ID this please

[starfield]

Given to me by an owner who was bored of him, but only said Greek... Can anyone positively id the species? Male and he is huge ! 10 inches

 

[GBtortoises]

Looks like an Ibera Greek, Testudo (gracea) ibera. Can you post a photo of the plastron and the head? The body shape and size look and sound more like a female.

 

[starfield]

 

[GBtortoises]

View attachment 43877



View attachment 43878

It's definitely an Ibera and probably from a northern population based on the size and shell patterns. It does appear to have a flat plastron of a female. It's tough to tell by the tails without seeing it extended. Large female Ibera can have pretty good sized tails too. I have a few 10" females their tails rival the size of the males. Males from most northen Ibera populations don't often get much larger than 8.5". But there are always exceptions too.

 

[starfield]

There is a slight concave to the plastron but I will post more pics tomorrow to try to give aired accurate view to sex

 

[GBtortoises]

Actually, my large females all have a slight concave plastron. That is pretty common in the larger females. Fully mature males will usually have a very concave plastron and that concavity will be more centralized than toward the rear as with most females.

 

[starfield]

Sounds like I've got a lady! I'm a red foot guy myself but I'm falling hard fir a Greek woman now!!! Now to find her a husband

 

[GBtortoises]

I wish I could tell you that purebred Northern Ibera are easy to come by, but they usually aren't! Although a male may be. It's not that they are rare but what has happened is that many of what were "pure" Northerns have been bred with the middle range and southern races of the species. There is a lot of size, shape and appearance differences among the different races.

This is a photo of some "typical" Northern Ibera. The male is in the upper most left corner. I can provide more photos of the males if you'd like.