Please help ID - a jackass I know bought these in a market in Morocco, he paid €15 ($20) for two. Can someone please ID them so I can advise him

[Irish_Ninja_Turtle]

 

[Ink]

Can you post a picture of the pastron underneath?

 

[Irish_Ninja_Turtle]

Can you post a picture of the pastron underneath?

I have asked for more pics, thank you for the response

 

[Irish_Ninja_Turtle]

Can you post a picture of the pastron underneath?

 

[Maggie3fan]

View attachment 365130View attachment 365131View attachment 365132

Oh they are SOOOOO dry, stick them in water warm water...

 

[Irish_Ninja_Turtle]

Oh they are SOOOOO dry, stick them in water warm water...

Oh no, thank you. What temp? I'll pass on whatever info you can give

 

[Irish_Ninja_Turtle]

Oh they are SOOOOO dry, stick them in water warm water...

Can you help ID? I know nothing about tortoises but my am purely guessing African Spurred based on probability. I have found some resources to pass on to him but will have to ask another person to translate into the owner's first language - Brazilian Portuguese

 

[zovick]

Can you help ID? I know nothing about tortoises but my am purely guessing African Spurred based on probability. I have found some resources to pass on to him but will have to ask another person to translate into the owner's first language - Brazilian Portuguese

They do not appear to be African Spurred Tortoises (Centrochelys sulcata). The sulcatas have no nuchal scute, and one of these tortoises does have it. The second one is missing its nuchal scute and has at least one extra vertebral scute that I can see (which is totally unrelated to the presence or absence of the nuchal scute in determining the species of the animals in question but I mention it since I noticed it).

They look like Golden Greek Tortoises (Testudo graeca terrestris) which are also known as Mesopotamian Tortoises to me, but I am not a real expert on Mediterranean species. Here is a link with pix and info: https://www.everythingreptiles.com/golden-greek-tortoise/

The only other likely candidate would be the Egyptian Tortoise (Testudo kleinmanni, but they are very rare also protected. Here is a link to pix and info on them:

Egyptian Tortoise Care Guide | hermannihavenhome

www.hermannihaven.com

 

[Markw84]

Can you help ID? I know nothing about tortoises but my am purely guessing African Spurred based on probability. I have found some resources to pass on to him but will have to ask another person to translate into the owner's first language - Brazilian Portuguese

I can tell you they are absolutely 100% Greek Tortoises. Testudo graeca

The subspecies is hard to identify, but by appearance they do appear to be the Morocco Tortoise Testuco graeca marokkensis. Those are native to Morocco, so it also would make sense if he bought them at a local market there.

 

[Irish_Ninja_Turtle]

They do not appear to be African Spurred Tortoises (Centrochelys sulcata). The sulcatas have no nuchal scute, and one of these tortoises does have it. The second one is missing its nuchal scute and has at least one extra vertebral scute that I can see (which is totally unrelated to the presence or absence of the nuchal scute in determining the species of the animals in question but I mention it since I noticed it).

They look like Golden Greek Tortoises (Testudo graeca terrestris) which are also known as Mesopotamian Tortoises to me, but I am not a real expert on Mediterranean species. Here is a link with pix and info: https://www.everythingreptiles.com/golden-greek-tortoise/

The only other likely candidate would be the Egyptian Tortoise (Testudo kleinmanni, but they are very rare also protected. Here is a link to pix and info on them:

Egyptian Tortoise Care Guide | hermannihavenhome

www.hermannihaven.com

Your first instinct appears to be correct and luckily they are not rare Egyptian - I would have had to kidnap them and bring them somewhere safe. Thanks for the link, it covers everything Golden Greek, I'll pass on an idiot-proof summary

 

[Irish_Ninja_Turtle]

I can tell you they are absolutely 100% Greek Tortoises. Testudo graeca

The subspecies is hard to identify, but by appearance they do appear to be the Morocco Tortoise Testuco graeca marokkensis. Those are native to Morocco, so it also would make sense if he bought them at a local market there.

Thanks Mark, yep that makes sense! I'm not too concerned about subspecies right now I just want to be able to give general care/housing/temperature advice to get these guys through their first few days in a cold humid climate. It's currently just above freezing outside in Dublin