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We just wanted to share a picture of our adult female hypomelanistic cherry head redfoot tortoise. We have seen a handful of hypo redfoots around, but to the best of our knowledge, no cherry heads. Originally from Brazil, the color of her carapace is light tan and unusually smooth to the touch, almost leather-like. We hope to produce our first clutch of 100% heterozygous babies this year.

Best regards,

Dan Garcia
The BoidSmith

Hopefully the picture will load now!

Regards,

Dan Garcia
The BoidSmith

Definitively I don't know how to post pictures! I can e-mail them to those interested.

Thanks

Dan Garcia
The BoidSmith

Well...it seems we know figured out how to do it.

Best regards,

Dan Garcia
The BoidSmith

Interesting looking tortoise but I have to say she doesn't look hypo at all. From that photo she looks completely normal except very old and worn.
Her head and skin appear normal.

I was thinking the exact same thing! I have seen the same flavism in other species. Age seems to wear down the melanin. I don't think this animal is hypo from genetics but rather hypo from age.
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Michael
http://turtletracker.com

Hey Dan,

Very interesting looking redfoot! Now, PLEASE take this opinion with a grain of salt (as I may be wrong), but I'm not so sure that's a hypo. Why? The sheer lack of growth rings. In my opinion, that is a Redfoot probably approaching the 100 year mark in age!!! No kidding. When torts get VERY old, the shell can become SO smooth, it's almost like glass. It's also possible that the tort lost it's outer shell plates due to massive fire damage and re-grew what you now see. Something just looks 'off' for that being a hypo. So, this is just my knee-jerk opinion based on the pic you posted. Maybe some more pics will make me think otherwise?!

Either way, NEAT looking tort! All the best with it.

Matt

I get a kick out of 'snake people' trying to apply 'snake logic' to tortoises.

A snake you can turn around in 2 years (genetically speaking) and a tortoise you can turn around in 20 years (if you're good).

You can only look at that as an investment if you are providing for your kids.

>>We just wanted to share a picture of our adult female hypomelanistic cherry head redfoot tortoise. We have seen a handful of hypo redfoots around, but to the best of our knowledge, no cherry heads. Originally from Brazil, the color of her carapace is light tan and unusually smooth to the touch, almost leather-like. We hope to produce our first clutch of 100% heterozygous babies this year.
>>
>>Best regards,
>>
>>Dan Garcia
>>The BoidSmith
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care