Species I.D.

[Leroy23]

Hey guys. I just acquired this Tortoise. Can someone tell me the correct species?. One person told me Russian and someone else told me African.

 

[Maro2Bear]

Looks for certain like a Sulcata with some serious pyramiding already going on for some time now.

 

[zovick]

Hey guys. I just acquired this Tortoise. Can someone tell me the correct species?. One person told me Russian and someone else told me African.

You have an African Spurred Tortoise, known in the Latin nomenclature as Centochelys sulcata.

What Maro2 Bear said above regarding the pyramiding is correct. The tortoise has been kept too dry and possibly without enough UV light. To correct the problem, look for the care sheet/info which Tom has written for this forum.

 

[Yvonne G]

African sulcata. Here's a good care sheet for you to learn:

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[zovick]

When the back of your tortoise looks like a WW II hand grenade instead of being smooth like a bowling ball, the tortoise is said to have pyramiding. In other words, when the centers of the scutes are raised up well above the plane of the rest of the shell, they are called "pyramided".

 

[SinLA]

Welcome from another Angelino. This forum will give you great advice, he definitely has not been well cared for. read the care sheet and ask lots of questions - especially about housing b/c these guys can't just "live outside" unaided here in LA, its too cold at night, and they need a lot of room

 

[Leroy23]

When the back of your tortoise looks like a WW II hand grenade instead of being smooth like a bowling ball, the tortoise is said to have pyramiding. In other words, when the centers of the scutes are raised up well above the plane of the rest of the shell, they are called "pyramided".

Ok where can I find this care sheet?

 

[SinLA]

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org