Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Forsteins? Has anyone established, breeding these frequently? I can only find imported males anymore if that... heard the quotas frozen? Best to you- Mike

Imports are notoriously difficult to acclimate and many keepers have given up on them after losing large numbers.
However, a few breeders have produced captive hatched young and they seem to do just fine.
As for imports and quotas I can't say but it could be that dealers are holding back adult females in hopes they may drop eggs. I know for a fact that one importer/dealer in South Florida used to routinely inject all adult female turtles they got in with Oxytocin to force them to drop their eggs.

Hello Mayday,

Thank you for the response kindly. I have now heard from a few different and dependable sources that no more Forsteins will be coming but Malaysia has now a small quota on elongates... They are just as nice I guess. Best to you- Mike

From what I've been told, alot of the adult Indo Torts are coming in with some sort of virus or bacteria and eventually go down hill with the typical runny nose, eyes, fluid filled lungs, and other URI type symptoms. Forsteins and Burmese Browns were specifically mentioned. It does seems like the most of the shelled critter quotas have been cut, which may eleviate the problem. I don't have any first hand experience with it, but this is coming from someone who has alot of Tort experience and has acclimated many animals with success.

Hello Eric,

Thanks for the response... I have a friend who just acclimated 4 imports beautifully. They are gorgeous tortoises and I wanted to work with some after seeing his. None of his had any of the problems that you described but he purchased them as acclimated imports. But to support part of what you said, forsteins and browns were the torts said to no longer have a quota anymore. Get'em if you can, I can't find any. Best to you- Mike

Be careful, stuff like that can have a long incubation period in Tortoises. I wouldn't trust anything that hadn't been in captivity for less than 2 or 3 years. I had a customer of mine that had an interest in Burmese Browns. She had four, two are dead and the other two are going downhill, if they aren't already dead yet. It all started with one, but she learned an important lesson in quarantine. I try not to mess with Indo anymore, Red and Yellowfoots do it for me anymore.

Hello Eric,

Nothing to be careful about. They are clean. And I have seen and dealt with many respiratory issues which most of the time the bacteria or viruses aren't the cause or the underlying problem. Red and yellowfoots can have many of these same issues so what area of the world they are from doesn't really play a role either. Even the very weak animals come back around. It just takes time, sometimes a year or more. Nothing fast seems to happen with tortoises, hahahaha! And yes, quarantine is a must. Best to you- Mike

>>Forsteins? Has anyone established, breeding these frequently? I can only find imported males anymore if that... heard the quotas frozen? Best to you- Mike

I do know that they have been bred in captivity. A friend of mine is a tortoise breeder. However I am unsure of the ease of availability. Their first breeding resulted in a single baby. This was about 3 years ago that they bred successfully.
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Cindy
PHFaust

Email Cindy

Land of the Outcasts!

I have a very small group of LTC adults and my first eggs are incubating right now. This took 3 years to happen. I plan on trading my offspring for some other non related animals CBB also this year to grow my herd. I think that they will take the same 4 to 5 years to grow up and breed that my elongates do. Neat little animals and quite different from elongateds. Love them all! best wishes Douglas Beard / Flora & Fauna

Hello Douglas,

Thank you for the reply. Please post pics of your offspring when this occurs. I would like to pm you about some of your captive management details. Thanks again for the info. Best to you all- Mike