ID help please

mozamama

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We are caring for this little guy while his owners are away and we are quite keen to positively ID him. I can't find anything quite like this in my reptile books as they only really cover South Africa. He was found in Nampula province, Northern Mozambique. My kids and I are doing a school project about turtles and tortoises so would love some help soon before our presentation. Thank you.20150725-IMG_3691.jpg 20150725-IMG_3698.jpg 20150725-IMG_3700.jpg
 

Yvonne G

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It might be a Speke's hingeback, but let's send a shout out to @HermanniChris or @tortadise . They should be able to help us I.D. this little guy.

In the meantime... he looks awfully dry. Soak him in a shallow bowl of water for about 15 minutes daily. Set him up in a moist environment, using a moist substrate with lots of hiding places.
 

mozamama

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Thanks for the feedback. He's taking a bath now. I'm curious about the hingeback ID. We went through the step by step key to chelonians in a book and we don't see anything that looks like a hinge to us, but we are new to this! What does the hinge actually look like? Or does it not show up until a certain age? Also, what is the best food?
 

tortadise

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Welcome. Looks like a spekes. But how many toes does it have on the hind legs? Hingebacks don't develop the hinge until they're about 3 years of age. He's for sure a wee one. Appears to be within less to right at about a a year old.
 

mozamama

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Welcome. Looks like a spekes. But how many toes does it have on the hind legs? Hingebacks don't develop the hinge until they're about 3 years of age. He's for sure a wee one. Appears to be within less to right at about a a year old.
He has 4 claws on his hindlegs, but some of his claws are coming off and there aren't really distinctive toes so we can't tell if he used to have 5 claws. There is a nub thing that might be a 5th toe.... We do know that our friends found him over a year before we started caring for him, but I'm not sure exactly long so he is at least 1.5 years old. The range listed in our reptile book only goes up to Southern Mozambique. Is it possible for a tortoise to have a range that includes this far north? We are a long ways from South Africa.
 

Lexiii

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Does he have no claws on his right front foot? I wonder why?
 

tortadise

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He has 4 claws on his hindlegs, but some of his claws are coming off and there aren't really distinctive toes so we can't tell if he used to have 5 claws. There is a nub thing that might be a 5th toe.... We do know that our friends found him over a year before we started caring for him, but I'm not sure exactly long so he is at least 1.5 years old. The range listed in our reptile book only goes up to Southern Mozambique. Is it possible for a tortoise to have a range that includes this far north? We are a long ways from South Africa.
Speks wil venture up to Tanzania. Zombensis are heavily dense in Mozambique. Also bells are in northern Mozambique as well. If indeed it does have 5 toes then it's a zombensis/Belliana Belliana. Kinda hard to tell though since the toes are missing. Could you snap a shot of the plastron(underside)
 

tortadise

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It really looks Belliana to me. They're the only ones with 5 claws and are within your range.

This is an adult Belliana Belliana (bells Hingeback)
image.jpg
Specimen on left is Belliana Belliana. Specimen on the right is Belliana Nogyuei(western bells)
image.jpg
Zombensis
Which they typically have quite the pattern to them. But have 3 hind toes sometimes 4.
image.jpg
image.jpg
 

juli11

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This animal looks to flat for belliana I think. Otherwise spekes baby's normally have an other pattern on their shell. But maybe it's an special "dark" local form of them from Mozambique. So I don't know. But I saw baby's of nougeiy, belliana belliana and zombensis if it is belliana than zombensis the others grow more higher.
 

Yvonne G

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No, it's not a pancake tortoise. It most certainly IS a baby hingeback. The only question now, which sub species. I'm pretty sure it's a spekes.
 

juli11

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No, it's not a pancake tortoise. It most certainly IS a baby hingeback. The only question now, which sub species. I'm pretty sure it's a spekes.

I think so too. It is to flat for to be belliana ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1438243049.079542.jpg
Here you see baby's of belliana belliana see the difference?
 

mozamama

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Thanks so much for all the input. We are having fun trying to learn more about this little guy. Here are a few more photos. I don't know if they will help with a conclusive ID or not, but they do show his feet a bit better (and the rather sorry state of his toes!). He's rather hard to get good photos of as he's quite quick.20150731-IMG_3777.jpg 20150731-IMG_3778.jpg 20150731-IMG_3776.jpg
 
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