Kapidolo Farms

06/01/2026

2.5 to 3 years old. Three have aberrant scute configurations. Same no shipping as in the post with the B. Stars. Texas only, USFWS restrictions on interstate movement for a non-native species, yeah! These larger individuals through various SoCal sources. Also some neonates CCB at Smart Tortoise Keeper facility of Kapidolo Farms adults. Collaborations can be wonderful. If you're in California, Mark can help you out.

Lone Star Tortoises Ranches dba Kapidolo Farms. Also organic botanicals, vetted commercial diets (tested), NO-Tip water trays, radiant heat panels, land type Waterland tubs. All Tortoise - All the Time.

06/01/2026

Quarter for size reference, all hatched last week Dec 2025 to first week in Feb 2026. Incubation protocol has resulted in 66% female based on previous clutches. Not a guarantee, but a probability. Three will likely result in at least one female. That offers a 96% chance of at least one female. Don't know what you're looking at, then maybe not a good choice - B. Stars.

Local meet-up in south Texas, just one(?) count on a drive to Alice or San Diego, three or more I'll drive a couple hours. South side of SA, CC, Laredo, Pharr if it's a Costco weekend.

05/30/2026

05/27/2026

But how does it work? I get this often in emails to Kapidolo Farms.

Dried organic botanicals contribute to nutrient density and fiber content X10. Drying removes 90% of most plant tissues' weight - the water. If you mix 10 ounces of chopped fresh romaine with 1 ounce of dried botanicals, aside from water content it's like feeding 20 ounces - 10 ounces each of the romaine and the dried botanical. It really is that simple. Romaine is a good choice for its high water content, most lettuces work the same.

In the image you see ZooMed natural grassland tortoise food, soaked with cold brew tea made from Hibiscus. Hibiscus amount plus 2x water overnight in the frig. Then use the tea and the wet hibiscus bits to soak the ZooMed, again two parts of water to one part of pellets/crumbles. It does not impart the same level of color if you soak it all together.

The ZooMed gourmet natural grassland food (the highest rated food in the third edition of the "Mader" book) is regular grassland pellets with hibiscus, sweet potato, and carrots.

05/22/2026

This weekend, May 23/24 there is a Lone Star Reptile Expo at the NYTEX sports complex in North Richland Hills (NRH). Redfoot Ranch's Bill Murray will be there with many chelonians and Kapidolo Farms foods. Bill has a dozen different organic botanicals for sale and to go home with new pets.

If you might want your company's logo on the botanicals to give to new pet owners or sell at shows or via shipped pets, please let me know.

05/21/2026

Very very exciting. I rolled up the giant door, sat back in a lawn chair and watched the show..

05/19/2026

Following is part of an insert every customer gets with a purchase. Sometimes bonuses are announced in other venues.

June’s bonus will be buy two - one pound amounts of any botanical and get a ½ of any botanical for no additional cost. That multiplies - buy 4 one pound amounts, get 2 eight ounces or a single pound of another botanical for free. At check out tell me, txt me, call me, or email, I’ll need your order number. Tell me what free item you want.
The May bonus is a free two ounce bag of conventional Violet for purchases over $45 for TFO readers. Conventional indicates the grower did not get their crop ‘certified’ as organic. I had it tested and the ‘clean’ result is posted on the sales page for violet leaf in the BackYard Harvest food submenu. Also, I’ll include a sample size of Violet leaf with any two or more items purchase until I use 32 one ounce ‘sample size’ bags.
I bought one of those polycarbonate greenhouses. I've been posting some video's on YouTube and here. I’m building tortoise coops simultaneously and will post images on these same venues.
I’m taking suggestions for July’s bonus. 20261905

No Pop-ups, no abandoned shopping cart emails, no pleads for feedback or data collection. I will not harass customers! Always an auto 12% discount on food purchases over $100 - I always give a bit more on every purchase, mostly an organic tea of a food type I sell – maybe you’d like to taste what the tortoise gets? If not, open the tea bag and feed it to your pet. A bonus.
I support TTPG - A real grassroots conservation organization, they publish species establishing nomenclature – units of conservation, they sponsor younger people at the start of a career, they give voice to keepers at an annual meeting. They give.
I give too, I donate to real conservations efforts, I’m critical about who, but please offer your suggestion.
*. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *
Would you like a custom package to send along with animals you sell or for reptile shows? Here is an example of an approved logo label for Carapace Critters. There are several others getting these for shows (to sell or give to new pet owners) or shipped with new pets.

05/16/2026

I got another customer concern letter regarding specific ingredients to the Hikari Mulberific - the cassava starch, and the apple and banana content, and Japanese spinach. . .

Hi Customer,
It's good to read ingredient labels. In short your concern is valid, but in this case, I think this food is a good commercial diet for small tortoises.

I grabbed this off of Google AI - "Japanese spinach (often komatsuna or Asian-leaf spinach) has thicker, crunchier stems and a milder, slightly sweet flavor compared to regular spinach. Komatsuna lacks oxalic acid, meaning it doesn't leave a bitter aftertaste or a filmy feeling on your teeth, and holds its shape much better in hot broths or stir-fries."

Oxalic acid is often considered 'bad' for tortoises due to the dogma (unjustified belief) that it causes gastrointestinal stones. There is zero evidence that occurs in tortoises. If you want, I can elaborate on that.

The cassava starch is a natural binder so the other mixed ingredients stay together, it is considered a safe alternative to gluten. All pelleted foods contain some binder. Cassava starch has no known negative impact.

As for the banana and apple they are flavor enhancers and do not push the fruit to an out of control level. The problem with fruit, which all tortoises eat some of, is that people don't know how to moderate. They see the tortoise likes it, so they overdo it. Repeated ingestion alters the gut microbiome significantly. I give most tortoises cactus fruit, and occasionally some berries; for example, a 50 pound tortoise might get three berries or a fig. That is a appropriate. Not like a small adult Hermann's getting several strawberries daily, that is grossly inapprorpiate.

I use the Hikari Mulberific with small tortoises. I sell it in my on-line store (best price in the US) and had an independent lab run an analysis to see if there were any residual herbicides or pesticides in it. It's clean. I can send you the lab result if you would like to see it.

These pellets produced by Hikari use mulberry as the primary (first) ingredient. I offer the hibiscus to create a cold brew tea to soak the pellets, for a different taste and color from one meal to the next. The back label is shown so you can read all the detail. This is relatively new product for n...

05/10/2026

Three short videos of the tortoise coop and greenhouse layout.