help identify me

[reptorirescue]

hi can anyone help me?

just to let you know we are in uk, we have a tortoise that has been in our family for just over 50 years she was found in a shipping container in the early 50s and was taken home by my grandad. My mum has recently passed him to me as she feels the tortoise would be better off as i keep most reptiles{30 snakes various 10 lizards} but i'm not to clued up on tortoises.

she is very dark in colour and her total shell length is 36cm

she has always been kept the old fashioned way ie given free roam of the garden. put away at night, and hibernated during winter. i know this is not the recommended method of keeping as we dont exactly have a good climate

Could anyone tell me what breed she is and give me tips on how she should be kept
http://members.lycos.co.uk/reptorirescue/hpbimg/tort%20121.jpg

more images can be viewed at
more tortoise pics (http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=4286833591)

[Wu-Gwei]

I am not an expert on torts... maybe Johnny can ID it. It's older and lost it's colouration. But to take a guess, I would say Herman's Tortoise (Testudo hermanni), which are native to UK.

It's funny, I was just talking to a co-worker who's from UK and she's in her 50s and had "a tort" for over 50 years now. And nobody in the family wants the dreaded thing. I told her, I'd love to such an animal in the family. Too bad it's in the UK and we're in Canada.


Cheers,
JJ;)

[johnnym1972]

Hello JJ, thanks for the plug! :)
Hello there fellow Tortoise keeper, it looks like you have an absolutely ancient, yet altogether gorgeous Meditarranean Spur Thigh Tortoise; "Testudo Graeca Ibera" or Greek Tortoise; "Testudo Graeca Graeca". Whichever species it is, the pictures do not do it justice. You should have some nice professional pictures taken of it, that way it will be possible to say exactly which species it is. You are very lucky to have such an animal in your posession. It is no doubt breeding age, and from the looks of it, it is in quite good shape. I would treasure such an animal if it were in my collection, and I hope that you do the same. You can find all of the Tortoise information that you will ever need if you go to:
http://www.chelonia.org/index.htm

Good luck with your tortoise!!!
Take care, Johnny.

[Tim and Julie B]

At 36 cm it is definately a Testudo Graeca Ibera. Or a freakishly large Graeca Graeca. That is an excellent website for Turtle/Tortoise info. One of my favorites. TB

[red bootz]

Or marginata. They would be the largest of the testudo's. Are the rear marginals flared?