It hit me about a week later when he I noticed that the turtle only had 3 rear toes. I talked to the guy for quite a while. He had sold out of 3-toe hatchlings already, and these were the only two major left. He told me a sob story of half of his colony perishing:

He had a barrel of some sort of pesticide for killing the termites that invaded his house. He had to go out of town for a few days, and he forgot that he left the barrel uncovered. There were torrential downpours while he was gone, and the poison water pooled around the base of the barrel. He said that some very expensive tortoises were lost, as well as some of his major and triunguis. I was so excited about my new charges, I didn't make the connection that they must be all roaming around the same area. But, I guess it's possible that the pesticide flowed into pens. He wasn't very specific.



Ok, here's the pic again. Don't worry, I'll keep waiting for those structural clues. But, you tell me, at first glance...no pressure now...major, triunguis, or hybrid? Personally, my triunguis that I currently have are Texas origin. They reproduce like mad, and the hatchlings look vastly different from this one. I've seen the pics of your triunguis...I'm assuming they're pets and not wild animals, due to the groups of them you show (very pretty by the way, I love the striated carapace...mine have very plain shells). So, what do you think?

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Hide Replies ]