Newbie About An Unknown Tortoise

[Ziyado]

Hello everyone,

My 5 years old brother called my uncle yesterday who lives beside a lot of pets store and asked him to buy him a tortoise for his pets day in school and he wanted a tortoise so my uncle bought him this tortoise in a box with some lettuce and we have no slight idea how to take care of it.

http://imgur.com/EhiL63R

I want to know what kind of tortoise is this, age, gender, what to feed, what suitable environment for it.

Basically anything and everything to take care of it and be in good health. I live in Cairo, Egypt if that helps about our climate.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Looks like a Hermanni to me......but wait for the experts.....


@HermanniChris

 

[tortadise]

Looks like a Hermanni to me......but wait for the experts.....


@HermanniChris

I think your spot on Maggie. But I will also say Chris is the best to ID these species. Will probably need a plastron shot

 

[Ziyado]

Here is another shot, I suppose this is the plastron shot if I am not wrong. https://imgur.com/H7J7VSB

I looked at the pictures of Hermanni tortoise but they don't seem alike. And please I need to know all the information about it and how to know age, sex and how to take care of it.

 

[JoesMum]

I am completely useless on species.

Sex looking female.

Age is impossible to tell as they all grow at different rates.

Diet is a variety of leafy greens.

In common with all Testudo tortoises, it can't digest sugars properly - it causes digestive problems- so fruit, tomato, bell pepper and carrot should only be fed very sparingly and very occasionally.

Will you be keeping your tortoise indoors or outside?

It needs an enclosure a minimum 1.2 x 2.5 metres in size, whether indoors or out, with a substrate of soil, coco coir, orchid bark.

It must not be kept on newspaper.

It must have constant access to water - a terracotta plant saucer is great.

It needs to bask in order to digest its food and be active. That requires either direct sunlight or a basking lamp.

It also needs UVB light to help it process calcium in its diet. It gets this from either direct sunlight (not through glass) or a UVB lamp.

This Beginner Mistakes thread will be helpful
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

 

[Ziyado]

I am completely useless on species.

Sex looking female.

Age is impossible to tell as they all grow at different rates.

Diet is a variety of leafy greens.

In common with all Testudo tortoises, it can't digest sugars properly - it causes digestive problems- so fruit, tomato, bell pepper and carrot should only be fed very sparingly and very occasionally.

Will you be keeping your tortoise indoors or outside?

It needs an enclosure a minimum 1.2 x 2.5 metres in size, whether indoors or out, with a substrate of soil, coco coir, orchid bark.

It must not be kept on newspaper.

It must have constant access to water - a terracotta plant saucer is great.

It needs to bask in order to digest its food and be active. That requires either direct sunlight or a basking lamp.

It also needs UVB light to help it process calcium in its diet. It gets this from either direct sunlight (not through glass) or a UVB lamp.

This Beginner Mistakes thread will be helpful
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

Thank you JoesMum for the reply. Well I live in a flat so I think a balcony will be good to place its enclosure.

Its currently inside a box with some lettuce so I will be sure to supply everything tomorrow morning. I hope this doesn't affect her.

 

[JoesMum]

It must have shelter from the sun if it gets very hot - make sure there is a shady part or shelter where it can get out of the heat.

 

[tortadise]

Here is another shot, I suppose this is the plastron shot if I am not wrong. https://imgur.com/H7J7VSB

I looked at the pictures of Hermanni tortoise but they don't seem alike. And please I need to know all the information about it and how to know age, sex and how to take care of it.

Female for sure. Some sort of Hermanns. I can't tell the western, eastern, or Dalmatians apart though.

 

[Ziyado]

Thank you @JoesMum and @tortadise

I will be waitting for more answers

 

[HermanniChris]

Not a Hermann's at all, that's a Greek tortoise for certain and it's either Testudo graeca graeca or T. graeca cyrenaica but I'll need more pics.!

 

[Ziyado]

Not a Hermann's at all, that's a Greek tortoise for certain and it's either Testudo graeca graeca or T. graeca cyrenaica but I'll need more pics.!

What kind of pictures do you need?? Like what angles and sides??

 

[Yvonne G]

Here's a link to the general care for a Greek tortoise.

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/greek-tortoise-testudo-graeca-care-sheet-overview.87146/

 

[tortadise]

Not a Hermann's at all, that's a Greek tortoise for certain and it's either Testudo graeca graeca or T. graeca cyrenaica but I'll need more pics.!

Lol. We'll see there yah go.

 

[Yvonne G]

I can never tell them apart either, Kelly. I've studied all the pictures, but they all look the same to me.

 

[bouaboua]

I can never tell them apart either, Kelly. I've studied all the pictures, but they all look the same to me.

I'm with you Yvonne, on this one....

 

[HermanniChris]

I'm going to have to put together another thread, something more detailed because they literally are not alike once all the differences are all spelled out clearly. Genetically, Hermann's and Greeks are far more separated than Hermann's and Russians for example along with many other species.

 

[HermanniChris]

For more pics, wet the tortoise down and show me the head and bottom along with a clearer shot from the top.

 

[JoesMum]

Not a Hermann's at all, that's a Greek tortoise for certain and it's either Testudo graeca graeca or T. graeca cyrenaica but I'll need more pics.!

Typical! I got it right for once but wouldn't commit myself

The wet head, shell and plastron shots Chris asks for will enable him to see the markings and shell plates more clearly

For more pics, wet the tortoise down and show me the head and bottom along with a clearer shot from the top.

 

[Ziyado]

Thank you everyone for the great answers.

@HermanniChris Here are some more shots while she is wet.

http://imgur.com/kPLMbGz
http://imgur.com/a/NaZnI
http://imgur.com/cTTpYmB

Talked to my carpenter to make me an enclosure and will receive it in couple of hours.

 

[Ziyado]

Since I put her in the balcony she has been moving everywhere and even pooped for the first time on the floor and my mum was really mad xD

I know this sounds bizarre but does this poo seem healthy http://imgur.com/3atoic2 and also she hasn't eaten for a while, is this normal.