken into consideration. e.g. handling with bare hands, wrong humidity, wrong temperature, vibration.. etc etc... can ruin eggs. but the most important thing is the eggs have to be fertile in the first place (this is where diet and husbandry methods take precedence)

uzairi, any more orange monster eggs from your side?

chance to find it here? it boils down to the amount of money you're willing to pay.

and although you can't find it at pet shops here, the same cannot be said for private collection.

is albino RES that difficult to find? nope, pasar pudu also got la... 1.2k only.

i also got many, many melanistic RES from there LOL...

you t-bag... what i meant was that male star is bigger than your male star . but you can only think of twisted perverted stuff

dunknight: if you are willing to send to vet, please inform us the result of his diagnosis.

This post has been edited by camillenoir: Oct 13 2008, 08:11 AM

sorry bro, you might have good intentions but your statement is tad too incorrect and bordering on bias. you are basically pointing out that all those tortoises will surely die in our climate, a statement which is wrong wrong wrong.

none of those species you mentioned are DESERT tortoises (research more). besides radiated are practically super adaptable that only the worst husbandry would kill them. sulcata are tough SOBS (even old couple in cold French mountainside could raise it). star and pancake are harder, but all can be acclimatised with proper husbandry, although not recommended for beginner.



i partly agree with this part, and yeah many conmen but they could only trick impulse buyers who hadn't done any prior research. and you must've heard of CB specimens, haven't you?

RCT for those animals would consume much time, need to wait for F2 or F3 CBB for conclusive results. and that would mean many many years in controlled environment for those tortoises. for better or worse, some of those tortoises will suffer from experimental diet, husbandry etc. just to prove some hypothesis on pyramiding; that would surely raise issues.

common knowledge: natural pyramiding refers to pyramiding that occured on specimens in their own habitat, feeding on natural diet without any human intervention. aka, should be genetic trait and happens mostly to Indian Star.

pyramiding that are diet-induced could also happen in the wild for tortoises that regularly feeds on carrion.

in captivity, given the right diet and husbandry, radiated, leopard, sulcata, burm star etc should not develop noticeable pyramids. those dragonbacks, sawbacks etc are the result of human negligence, and in no way those mishappen should be called natural pyramiding.

captive indian stars, on the other hand, would most likely develop slight pyramids even if raised in optimum condition. some might have more pronounced pyramiding, some lesser. but they are all slight, not extreme bumps that some irresponsible keepers intentionally cultivate.