hinge back tortoises

[carl20]

does any1 keep hingebacks or does any1 have any good idea for there diet and housing, just general info for now as i know the subspeciesd is a factor.

[Eire_Ade]

Hi Carl,

I think Egyptian Dan is your man for hingebacks.

Ade :D

[egyptiandan64]

Yes Carl I've kept them :D . The one key to all hingebacks for good health and long life is to keep them alone. I only put mine together for breeding and only for a day. If you keep them alone and in the conditions each species and subspecies likes they aren't all that hard to keep.
Anyone in particular your looking at Carl?

Dan

[carl20]

sorry dan, i dont know the subspecies, someone just emailed me about rehoming theres as they dont think they can offer it a great lifestyle anymore.

Are the humid loving species better suited to vivs or tables and indoor or outdoor?
And same question for the dry loving sub species?

[piglet]

Hi Carl
I have kept Hingebacks and the humid varieties are kept similar to redfoots humidity needs to be about 80% floor substrate wise , they enjoy soaking so a large submergible bowl is necessary they are quite secretive but this maybe due to the fact they are nearly if not all wild caught so usually have a high parasite burden.
Diet similar to redfoots again but maybe a higher % of animal protein such as snails , earth worms , morio worms and wax moths grubs , they enjoy fruit and fungi and will sometimes take greens they do like yellow flowers also.
Temps need to be in the 80's higher end is best , the tropical wet land hingebacks don't take well to basking so red infra red heat admitter is usually best uvb bulb can be used in place but generally they obtain there D3 through there diet and supplements added.
The dryer area hingebacks captive care is not dissimilar to leopards except some fruit such as melon and cucumber should be added to the diet along with the odd snail and mealworm.
Carl can you get a picture of the hingeback so we can id it for you and they do make strangely interesting pets if kept right
Darren

[carl20]

thanks darren, i will post pics as soon as i get em. so far i have just recieved one email asking me if i would like to rehome this persons 12 year old hinge back, they got it when it was 6.

should it come with any documents and if it is wild caught what should i ask the vets to do, eg worms/parasites etc

[piglet]

No Documents Carl and if in captivity that long its possible ok to leave a worming till the animal has settled with you .
Forgot to mention they do well outdoors in the summer only you can create an enclosure similar to Sandys box turtle enclosure it wpuld do great kept like this and again a indoor table set u is best for the winter months

[carl20]

thanks agen darren, what about substrate, is sandsoil okay or should it be bark?? (regarding the humid subs)

im assuming if it is the belliana then i would keep it like my leos with sand soil and a basking light etc but with more hides than my leos have

[egyptiandan64]

I'd go with bark Carl if it was one of the humid loving species.

No assuming Carl :D as belliana has a few subspecies with one of them needing humid conditions, K. b. nogueyi. K. b. belliana needs some humidity, with K. b. zombensis needing the least of the 3 subspecies.

Any of the humid loving species or subspecies won't usually use a hotspot. They need fairly constant temperatures with only a 5 to 6 C drop from day to night in the whole enclosure.

Dan

[carl20]

Thanks for that dan i had no idea, i just assumed that these three were the subspecies of hingeback Kinixys belliana Kinixys erosa Kinixys homeana

[carl20]

for humidity checking i only have one of those few quid humidity things from petsparade. it definately works cos it moves up when i spray the soil and goes down slowly over the next copuple of days, do u think this will be accurate enuf.
Also how should i feed the tortoise to avoid over feeding?

sorry for all the questions but when i searched the forum there was nothing on it about these.

[egyptiandan64]

There's quite a few out there Carl :D , just that most people never see them out of their native habitat. Here's a list

Kinixys bellianna bellianna
K. b. nogueyi
K. b. zombensis
K. erosa
K. homeana
K. lobatsiana
K. natalensis
K. spekii

Dan

[carl20]

thanks dan, i had no clue, i only saw what was on the tt site,

darren wheree is the info on sandys box turtle enclosure u were talking about?

[egyptiandan64]

The humidity gauge you have Carl sounds like it will work just fine :D .

As far as feeding goes if you give 2 or 3 days off from feeding a week you should be just fine. If you do get him I wouldn't start this for a couple of weeks. As you'll be trying lots of different things to see what he likes, so they be times he won't eat what you offer. Just make sure you offer some type of protein twice a week.

Here's the link Carl :D http://forums.shelledwarriors.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=1429

Dan

[carl20]

ok so weeds as usual but with slugs, snails,worms and fruit added and 2-3 days off food a week.
what size indoor enclosure will this 12 year old require in the winter months?

i have just read on a site that homeana could be semi aquatic and therefore may be chronically dehydrated when kept in captivity.

[piglet]

Carl you need to see what it is your getting first whether tropical or arid speices .
But yes thats right some( homeana being one) like wet or marshy habitat in the wild but in capyivity this can be replicated with a good peat ,bark mulch with spag moss mix given good daily sprayings and a deep water bowl such as a apaint tray for submerging in.
Again though try and get a picture to show us so we now how best to advise .
The hygrometer you describe is rubbish yes they do move but there reading isn't accurate is it trex by any chance.
Darren

[carl20]

its exo terra,

[carl20]

im so dissapointed, i just got a reply from the women and she wants her hingeback to go to a family in brighton as they already have hingebacks and she would rather her tort had company. ahhh well i got quite excited and started reading loads of web pages and planning its house.

thanks for all the info dan, darren. at least there is info on the forum for hingebacks now.

[Henry-flash]

Oh that is a shame Carl :cry:

[Fallen Angel]

Im sorry to hear that but keep looking out you never know your luck. Nicky

[aprillinda]

oh carl you must feel disapointed

still the research you have done will be useful for the next time

linda

[carl20]

thanks for the sympathy guys, i just re read her email to help it sink in and noticed she said the other guy in brighton had 3 torts one of which is a hingeback, it made me think could this guy be mixing species so i warned her just in case that this isnt a good idea.

[Eire_Ade]

Well done Carl for all of the reseach you had done, and for thinking about where the tortoise was going to be housed that there might be a chance of mixed up species.

Hopefully you might get a response, would be interesting to see what the original owner says.

Ade :D

[newforestmum]

on our recent trip to London we saw these at Chessington Zoo not sure if it is correct set up but it is Hingebacks

http://upload4.postimage.org/1181029/chessington10.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/1181029/photo_hosting.html)http://upload4.postimage.org/1181031/chessington11.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/1181031/photo_hosting.html)