Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well all I can say is the tortoise we call "SKULLHEAD" appears to be thriving. As you can see he is firming up, eating and mixing in well with others. I have never seen in 12 years of breeding redfoots a hatchling so soft. As the picture below indicates it is now approx. 70% firmer then when it first hatched. To go from a jello like consistency to it's current pretty firm state is what I call a "Miracle of Nature". Thanks all who saw the original shots below and were pulling for the little fellow......Richard

-----
Richard -amazoa-

"Changes in behavior occur when the pain of staying the same outweighs the pain of change."

glad he's better now (and he seems to have soaked up his yolk too)!

from the pics, his unique little face seems to be one big red scale on top instead of the usual pattern of small scales -- is this correct? is he different in any other ways? perhaps his softness was some kind of birth defect, assuming all his clutchmates turned out normal under matching conditions. hope he has a long healthy life thanks to his calcium spa treatments.

Good observation the usual red scallation of the redfoots head is absent in this hatchling. The baby tortoise has the one huge scale that resembles a Skull and is an off yellow brownish color. It does have a little red spot above his egg tooth. His front legs have a few red scales but not near as numerous as they usually are. Looking at his underside his plastron lacks the divisions so clear in his siblings. I can't see any other abnormal traits but this one will be fun to watch grow up and observe it's changes.--later Richard

The pics included here shows the mom , one of her babies that shows how colorful her offspring can be next to little "skullhead".

-----
Richard -amazoa-

"Changes in behavior occur when the pain of staying the same outweighs the pain of change."

Its the miricle of 2010!!! Good Stuff!