About Us

“That is “Tankie”. She is about 77+ years old. Pure C. Becki imported from the Galapagos Islands in 1945″

Kapidolo Farms

I have been a chelonian enthusiast all my life, well there was ages 0 to 3 when I did not have any chelonian pets. I have had a few collections counting over 100 individuals of dozens of species, the first as a pre-teen/young teen. Again right after getting a Bachelor’s degree in Production Agriculture, which slid into an even larger collection when I moved from California to Pennsylvania to work at the Philadelphia Zoo. I went back to school for a graduate degree in Ecology and Evolution (yeah, I focused on chelonians) and again parted with many animals to others’ collections in order to work and complete school.

Most recently while living in southern California I have become more focused on just terrestrial chelonians, also called Tortoises. Past collections I gave away, species or animal by animal, to others who I hoped would take the addition with a keen interest to breed or at least maintain long term. I am pretty sure very few have ended up with that hope being realized.

I have become more selective in species I will keep, thinking more of making a lifetime commitment to them. Now instead of giving away what is produced in my collection I sell them. I also have found myself wanting better foods for tortoises so I have found and selected high quality food items that I use and offer for sale.

Please read the ‘Disclaimers, Guarantees, & Disclosures‘ page to understand how I conduct my buying and selling of animals and food items.

With the internet being a great way to meet and communicate with people I have been able to share my experience, both academic and practical, in social media and forums with a focus on pet tortoises. Some of the blog entries here on this web-page are excerpts from these contributions.

I found myself wanting a place where I could share more, so I created this wep-page for that purpose. I also decided to create this space as an entity called “Kapidolo Farms” which I have used since 2015. Kapidolo Farms is not so much a place on a map with fences and tractors as it is the space where I offer my experience and offspring, and foods that I think are high quality diet items for tortoises.

What is “Kapidolo”? One species of tortoise from Madagascar, Pyxis planicauda, is known locally at Kapidolo with a few interpretations of meaning. Kapidolo is ‘ghost tortoise’ in a Malagasy language. One thought is that they move so slowly and with such a light footfall, they are ghosts. Another potential source for the name comes from their habit of spending time in small forest clearings where people have made burial sites for family members. This species is often seen in these places and may be thought of as a ghost of the past relative. Either way they are ghost tortoises, and I like the name.

I hope you find value in the pages’ content and find a pet tortoise you will enjoy for many years. I offer a lifetime support for your pet purchase. I also hope that even if you buy a tortoise somewhere else, you will seek quality care help here. All the foods I sell I use myself, how I use them is incorporated into blog articles.

You can reach me with this email listed below, or if you’d rather chat on the phone – send an email with your number, what your call is about, and a best time to call (indicate time zone please).

Will Espenshade, Biologist

KapidoloFarms@gmail.com