Identification Challenge

[irishshake]

I'm kind of interested in more than just knowing that its eastern/boettgeri
I was hoping someone could give me an educated guess on maybe its local... Greece, Albania, Bulgaria.
I gave some research an attempt but failed miserably.

 

[Jabuticaba]

It's a beautiful tortoise! I'm not an expert, but others will chime in. I have 2 THBs, but it's just impossible to tell their origins not knowing where they were bred.


May, Aussies, & THBs
IG: @AUSSOMEAUSSIES

 

[irishshake]

That is a shame. I wonder if there are any books or studies that go into depth about traits and location?

 

[Tom]

...but it's just impossible to tell their origins not knowing where they were bred.

This is not true. There are people who really know the species that can tell.

This is a job for @HermanniChris !

If Egyptian Dan were still around, I'll bet he could tell too. COME BACK DAN!!!

 

[HermanniChris]

It's certainly very tough to know origin without paperwork or bona fide history but we can make an educated guess based on general markings, size, color etc..

I'm going to rule out southern Greece (Peloponnesus) and Macedonia. Most of the recent imports of farmed boettgeri coming in derive from Macedonia hence their attractive yellow color, shape and size.

Your tortoise is very text book for the Eastern subspecies and my best guess would be Romania or another part of Greece. Again that's a "maybe". Bulgaria is another possibility but the largest examples of boettgeri and also T. ibera originate from there so as your animal matures, be sure to keep us posted on just he big he grows. Males upwards of 9" and females nearing 12" in Bulgaria are not uncommon.

Differentiating boettgeri strains from each other are not as easy as with hermanni hermanni usually. Many locality specific T. h. hermanni have very distinct features that separate them from one another. This is not so clear in boettgeri but at times it can be.

 

[Camryn]

That's beautiful!

 

[irishshake]

Very interesting. Thank you chris. I will keep an eye on the size for sure. Its always nice learning something new about the little guy that might help me better care for him (her).

 

[Reptilelove]

Stunning tort!