Crazy Manouria

Who woulda thought a species that dwells in dense forest habitats would dig cactus so much? Their first time seeing the stuff was yesterday:http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...psc71839e8.jpg


Something they're more likely to eat in the wild:http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps454f915c.jpg

Sweet potatoes are a favorite around here, cooked in microwave for a few minutes to soften them a bit then cooled:http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...s/100_0651.jpg

Munching on mushrooms while I flood their wallow:http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...psfbd2e0eb.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...s/100_1074.jpg

Is this on a roof of some sort?

Oh wow they are so cute :) I love the pic of them and the cacti! Thanks for sharing them with us :)


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Aw the sweet potato photo is so cute


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My one regret for being a life long apartment dweller...no torts :(

Really like the set up you have for your guys :gj:

I wish the weather would hurry up and get warm so my guys can go back outside...a lot easier to deal with when they have a yard to roam

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Originally Posted by MonkeyShuttle

Is this on a roof of some sort?

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Hah, no - those are just some low hanging limbs from a nearby tree. These guys shun bright light and have so far thwarted all of my attempts at growing plants inside their enclosure. The best I can manage it seems, besides offering multiple shade retreats, is leaving that tree untrimmed.

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Originally Posted by KING JAMES

I wish the weather would hurry up and get warm so my guys can go back outside...a lot easier to deal with when they have a yard to roam

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Yeah, we get a few perks here in Florida with outdoor housing for our critters. I would not enjoy lugging these two inside on cooler nights - Martha is closing in on 50 pounds and still growing. They make do with a heated hide here when temps drop into the 50s and below.

these guys are adorable!!

It has been a year of planting for me. My hopes are to save my last arm and leg on tortoise food bills and be completely self sufficient with what I can grow in the yard. I planted ~20 spineless opuntia pads earlier this year and most of them are showing 2nd and 3rd tier growth. I planted some giant colocasia bulbs and they are growing like crazy - bonus on these is they're a natural part of manouria diet in the wild. I have a rose of sharon(hibiscus family) I planted last year that flowers like crazy. I reckon my next step will be to till up a plot and work on growing seasonal greens and sweet potatoes.

At the moment I have enough growing to get them 1-2 meals a week from the yard without destroying my plants. Here are some pictures of them snacking on my smaller variety of colocasia, a pad of opuntia(I'm still not trimming much of this back yet so a rare treat) and a few rose of sharon flowers. Martha goes straight for the colocasia just about every time while George is more of a flowers and cacti kind of guy.

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...psb317ac0f.jpg

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http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...psb2d2f341.jpg

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Martha eyeballin my shoes but decides the green in front of her is a better choice:
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps2569f394.jpg

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http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps958259b0.jpg

Very cool. Awesome you are going for self-sustaining your torts' diets. Sounds like a lot of hard and rewarding work. :)

1 and 6 are cool pics. I'd recommend throwing either to HOTM contest. ;)


Edit: Actually, sweet potato face a few posts earlier would probably be a great one for the contest.

George and Martha tackling a large elephant ear.
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps4f6967b6.jpg

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Some canned pumpkin, carrots, celery and a bit of spring salad mix.
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...psf1d93f4b.jpg

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They don't get to dress up for halloween but they certainly enjoy the treats. I cut windows for easier access and let them gnaw on it for a couple days.
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps5d02d7e0.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps6d4cda9f.jpg

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I love these two! They are so cool :D


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I thought elephant ears were mildly toxic.... I guess they aren't to tortoises. :) Great photos btw! Tortoises are so neat and at times I have entertained the thought of keeping one, but the feeding and upkeep is too great for me. Great setup you have for them btw.

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Originally Posted by artgecko

I thought elephant ears were mildly toxic....

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They most certainly are, do not feed colocasia to any species except manouria! In the wild these tortoises feed on these plants and since I'm a fan of reproducing natural diet as much as possible they get their fair share here. The breeder who produced these told me about a researcher in Borneo that was having no success finding manouria for his paper. Eventually a ranger told them to look for the plants and check for bite marks. Using this method they were able to locate ample manouria for their research thus making their trip a success.

I cannot help but literally belly laugh at their dirty face pictures.

Hey, I live in Alabama and I had great success this year dumping some sweet potatoes into an old tire and filling it with dirt. One nice thing about sweet potatoes is that they seem pretty easy to grow.

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Originally Posted by BWyant

I cannot help but literally belly laugh at their dirty face pictures.

Hey, I live in Alabama and I had great success this year dumping some sweet potatoes into an old tire and filling it with dirt. One nice thing about sweet potatoes is that they seem pretty easy to grow.

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I'll have to try the tire thing next year. I did have some sweet potato vine growing out of my compost but they were small still, like string beans, when I pulled them out. I tilled up a little 4 x 20 plot last week and planted some collards that'll hopefully provide a good bit of their winter diet.

i need to convert my balcony into what would suffice for living quarters for a small breed of tortoise

they look like fun

@john1982- how do you have your outside heated hide set up?

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Originally Posted by se7en

i need to convert my balcony into what would suffice for living quarters for a small breed of tortoise

they look like fun

@john1982- how do you have your outside heated hide set up?

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Sounds like an interesting project with the balcony. You could even do some kind of tortoise door that leads inside to a heated hide and get away with much less insulation depending on your location. Tortoises are loads of fun and a pleasure to keep. I recommend them highly if you have the time and the passion.

Their first couple of winters outside I used bottom heat with a not so durable plastic heating pad that I believe was made for dogs. It worked but took a beating and was a pain to clean all the time - it quickly became their favorite place to drop waste. After 2 winters of use the tortoises had pretty well destroyed the heating mat and I knew it was time for a new design.

The last 6-7 years I've been using the same setup of enclosed top heat. It works well and, my favorite part, never gets crapped on by the tortoises. The mat also never comes in contact with the tortoises so it will last much longer - been using the same heat pad on this setup since I made the thing. It's simply the bottom half of one of those old dog igloos, flipped upside down, with a kane heat mat screwed into the ceiling. Just be sure to cut off any protruding screws on the top to protect your torts should they decide to take a climb.

Kane heating mats are fantastic and the brand I used. They're made for pigs and are designed to handle major beatings. Mine came with a guard on the first couple feet of cord which protects it very nicely from chelonian shenanigans too.

I go through one small bale of hay, used for insulation, each winter. They run about $5-7 around here. When the weather starts getting cooler I also bury the outside rim of the retreat to help it hold heat. Most days it gets warm enough that I unplug it and some nights I don't have to use it either. Depending on your species and outside temperatures you have to figure that part out. On the colder nights(below 40F) I stuff the entrance with hay and the torts plow out the following morning when they're ready.

It's in use right now but in a couple months, when I put it into storage, I can get better pictures. Until then, here are a couple shots of George doing his thing. They love to come out of the hide on cool mornings, climb up on top, then nestle down into the hay while waiting for the weather to warm. Then when I come in the enclosure they slide down like goofballs to greet me. The torts also love to scatter the hay EVERYWHERE but it only takes a minute to rake it up and toss it back on top and around the hide each evening.

Here's George getting ready to slide:
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...psjaneukm5.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...psk9itfccw.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...pslzby2aad.jpg

nice. thanks for the info.

if i do get one, it'll probably be this summer.

i'd have to do more research, but it appears they require much more attention and care than BPs.:gj: