Turtle species?

[menzel1982]

I got two turtles at my local petco. They said that they were greek but I want to make sure. also if there is a way to determine age could someone let me know????

 

[Millerlite]

Turtle breed

Can't determine age on these guy, also they are Greek tortoises not turtles. Petsmart didn't know that shocker

 

[menzel1982]

My apologies on calling them turtles and not tortoise. I just wanted to make sure that they are both Greek since one has more of an orange coloring when his head is out.

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

Yep, they look like Middle Eastern Greek tortoises (Testudo graeca terrestris).

As for determining age, wild-caught specimens can be aged by counting the rings on plastral scutes, because they experience faster growth in the summer than winter. However, this works only up to the age of about 10-12 years, and is not reliable thereafter. Also, it can't really be used on tortoises raised in captivity, because they have more or less constant growth rates. Not sure whether your two are wild-caught, long-term captive, or captive born and bred. If they did have winter dormancy growing up, and if they have fewer than about 10 major scute rings on their plastron, then you might be able to estimate their age. However, if they have ten or more, then you can't really tell, other than to say whether they look "old" (~50+ years) or not (and they don't look that old to me).

PS - Tortoises are still a type of turtle.

 

[menzel1982]

Thank you for helping me. I stress about these little guys. I want to make sure I have the right setup for them so that the remain healthy and happy.

 

[Jlant85]

Can't determine age on these guy, also they are Greek tortoises not turtles. Petsmart didn't know that shocker

This quote made my day. "Petsmart didn't know that shocker"

---

Beautiful golden Greeks by the way.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

GeoTT, your ring count comment is interesting... Thanks for sharing.

Heather
Sent from my Android TFO app