Small testudo marginata - question

[vniveri25]

Hi guys!
I wanted to get greek iberian turtle, they sold me "Greek" one but at home i realized that this is testudo marginata. Well i like this small guy but what worried me most that marginata doesn't really live so log as far as i found some information online - they live like average 20 years - we really wanted long living animal, and that made us a litte bit worried, does they really live just those 20 years? What are you experiences? Here is a picture of my baby turtle - well, i'm still learning to optimize his enviorment, i was a little bit more prepered for greek one, and there are some differences also information online are sometimes a little bit different - they say he doenst really like high humidity, others sources says humidity should be like 80% - so well... also some sources says to bath him every other day, other's says different things, so i'm a little bit lost also temperatures are different in a lot of sources. If you have any good site/book with correct values i would love to obtain it.

 

[TammyJ]

Hi and welcome! Pretty little tortoise. An expert or two will be along to help shortly. You have arrived at the right place for the best possible help! Right now, please don't give him food in those small chunks that can choke him - deaths have happened in this way. Grater the food or give him large pieces so he can bite off his manageable pieces. Thank you for coming here! @zovick @Tom

 

[vniveri25]

Thank you for explaining it in such a nice way . Those chunks, they told me in animal shop that this is the best for him right now and i bought them, but i ordered online real subsoil for small turtles that is right for them and i'm going to replace it and also give him some possibilities to dig. Thank you for your answer!

 

[TammyJ]

I am wondering if he is really a marginated tortoise.

 

[vniveri25]

Thank u for you answer! In documents i have that it is a marginated tortoise, i can give some more photos when i'll be at home, i'll add all i have now i guess some picture from upside down would be good for that

 

[HermanniChris]

That actually is a Greek tortoise. T. marginata do not have the central marking on each carapace scute. You can also take a look at its underside for identification. T. marginata are the only other Testudo species aside from T. kleinmanni to have the triangular chevrons in two rows. Greek tortoises have a black patch, smudge, spotting or nothing at all.

 

[vniveri25]

Damn! Thank you, i'll post a picture upside down later but that's really weird - sold as a greek, in papers it has marginata - what the hell

 

[vniveri25]

That actually is a Greek tortoise. T. marginata do not have the central marking on each carapace scute. You can also take a look at its underside for identification. T. marginata are the only other Testudo species aside from T. kleinmanni to have the triangular chevrons in two rows. Greek tortoises have a black patch, smudge, spotting or nothing at all.

By the way you are the guy from GardenStateTortoise ! I'm so glad i found this forum, awesome and really helpfull channel, thank you!

 

[vniveri25]

Ok here are pictures of little guy, please help me with that identification, what do you guys think?

 

[HermanniChris]

Ok here are pictures of little guy, please help me with that identification, what do you guys think?

It’s definitely a Greek tortoise. As for subspecies, it’s always hard with babies but it doesn’t look like typical T. graeca ibera. Of course the possibility of it being a cross between 2 different subspecies of Greek is a very real possibility.

 

[vniveri25]

wow, this is amazing information, thank u for that! Well that's weird! Ok we will se what will happen when lil guy will grow up. Thank you verry verry much for your answer and for your YT educational work

 

[Tom]

Thank you for explaining it in such a nice way . Those chunks, they told me in animal shop that this is the best for him right now and i bought them, but i ordered online real subsoil for small turtles that is right for them and i'm going to replace it and also give him some possibilities to dig. Thank you for your answer!

Hello and welcome. Chris is great at IDing all the Mediterranean tortoises. So is @TeamZissou

The main diet should be leafy green weeds, not vegetables. Also, they should never be kept on soil. Humidity needs to be higher for growing babies, and adults tolerate it lower. That is one reason why you see different things posted.

Here is all the correct care info. Look near the bottom for a temperate species care sheet:

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

 

[vniveri25]

Thank you for that! Ehh another mistake - soil, bought "special" soil for baby turtles, i'm going to buy that Cypress mulch its available here, and another mistake, i had information that small tortoises prefer a little bit smaller enclouser, so i have 51x39cm - i'm going to buy or make something like 80x50 on polish sites i found that small tortoises can "get lost" on too big enclouser. I was doing bath every other day now i'm going to make it everyday, got already termomether and higrometer, my bulbs are good, so that few changes and i'll make good conditions for this baby. Soo.. another thing, the enviorment in animal shop was a little bit different, hope this won't affect this lil guy and he will grow strong. I also found repti-bark here, but its from fir, another info i found fir is not good for tortoises, is this true?

Ah btw. i saw that he's not really drinking water, when he goes bath he also do not drink it, should i worry?

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Thank you for that! Ehh another mistake - soil, bought "special" soil for baby turtles, i'm going to buy that Cypress mulch its available here, and another mistake, i had information that small tortoises prefer a little bit smaller enclouser, so i have 51x39cm - i'm going to buy or make something like 80x50 on polish sites i found that small tortoises can "get lost" on too big enclouser. I was doing bath every other day now i'm going to make it everyday, got already termomether and higrometer, my bulbs are good, so that few changes and i'll make good conditions for this baby. Soo.. another thing, the enviorment in animal shop was a little bit different, hope this won't affect this lil guy and he will grow strong. I also found repti-bark here, but its from fir, another info i found fir is not good for tortoises, is this true?

Ah btw. i saw that he's not really drinking water, when he goes bath he also do not drink it, should i worry?

