Reptile & Amphibian Forums

source of information on Venezuelan redfoots. I've been told they are a dwarf race?? I haven't been able to find much about them on the web. I wouldn't mind buying a book if there is one with in-depth information. Thanks in advance,
Tim

With quite a bit of info on redfoots.
Whoever told you that the redfoots from there are a 'dwarf' race was misinformed. There may be and isolated pocked of smaller individuals but Venezuela is well studied and represented by museum specimens. There is no mention (I don't think anyway) of a true 'dwarf' race from there.
Sounds like typical 'dealer talk' to me.

I agree, that 'Turtles of Venezuela' is a very beautiful book. I
ordered it from Amazon and received it last week. One has to
consider though, that this book covers about 25 species, and the
Redfoots are just one of them, which means, that you will find
less than 20 pages dealing with them. On top it covers a lot of
anatomy and some observations in the wild, which is very
interesting, but maybe not the first focus, when you think about
keeping the species. The book is about 50 US$.
If you want a keepers manual, than Mike Pingleton's 'Practical
Care and Maintenance of the Redfoot Tortoise Geochelone
Carbonaria in Captivity' is ideal. You can order it online
at www.carapacepress.com and it costs less than 15 US$.
Talking of a smaller 'Redfoot' you might have heard of
Cherryheads. They are found in some parts of northern Argentina
and Paraguay and have deep red head and limb markings. The
Redfoots from Venezuela are 'regular' sized.
For nice pics you could check out the pics in the classified
section here (eventhough I wonder about some of the so-called
Cherryheads offered there actually being Cherryheads...). They
also offer some wild caught Redfoots from Venezuela. So you could
take a look.
For more on Redfoots you could check out the yahoo Redfoot group.
You will find great information there answering all kinds of
questions you might have.
Good luck,- Redfoots are simply wonderful (I have a 3-year old
and 2 two month old hatchlings)!

Gaby

Yes Redfoots are great tortoises, I've got 5 adult Surinam's and had my first success at breeding last year. A friend just gave me 2 Venezuelan's the other day. He got in a large shipment of them, all of them about 8 inches. A lot of them had well worn shells. Much more than you would think a normal 8 inch tortoises shell would be. Thus his thinking that maybe they are from a dwarf race. They seem very healthy so I don't think poor nutrition would explain their small size compared to their apparent age. Thanks for your help.

Tim
Southampton Herps

I'm from Venezuela and I have breed Redfoots for more than 10 years, Venezuelan redfoot are regular, Geochelone carbonaria, no dwarf or cherry head, There are some with more red than others of course, but they are not like the Paraguayan cherryhead, those Dwarf or cherry head names from Venezuelan redfoots are just dealer tricks

The consenus seems to be that there is no dwarf race in Venezuela. If that's the case what do you think would explain the small size of these apparently older tortoises? I'm thinking perhapes they came from Venezuela but are not of Venezuelan origin. What do you guys think? I'll try and post a picture later today.

The unusually worn shells are probably environmental...i.e. the tortoises were raised in an area with rough walls (if captive raised), or crowded conditions. If they are wild caught it could very well be that they are from a heavily vegetated habitat that abraded their shells prematurely.
A worn down shell does not have to mean the animal is old.