Legit Russian

[TortoiseBoy1999]

Someone has offered me this Russian for $30.00 Are these photos legit?

 

[tortadise]

Look different to me. The last photo looks to be a T.h.horsfieldii, and the first looks like a T.h.rustamovi. Notice the doming in the first photo and then the flatness in the third photo. They look different to me. COULLLLLLD be the angle but they look like two different torts. Craigslist ad?

 

[wellington]

I agree with tortadise. Can you go to the place and pick him up?

 

[mainey34]

Looks like different torts. For some reason I've seen that first pic somewhere else. Not sure

 

[TortoiseBoy1999]

I put a post on Craigslist about me wanting a Russian and this person contacted me. I am going to pick him up. Just didn't want to drive an hour and a half for nothing. But if it's legit I will.

 

[tortadise]

Only one way to find out. Drive and see if the tortoise is real. Good luck.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

look different to me as well and i think i've seen the 3rd picture before.

sometimes people post generic pics of the type of animal they are offering. maybe that's the case.

be careful driving to pick up a CL item! my hubby read on the news today that some people responded to a CL ad for jobs and the poster murdered everyone when they showed up ....

 

[lynnedit]

Be sure to meet the poster in a public place like a grocery store parking lot.

 

[TortoiseBoy1999]

They said it's 8 months old and 5" long and 3" wide. I'm not going for it. I have another offer for another Russian tortoise. So I said: "No thank you!" It's not really worth me risking me getting seriously hurt by someone :-/

 

[chase thorn]

No thanks to that hhaa I would not trust that.

 

[icenine]

They said it's 8 months old and 5" long and 3" wide. I'm not going for it. I have another offer for another Russian tortoise. So I said: "No thank you!" It's not really worth me risking me getting seriously hurt by someone :-/

I don't know a lot about RT growth rate but 5" at 8 months sounds ridiculous to me. I think at 8 months theyre a lot smaller than that, but again I'm only vaguely remembering reading someplace that they grow full after about 4 years.

http://russiantortoise.org/tortoise_twins.htm

It seems to me you were wise to avoid this. They're either lying about the ad itself, or about the tortoise. At 2 years old the bigger of the 2 tracked tortoises in that chart is still only ~96 mm (~3.8 inches) long and ~84 mm (~3.3 inches) wide.

5 inches x 3 inches sounds to me, if it were true, a tortoise that's at least 3-5 years old.

 

[Pokeymeg]

I see a lot of ads of CL for Russians, and find that people claim they are '6 months old', because that's how long they've had them. They don't realize that the Russians they get are Petco/Petsmart are full-grown, and NOT babies. So they may have been being honest, to the best of their knowledge.

 

[TortoiseBoy1999]

I always hear to listen to that sixth sense of your's. This seemed kinda shady to me so I'm not going for it

 

[Pokeymeg]

Sorry, I wasn't trying to encourage you! It does sound shady to me too, and I think it's a good decision not to go! I was kind of going on a tangent, because I see people call their Russians 'x months old' so often...

 

[wellington]

Glad your not going either. But do always be very careful when you answer any CL ads. There are lots of bad people on CL. Always have someone with you or meet in public. We would be sad and miss you if something happened.

 

[TortoiseBoy1999]

Lol my dad always comes with me and he's a police

 

[Utah Lynn]

I'd stay clear of this guy. He's using someone else's photos. 3 different RT's. 3 different photographers.

 

[TortoiseBoy1999]

What about this one?

 

[TortoiseBoy1999]

Somebody?

 

[RussianTorts]

It looks that one is the same tortoise in every picture to me.