Smallest tortoise?

[mcory]

Everyone seems to know the largest of torts but what tort stays the smallest? Just curiosity love learning!

 

[TortieLuver]

That is of debate and depends who you ask. Many people say Hermanns, but others say a Greek. I have heard people say a Russian. However, I would disagree with the Greeks and Russians, as I have had some really good size Greeks and Russians. My opinion based on my research is Hermanns for a land tortoise.

I'm curious what others say...thanks for the thread

 

[mikeh]

Ill go with Egyptian or Speckled tortoise.

 

[wellington]

I always thought, of the more common ones, it was the hermanns. However, if you search all the tortoises that are out there, the ones we usually can't get, there is some smaller ones then the hermann. Off hand I can't remember the name of it.

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Oh and it might also depend on the sex. My Russian is a male and is very small. I have seen some females that look quite big.

 

[Moozillion]

Well, according to Wikipedia, the smallest tortoise is the Speckled Padloper, (Homopus signatus) which is native to South Africa. Males get 3 inches long and females top out at 4 inches. But I think they're very rare.

 

[billskleins]

One of the Homopus - South African padlopers.

 

[AnnV]

3" How adorable!!!

 

[juli11]

Homopus signatus cafer is the smallest tortoise. I think there are some turtles which are smaller that the homopus signatus..

 

[mcory]

Awww I wonder how big those eggs are? :0

 

[tortadise]

Homopus signatus cafer is a homopus signatus. Its a locale specific sub species. They get the same size, just endemic to different regions but not far apart. They lay 1-3 eggs but not all 3 at once, and are actually quite large for their size in relation.

 

[mtdavis254817]

Isn't it the spotted padloper found in Africa? Not quite sure

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My bad.. Should read before I start blurting out answers:-/

 

[mcory]

this is the picture Wikipedia used.......lol

 

[tortadise]

Yep south west south Africa. Cafer is found in southern regions of west SA and signatus is found in northern namaqueland very desert and rocky. There are 6 different padlopers down in SA. They all are quite small. Speckled cape homopus signatus signatus is indeed the smallest of them all.

 

[waitmanff]

Too cute!!! Is there anyway to purchase these cuties?

 

[tortadise]

They are very uncommon in the US. Only 2 species of homopus I know are in the states. The parrot beak homopus areolatus and speckled cape homopus signatus signatus. I know of no personal keepers currently that have them. But know of few that have had them. San Diego has some, behler, Knoxville zoo and zoo Atlanta have some. May be more zoos and personal people but not that I know of.

 

[juli11]

I Europe (holland) we've got a project with homopus. The guy has a lots of southern African species. He breeds homopus and you can get one as "fostering" he also got psammobates species P. tentorius trimeni for example. But here you can get sometimes adult pairs of areolatus. 4000€ up :-D

 

[waitmanff]

This is so interesting!! Thanks for all the info!