What is he?

[thehungrytort]

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for some identification advice. I’m not sure what species my tortoise is. I inherited him and i’m not sure of his backstory. I love him to absolute bits and I just want to know how best to care for him.

Everywhere I seemed to look, I could only find the tortoises that show up more commonly in the pet trade with no subspecies being shown (i believe him to be a subspecies of the Greek Tortoises)
I found these species looked most similar to him:
- Marginated
- Zargros Mountain Greek/ Buxton’s Tortoise (this is my main guess)
- Possibly Moroccan Tortoise?

If anyone out there has any clue, i’d be very grateful for your insight or if you have any identification book recommendations.

I look forward to hearing your responses

Side note: these are photos I was sent when I was asked if I wanted to look after him, so if you require any other photos, like ones of his underside, just ask and i’ll take some more photos!

 

[wellington]

@HermanniChris

 

[TammyJ]

He's lovely. Where's @TeamZissou then?

 

[HermanniChris]

He’s a Moroccan, Testudo graeca marokkensis. Beautiful animal.

 

[thehungrytort]

He’s a Moroccan, Testudo graeca marokkensis. Beautiful animal.

Ahh, thank you so much! I now see how far out with my guesses I was :’)

 

[Tom]

Ahh, thank you so much! I now see how far out with my guesses I was :’)

The substrate you are using is very dangerous and should be switched out immediately. Whoever thought encouraging a tortoise to eat sandy substrate by putting little bits of lime stone in it is an idiot. And then the pet shops sell it as if it is great. Makes no sense.

Give this a read through:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[thehungrytort]

The substrate you are using is very dangerous and should be switched out immediately. Whoever thought encouraging a tortoise to eat sandy substrate by putting little bits of lime stone in it is an idiot. And then the pet shops sell it as if it is great. Makes no sense.

Give this a read through:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

The substrate you are using is very dangerous and should be switched out immediately. Whoever thought encouraging a tortoise to eat sandy substrate by putting little bits of lime stone in it is an idiot. And then the pet shops sell it as if it is great. Makes no sense.

Give this a read through:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

Hey there! Thank you for the information. I did put at the end of my post that these are photos of him in his old enclosure before he arrived to live with me after ‘inheriting’ him if you will. He arrived to me in this enclosure and along with having the wrong type of floor covering (as i found out), it was also far too small for him so all those things were changed out to what he’s in now!
I am still very very new to looking after a tort but I have done meticulous research to make sure i’m giving him the care he deserves. He’s currently on Orchard Bark and seems to be loving it. Thank you for the link as well, it’s got some really useful information on there for a newbie