Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just wanted to post a discussion item for which I share an opinion with many others that observe and keep Cherryhead Redfoots.

There seems to be a great interest in marbled animals on the classifieds, some pulling a premium price.

In my observation and shared opinion, marbling seems like a juvenile trait that fades into subadulthood and fades nearly to normal redfoot contrast by adult size. Here's a comparison photo of animals in my collection (1 from a friends collection) showing a normal shell and examples of the transition to adulthood for marbled animals. This is in-line with what I observe of the greater cherryhead population. Heaviest marbling in 5 - 6" animals. Light or semi-marbled in the 6.5 - 7" range. Faded marbling in the 8" range. And no marbling or just traces in animals 9" and above.

If anyone has an adult cherryhead with intact marbling, I'd love to hear about it and see a pic. I'm doubting their existance. BTW, by adult I mean 9" . The dwarf my(th)stery, we can tackle in another thread. I'll just leave you with... My largest animal is 10.5" and growing. My friends is 12" and growing. I have seen several specimens in a local public exhibit that are 12 - 14". Hardly dwarves.

Paul

I would have to agree with your theory. I have owned Red-foots and hope to get my first pair of Cherries soon but I have seen many of both species. Across all tortoise species where any marbling is not normal, many of which I have owned over the last 10 years, it seems to me that any variation in shell color that may seem unique seems to go away with age. I have a small birth mark the size of a dime on stomach. It was bright white when I was young. Now as an adult, it has all but dissapeared. It makes sense that the same would be true for variations in shell color and design.

My two cents...

Tortuga

hope it's valid!

I have not heard of any official or current studies on the subject. As a matter of fact, I've not heard of any ongoing studies on this locality of redfoot at all. There seems to be enough material (dwarf?, head color variation?, shell color variation?, where they REALLY come from? - according to respected sources, they are NOT from Paraguay);I wish someone would get on it.

For me, Squeek is a good test case. 'She' (I think) is 5.5" with heavy marbling. In about 3-4 years, I should be able to observe this transformation. Have a couple of others also that are in the larger, lighter stage but Squeek will test the theory from one extreme to the other.

Will post an update in a few years Heck, I may even write a paper!

(If anyone has a marbled adult, STEP UP!)

Paul

keep it up, Paul!

or any that I would consider old either. The one exception is a very pale female that a friend has. She is around 8 inches.
All of the marbled ones that I have became darker and darker as they grew and were kept in full sunlight.
My best male that was VERY marbled at 7 inches is now only slightly so at 9 inches. When his shell is wet you can see it but that is about it.
Also, I have seen MANY cherryheads from the original Pet Farm shipment that were called 'dwarfs' that became 12 and 13 inchers after a few years.