The tortoises...

Got Leo a "companion" of sort from The Curve, late last year. But Leo would probably "crush" it. Thus, for the time being, until the growing catches up, I keep them separated. The sulcata is growing fine 'cept for the pyramiding scutes of which it has already developed when I got it off hand from someone. A true eating machine, keeping a sulcata can surely blow a hole in my pocket. And I definitely do not want to overfeed it. It is a balancing act, as like Leo, it would come lumbering towards me each time I am around. Once it spooked off Chloe as it came too near her. Dylan on the other hand, would still try to sit or poke at its shell, of which I strongly discourage him from doing so obviously.

Enclosure For Tortoise.

Being still small, I went to local Giant store and improvised an enclosure for them using a bookshelf.

Soft Shell Turtle.

I am never a turtle kind of person, tortoise absolutely yes but turtles and terrapins, I doubt it. But then again, when I was a kid, amongst the very first pets which mom and dad got for me are red ear slider terrapins. Most would outgrew the 1 foot glass tank aquarium and eventually would be “released” into rivers or Buddhist temples, a practise of which I eventually learnt are not quite right from the environmental conservation point of view. One particularly memorable incident was when I accidentally forgot about putting them back into the tank after I washed it. One escaped and I totally forgotten about it. It would be nearly six months later that I found it lodged in between the bed post, and still alive. I would fed them local kangkung and occasionally some prawn bits. I remembered my mom told me that all turtles eat kangkung. I suspected that is because in temples, they feed those turtles kangkung aplenty. This is not right of course, as kangkung lack the nutritional need of a turtle and is highly addictive. Just like Coke. Another early encounter with turtles were back in Teluk Intan, where during high tide, the river would sometimes carried baby box river turtles (which are black with yellow lines along their ears) into the backyard. My aunt would collect and put them in a self made area with zinc sheets as barrier. Sometimes I saw her feeding them discarded rice! I also remembered that my neighbour at that time, which was in Ipoh, had plenty of fishes like arowanas, oscars, and goldfishes. They loved to go around used mining pools as well as ornamental fish wholesalers to get those fishes. They would bring me along but I hated going to used mining pools, especially those which had been discarded for long. It is creepy and I always heard stories about those underwater ghosts haunting the pools, and supposedly will pull and drown you for sacrifice. Anyway, my neighbour got a soft shelled turtle one fine day and it looked exactly like the one I got couple of days back from a wholesaler in Sungai Buloh. I am not sure the exact specie name but once in a while, though not as common as red ear slider, I would have come across one in those local fish shops. I thought of giving it shot at raising it in proper and see how it goes.

The Tortoise Gathering.

Took the opportunity of the tortoises mealtime to take a picture of all them together.

Another tortoise adopted.

Another tortoise joins the family on Tuesday, a Geochelone Sulcata or African spur thigh tortoise as it is generally known. Found in Southern Sahara, North Africa, which is semi arid grassland Sulcata gained reputation as the third largest tortoise as well as the largest tortoise on land. It is also a known burrower, like a rabbit. For this particular speciment, it seems to have some pyramiding on its shells. Pyramiding is not a good sign as it generally occurred when a tortoise is facing some nutritional concerns, usually diet imbalance or right minerals and vitamins. Sometimes it will also occur due to the surrounding conditions, such as insufficient sunlight or too much moisture in meals. However, captive sulcata has been documented as always have pyramiding concerns, sometimes even at greater rate than other land tortoise prone to it such as leopard, stars and even radiated tortoise.

New Tortoises.

Took a Herculean effort to purposely go on a day trip up North today to collect these two tortoises. Left shows a Geochelone Radiata, about two and a half inch long. In terms of carapace "beauty", this is not the best representation of the species as I have seen in some examples which are truly amazing in its natural strips and marks ie the so-called "super high yellow" and "high yellow" speciments. Of course this would mean that the price, even for a baby of this size, would be very exorbitant. I particularly like the high dome shape of its shell. The main objective of this trip however is not the radiated tortoise but the one on the right. Also from the island of Madagascar, it is a particularly rare tortoise but the main purpose of purchase is not because of its rarity but rather its uniqueness. It has a ploughlike gular scute from its plastron. It is also high dome, another characteristics I look for. This particular speciment has been languishing in the care of the previous owner, resulting in a rather weak outlook. It seems stress as it is very young, about just tad meeting two inches in length. I suspected it also has a slight symptom of shell softness and observes a imbalance in the height of its shell, which means extra attention has to give this one to nurse it back to full strength ie adequate natural sunlight and diet. I am hoping to achieve the same level of "success" as I have done for Leo, if not more. I haven't thought of names to give these two yet, maybe over the next couple of weeks.

A Nice Bath For Leo.

Gave Leo a nice scrubbing on its shell and legs, but Leo kept moving about. I have to press him down gently of which Leo hisses at me. I use the aquarium brush which is large enough to cover greater surface. Leo is getting bigger, so I no longer use toothbrush. Tomorrow I may get some tortoise polish/lotion (?) to add extra protection on his shell.

Running out of kale

Poor Leo. I tried to get some kales for her for the past few days but there aren't any to be found at the local sundry shops. Fortunately, the supply arrived this morning and Leo was practically crawling towards me when she saw the veggies! Afterall she had been on grass diets for the past days.

Leo munched off a leaf...

Observed that Leo, my beloved pet tortoise, had probably munched off one of the N. Hookeriana's leaves, my equally beloved pitcher plants...

Leo The Leopard Tortoise

This is Leo, my leopard tortoise (Geochelone pardalis). Leo originated from Ethiopia where it grazes on the dried, arid grasses of the savannas. I bought Leo waaay back in 1997. At that time, I remembered I wanna get a Sri Lankan star tortoise (Geochelone elegans) initially but changed my mind when I saw Leo. It was the first time I ever saw a leopard tortoise. The shop was in Penang, but was in a dubious state which I eventually learned, was operating illegally and clamped down by the authorities weeks later. The price MYR 700 was of course way way too expensive, but Ah Shen, my cousin brother, said it was unique and different from the star variety. His mom, Aunty Pek, was kind enough to loan me MYR 400 for the balance (whom I repaid back with my pay the following month). Leo, had a problem of insufficient calcium intake, probably due to too long in captive, thus affecting the proper growth of several of the scutes on her carapace. Leo was just about 4 inches long, now estimated about 15 inches. It is said that Leo is probably just into her juvenile stage of her life, and will most likely outlive me. I fed Leo with kailan (kale) on almost daily basis. At times, when the kale supply ran out, she would graze on the grasses on the garden, like a cow. Now, Leo is a "she". How do I know? Well, not for 100% sure but one way of identifying a tortoise sex is via the concaveness of the bottom carapace, females have a almost flat surface and vice versa for male. Throughout the years with us, Leo has had a fair share of accidents, always with cars parked on our porch. Luckily she turned out fine (but with scratches). She also has bits of paint on her during one of the painting the garden walls session.