Species Please

[teresa trainor]

I was told this was a desert tortoise and now someone said african spur....

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hello Teresa

 

[wellington]

It is a sulcata for sure

 

[teresa trainor]

It is a sulcata for sure

Interesting, I posted a pic of it on the California Turtle and Tortoise club site and they said Desert Tortoise. Okay, welp I got a tag for a Sulcata.

 

[Speedy-1]

Hi and welcome Teresa , yep it looks like a Sulcata to me !

 

[wellington]

It sure looks like a sulcata to me. Let's get @Tom @Yvonne G to tell us. The DT don't have Spurs on the legs protruding like the sulcatas. But there could be an odd ball or heck even a cross of the two out there I'm sure.

 

[teresa trainor]

I had originally showed this picture, would this have confused them?

 

[Taylor T.]

Looks like a Mojave Desert Tortoise or Gopher Tortoise to me, but I'm not an expert.

 

[dmmj]

that is definitely unusual the first two pictures that looks like a sulcata the third picture you posted looks like a desert tortoise. I hate to ask but can we get a new picture? Top of the shell, front of the shell.

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

Not a Sulcata. The nuchal scute says Gopherus sp.

 

[teresa trainor]

 

[teresa trainor]

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Theresa:

I think the confusion is because the shell is a bit pyramided and the brownish color of a sulcata, rather than the grey color of a desert tortoise. Your tortoise is a desert tortoise for sure. If you compare the front leg spurs on your tortoise to the front leg spurs of a sulcata, you'll see the difference.

Sulcata's front legs:

Your tortoise's front legs:

 

[dmmj]

thank you, It's a desert tortoise! of some sort at least

 

[dmmj]

a day late and a dollar short like usual

 

[teresa trainor]

I was looking at nuchal scute and trying to count and going off what several CTTC people have said. The color may be because this tortoise had been kept inside its whole life (4.5 years). I'm thinking it didn't get time to get "weathered"

 

[Yvonne G]

I was looking at nuchal scute and trying to count and going off what several CTTC people have said. The color may be because this tortoise had been kept inside its whole life (4.5 years). I'm thinking it didn't get time to get "weathered"

The young ones do have that coloration. But they eyes are usually green or lighter than your tortoise's eyes. Maybe they change as he gets older. I did a Google image search for Gopherus species tortoises native to Mexico, and none of them look like yours. I'm sticking with Gopherus agassizii.

 

[Tom]

It looks half way in between to me too in some ways. Those legs scales are too long to be a desert tortoise, but pretty short for a Sulcata. Same thing with the color and markings. Sorta shares characteristics of both.

I also notice that it either has edema or its obese. I think this adds to the confusion.

I need to look at this on a full size monitor when I get home to my computer.

Where did you get this tortoise? How old and what is the length? Anything you can tell us about its history?

 

[teresa trainor]

This tortoise was given to me by a friend who was told by her sister's in laws it's a desert tortoise. It was a result of a pair they have (which I haven't seen). I do believe this tortoise is obese because of her living conditions and how much my friend had been feeding her(it?). It's approx 4.5 years old, 3.5lbs (was gonna measure but she's back in her burrow now. )

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

Ask for photos of the parents. I am very curious to see them now.