This sweety was brought over to me by one of my coworkers. The tortoise was brought in to my work and left at the vet's office ((I work part-time at a no-kill cat shelter)) , the person who left it said that the owner had abused it.







My coworkers were told that this is a Greek, but I wanted to ask you all. This tortoise has a deformed leg, it has no toes or claws on one leg. Unfortunately we don't know if this was caused by the former caretaker or if it was a birth defect.

Right now its staying at my house, and I'll get some photos of it in its new home soon. For temporary purposes the tortoise is being housed in an extra large plastic tote.

But yes, is this tort a Greek or something else?

I would say this is a Greek. Though I am not sure. Observations (It has light scales on head in a triangular shape, with some black or dark scales on legs, Keyhole (hourglass) 5th vertebral scute). Do you have a plastron (belly) pic?

OK, could be a Testudo hermanni boettgeri (Eastern Race) as it has the classic keyhole shading on the 5th vertebral scute and I cant see the supracaudal scute to see if it is split. But the Antakyan Syrian Greek looks like this one in your pic. It also has a keyhole shading in the 5th vertebral scute. (knew I wasn't very good at this) I'm sure Danny or Chris could identify.

Im going to go with Antakyan Greek with that wide 5th vertebral scute. Are you planning on keeping it or will you need help finding an appropriate home? If so what area are you in?

It is an Antakyan greek, Testudo graeca antakyensis and because of all the things you saw Robyn. Good call Anja
It's probably central Syrian, but that would depend on how much black is on the plastron. If it has a lot of black it's Lebanese or western Syrian, if it has not much black it's central Syrian.

Danny

This post was last modified: 05-02-2008 05:58 PM by egyptiandan.

Thanks Danny but I feel I still have a long way to go in IDing from Hermanni boettgeri to Antakyan I feel is a large leap, but I am working at it.
Now the question is it a she or a he? Need to see a tail shot from underneath. And that Belly shot to see if she is Syrian or Lebanese.
Good call Anja. I still get confused but I hope I'm learning.
Greyscale_Reptiles if it is a She and you are going to rehome her I would be interested. I am in So. CA just down the coast from you. That is if Anja isn't interested in her (?)

Thanks you guys, I'll get the belly pictures tomorrow.

Actually, I plan on keeping it. The tort is very sweet and even ate out of my hand today. Gotta say, it was really special to bond with it.

But yeah, finding out the gender would be nice. That way I can stop calling it "it" and actually pick out a nice name.

it doesn't sound abused and its shell looks in good shape...he's really pretty!

Exactly! I'm glad that it isn't afraid of humans.

Thank you! ^_^

Thanks you guys, I'll get the belly pictures tomorrow.

Actually, I plan on keeping it. The tort is very sweet and even ate out of my hand today. Gotta say, it was really special to bond with it.

But yeah, finding out the gender would be nice. That way I can stop calling it "it" and actually pick out a nice name.

Thats great, you can search the old threads on this site to find proper foods and setups for your new Greek. If you need anything at all just let us know. Key is to avoid fruits and veggies and go with a high fiber, low protein diet consisting mainly of weeds and grasses. Make sure any weeds you pick or let the tortoise graze on have been chemical free for at least 6 months and you should be good. You can also use a Spring Mix from the grocery store.


Good luck and keep us posted, its a very lovely Greek.

Okay, everyone!

I finally got a picture from underneath the belly. It's a closeup of the region by the tail (hope this helps for sexing)! Sorry for the blurryness.



Also, the entire belly is almost completely black. It's patterned just like the glimpse of it in the photo.