Hello!
1. Go as big with the enclosure as you can. Hatchlings can live in a small tank like 80x50, but they outgrow it quickly. They don't get lost, but may be stressed out by lack of shade and places to hide.

2. Reptibark, and a fir bark in general, is a fine substrate for tortoises. But avoid cedar and pine bark and any kind of wood chips. Cypress mulch is a good substrate as well, but leaves more mess. The third good option is a coco coir (soil-like fine ground coconut shell), which maybe preferrable for babies.

3. As for drinking, proper hydration is very important. But you can't and shouldn't make him drink. Usually a shallow terracotta saucer, big enough to get in and self-soak works well.

 

[Tom]

Thank you for that! Ehh another mistake - soil, bought "special" soil for baby turtles, i'm going to buy that Cypress mulch its available here, and another mistake, i had information that small tortoises prefer a little bit smaller enclouser, so i have 51x39cm - i'm going to buy or make something like 80x50 on polish sites i found that small tortoises can "get lost" on too big enclouser. I was doing bath every other day now i'm going to make it everyday, got already termomether and higrometer, my bulbs are good, so that few changes and i'll make good conditions for this baby. Soo.. another thing, the enviorment in animal shop was a little bit different, hope this won't affect this lil guy and he will grow strong. I also found repti-bark here, but its from fir, another info i found fir is not good for tortoises, is this true?

Ah btw. i saw that he's not really drinking water, when he goes bath he also do not drink it, should i worry?

Thank you for that! Ehh another mistake - soil, bought "special" soil for baby turtles, i'm going to buy that Cypress mulch its available here, and another mistake, i had information that small tortoises prefer a little bit smaller enclouser, so i have 51x39cm - i'm going to buy or make something like 80x50 on polish sites i found that small tortoises can "get lost" on too big enclouser. I was doing bath every other day now i'm going to make it everyday, got already termomether and higrometer, my bulbs are good, so that few changes and i'll make good conditions for this baby. Soo.. another thing, the enviorment in animal shop was a little bit different, hope this won't affect this lil guy and he will grow strong. I also found repti-bark here, but its from fir, another info i found fir is not good for tortoises, is this true?

Ah btw. i saw that he's not really drinking water, when he goes bath he also do not drink it, should i worry?

You are reading the typical wrong information that is common all over the world. That will lead to frustration and confusion.

How in the heck does a baby get "lost" in an enclosure. Even if the enclosure was the size of an entire room, they don't get lost. Has the person making that absurd assertion ever seen a tortoise in the wild? Wild babies hatch into wild areas that are maybe just a little bit bigger than our captive enclosures, and they don't seem to get lost out there. Or maybe they do. Maybe all the wild hatching babies every year are lost out in their world and we stupid humans just don't realize how lost they are. But I don't think so.

Orchid bark, also known as fir bark, is an excellent tortoise substrate. Wherever you read that is not a good source of tortoise info. I have raised well over 1000 babies of several species on orchid bark, multiple generations in some cases, so no, that is not true.

 

[vniveri25]

Thank you for reply, well i didn't expect that orchid bark=fir bark, tought that ochrid bark is a bark from some kind of Orchid tree (there are some kinds of orchid flowers also small trees as far as i know) but that's awesome that i bought right stuff for my turtle, also reading the forum i threw away that moss they sold me in animal store, well hope lil guy will grow strong and happy, i'll still be doing research here and upgrading his base to make his enviorment as good as it can be. I hope that bad start won't affect his growth and health

EDIT: ahh orchid bark is bark "for" orchids not from orchids - now i understand

 

[myk]

Hi guys!
I wanted to get greek iberian turtle, they sold me "Greek" one but at home i realized that this is testudo marginata. Well i like this small guy but what worried me most that marginata doesn't really live so log as far as i found some information online - they live like average 20 years - we really wanted long living animal, and that made us a litte bit worried, does they really live just those 20 years? What are you experiences? Here is a picture of my baby turtle - well, i'm still learning to optimize his enviorment, i was a little bit more prepered for greek one, and there are some differences also information online are sometimes a little bit different - they say he doenst really like high humidity, others sources says humidity should be like 80% - so well... also some sources says to bath him every other day, other's says different things, so i'm a little bit lost also temperatures are different in a lot of sources. If you have any good site/book with correct values i would love to obtain it.
View attachment 367351

I'm not 100 percent ,but to me it looks more greek then marginated

 

[vniveri25]

@myk Thank u for answer about type, i would say we will be sure when turt will grow up a little bit
Well so my new set-up is pretty fine, from that guide for tortoises i'm wondering, well i have 25w UVB bulb 10.0 from ExoTerra, distance about 30 cm should be good for that bulb, yet in guide there is information that 4 hours daily should be enough for tortoises, does it compare to younglings? Or should it be on like 12h daily?

 

[myk]

@myk Thank u for answer about type, i would say we will be sure when turt will grow up a little bit
Well so my new set-up is pretty fine, from that guide for tortoises i'm wondering, well i have 25w UVB bulb 10.0 from ExoTerra, distance about 30 cm should be good for that bulb, yet in guide there is information that 4 hours daily should be enough for tortoises, does it compare to younglings? Or should it be on like 12h daily?

Just hang tight ,,the pros be on soon n they can better assist your questions

 

[myk]

Damn! Thank you, i'll post a picture upside down later but that's really weird - sold as a greek, in papers it has marginata - what the hell

Could be hybrid