Customer Reviews

South American Tortoises, 'Chelonoidis Carbonaria, C. Denticulata and C. Chilensis' (Chelonian Library #3)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a slick, beautiful, and well-researched book in the best tradition of the German herpetoculturalists. (In general, European reptile keepers are years ahead of Americans, and tend to base their cares on field studies, cooperative research, etc.)

This book covers the three mainland South American Tortoises- Red- and Yellow-foots and Chacos- in more depth than I have ever seen covered in one place before. Taxonomy, fossil record, in-depth descriptions, detailed habitat ranges, and more. They pull information from hundreds of sources to present a well-rounded picture of these species. Just the section discussing the history of the scientific names is longer than many tortoise care articles. 17 pages of bibliographies, 20 pages on reproduction, 42 pages on threats and conservation measures alone, for crying out loud!

While I have not read it in-depth yet, I found a lot of surprises...

- no one knows squat about Cherryheads in the wild

- no one REALLY knows the ranges of Red- or Yellow-foots

- wild Red-foots in much of their range eat a diet more like Mediterranean tortoises than we traditionally feed- grasses, hays, flowers, etc.

- Red-foots swim in the wild (which is sort of a 'duh' moment- a ground-dwelling animal in a place that rains all the time almost HAS to be comfortable in the water.)

-the biggest known Red-foot is HUGE! Wider than most are long!

- you can make a 'humidity pad' by sewing sphagnum moss in a linen bag, then soaking it, and using it in a humid hide, etc.

I tend to think of the price of books as value=cost/what I learn. By that formula, this book is one of the best values in my library!

This is going to change how I care for my Red-foots- I need to study it more, but I am probably going to do a quick redesign on their indoor and outdoor pens, diet, etc.

[...]