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i know ive posted this question before but, anyone else have a bells hingeback. id like to see pics of other peoples bells. ive only ever seen one other in person and not many other pics. let me know post them. id like to enjoy.

email=lamina1982@hotmail.com

Here is my Gretta.

My Bell

Pic 1 Bell eating carambola or star fruit
Pic 2 Bell having mud bath

Yours appears to be a different subspecies than mine. Yours has a ridge at the marginal scutes while mine doesn't. Could yours be a Kinixys spekii?

I am not sure the shop only put the name down as Bell's Hingeback .Could it be mine are still young about 4-5 inch SCL while yours is an older specimen ?

Cheers SAM

i would say you both have bells, the specks are more flattened looking. i have 1.2 bells, and 2.1 specks currently. i am getting alot of breeding activity from them this summer since i set them up outside. i am going to get some better pics hopefully this weekend. the first pic is my pair of bells (female is a bit hidden) ,and the second pic is my pair of specks mating. in the specks the female usually has more color and pattern where the males are usually a more uniform color. i have had this pair for about 7 yrs and the female was only 4 inches when i got her. the male was full grown when i got him and hasnt changed much. the third male lived with these two for the past 7yrs until this summer when i put them outside. this little guy did not want any competition and was very violent with him. i had to remove him. i also noticed my big female bells being very vicious with the smaller bells female, biting at her feet and ramming her so i pulled her out. i would like to find a small male bells and a female speck now so i can pair those two up.

Well they are beautiful, all of them, just the same. My Gretta has been with me for 17 years. I got her from a friend who had her for 5 years previously. I never have breed her though. I think that hatchilings would be too addictive. I'm pretty well hooked now.

were have you guys gotton your bells from . i found mine and want a friend for him. His names is Colonel Potter and hes a boy
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GOOSEBALLS

lamina1982@hotmail.com

are no longer imported. they banned them about 6yrs ago along with the importation of leopard torts. when i picked mine out the importer had hundreds of them and they sold them really cheap (15-20 ea. i think). they were another cheap tortoise to flood the market for first time tortoise owners. as hardy as i have found them to be and with all the updated info on care of torts over the past 20 yrs i wouldnt be surprised if there are many of these still in the country but probably as lone singles. i am fairly new to the tortoise forum but i rarely see anyone inquiring about them and when is the last time you saw some cbb babies for sale? this is sad because these are pretty cool tortoises and maybe eventually lost to the hobby. i really wish i would have kept a larger group now. we had just the two females for several years and finally located a single male to add to them earlier this year. hopefully we are succesful in producing some. thanks, john yocum

Check out the Yahoo group devoted solely to Kinixys species. Not too active but some long-term keepers to reply to questions about husbandry! Join fellow hingeback buffs, add your tips and experiences!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hingeback/
Hingebacks