Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm thinking Female--what do you think?
About 10.5 inches 4 years old

I think female but don't take my word for it.
Is the plastron concave at all? Our female has zero hint of concavity. She was only 10 inches or so when we took her in 5 years ago, only weighed 9lbs then & we pretty much figured she was female. We know for sure that she is at 70lbs.
(she laid some eggs so there is no doubt lol)
I know a male her size who is very concave on the plaston, it's very obvious in him.
-----
PHRatz

No indications that her plastron is concave. She (I will just refer to her as a she now), she gained quite a few pounds this summer starting with 3 pounds in June and now up to 7.2 pounds now this month--so I'm pretty sure by next summer we can be 100% sure. Her length has almost doubled in size along with her weight so I'm anxious to see what next summer brings us.
They generally say it's hard to be certain until about 15in in length but I figuered with the curved anal scutes and the smaller tail he was looking more like a she. YAH!!
It's amazing what natural grazing, sunlight, and living like a tortoise does to a tort.

>>It's amazing what natural grazing, sunlight, and living like a tortoise does to a tort.

You said it! I know people who have sulcata who aren't able to allow them outdoors 24/7 and the differences between mine & theirs always amazes me.
My girl got so healthy so fast and then grew so fast I couldn't believe it. Her color is better than those I see who aren't able to stay out & live like a tortoise.
The day I took her in I didn't realize then that we live in a region that's very similar to her native land & I also didn't realize just how lucky we that we do.
I know it now.
I just now watched her walk across the driveway, standing tall on those big legs. She's a wonderful member of the family.
-----
PHRatz

Fun!!
Your in AZ right? So am I. Can I see pics of your winter shed. I'm in the process of finishing my rubbermaid shed before it turns so called "winter" in AZ but just wanted to get some more ideas. It's a big rubbermaid shed 6X6X5, I was trying to see if the oil filled radiated heater would work best or the heat lamp--may run a rheostat (sp?)...but I need to get an electrican out to run an outlet on their enclosure so I don't have an extension cord running arcoss my whole back yard--Good thing we own an electrical company!! LOL

Nope not in AZ but in West TX.. aside from the different types of cacti and our normal summer temps running more around 105 than 115, this area if fairly similar to the desert parts of AZ.
I watched a video about roadrunners once & if they hadn't said it was filmed in AZ I would've thought it was here. We have roadrunners that hunt on our property too.
We have basically this for 4 seasons:
December, January, February and Summer. LOL

Tell ya what instead of trying to pick just the tortoise mansion photos out- here's her photo link. You can see the good & bad all at once LOL
btw when DH built her home he had it wired professionally for electricity, maaaaaaaaan that is soooo convenient!

Got any pics of your own? I love to look at everybody's pictures!!
Destiny's photos

-----
PHRatz

So true about the weather---although I think ours is December, Feb, and HOT!!! LOL Good one

https://gallery.kingsnake.com/data/131539P9090021-med.jpg

That URL above should bring you to my photos. I remember now, I remember hearing about Destiny and you living in Texas from the Tortoise forum through Yahoo, on the yahoo groups. I only joined for about 3 weeks and realized how harsh it was (nothing against you) but boy oh boy it was bad...first and last tortoise "group" I joined--this forum seems good.

I'll get more pics when I get the shed completed. I was trying to mimic the one on

http://www.sulcata-station.org (converting a rubbermaid into a tort house)
but when you click on that link it's not available anymore--bummer cuz I liked that link.

Here's a picture of my 2 year old--she was selected as "Pet Pick" of the week and was posted on our news station. (hee hee such a proud mom)

http://www.sulcata-station.org is being revamped and will be looking for new hosting very soon. Should be back online within a couple of months hopefully.
-----
Anja Buffalo
Crotalus & Company
Venom-Center
Wisconsin Reptiles Site
Free PC Inspection

Thanks for letting me know--I really like that website and refer back to that quite a bit. That's where I got the idea of converting the rubbermaid shed into a heated tort house come winter.

Thanks for letting me know

>>http://www.sulcata-station.org is being revamped and will be looking for new hosting very soon. Should be back online within a couple of months hopefully.

Oh yeah see? I should've read ahead.
-----
PHRatz

>>So true about the weather---although I think ours is December, Feb, and HOT!!! LOL Good one
Yeah I read that on some TX thing somebody sent to me.. it was so true that I stole it LOL!!

Yeah I know the groups can get harsh at times but I think it's because people are so passionate about their beloved sulcatas.. lately though I have been so busy I haven't been able to keep up with them.
About the Sulcata Station link.. I read that they are having some sort of problem with the hosting service or something like that. The site isn't going away forever, it'll be back- just not sure when.

Your pet pick of the week derserved to be the pick. What a pretty baby!!
-----
PHRatz