Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This morning I took my class to my vet's hospital where we observed and filmed a rat tumor removal and spay, a hit by car box turtle repair then we got to see her 65lb male sulcata and his baby.
I'm teaching laboratory animal clinical management for veterinary technicians this semester which is rabbit/rodent medicine, not reptile medicine so the reptile stuff we got to see and film was a bonus.

My vet spayed the mother sulcata, took her eggs out of her then the owners gave the father sulcata to the vet. All the eggs were incubated but only one hatched about 3 weeks ago so now the vet has father and baby, what a contrast to see them both.
It's still so hard to believe that such a teensy baby can grow up to be so huge!
Both the mother and father have some pyramiding but I've been told that the owners have had these tortoises for 20 years, I'm sure they didn't know how to care for them in 1985.
I'm wondering where they got sulcata tortoises that long ago!
Sulcatas weren't that widespread in the pet trade back then it'd be interesting to meet these people and find out more.
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PHRatz

I aquired my first pair of AST's in the early nineties. At that time the distributer told me that these animals were very fresh in the country and just entering the American Pet trade. Up until that time, they had been kept only in zoos, as they were predicted not to thrive in captivity and were very unlikely to be captive bred.
I produced my first clutch of babies in the late nineties and I was told that I was the first documented to breed these tortoises in the north east (and may still be the only one in this region for all I know lol)at that time it was still virtually impossible to find babies (captive borne or not)anywhere in the country.
Anyways, I think it is very unlikely that someone was able to aquire these incredible animals as pets in the eighties. Thanx, Leo

Skin & Scales

>>Anyways, I think it is very unlikely that someone was able to aquire these incredible animals as pets in the eighties.

I don't know the people. I don't know where they are from
I don't know what they do for a living now or in the past.
I don't know where they acquired the tortoises or how they know the age of the tortoises.
I'm just going by what I was told about them. I have nothing else to go on. If what I was told is true or not, I have no idea.
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PHRatz