Tortoise identification, please?

[chaseswife]

I have relatives that have a bunch of tortoises. Most of them are sulcatas, but this one that they adopted is different. My brother was calling it a Russian, but I didn't think that is it. I was thinking a desert tortoise. We are in Arizona. The old owner tried to take it to the Phoenix Zoo and drop it off, my uncle was working that day and said that the zoo couldn't take but he personally would be willing to give it a new home- so he brought it home.

 

[russian/sulcata/tortoise]

yea thats a desert tortoise

 

[wellington]

Looks like a desert to me too.

 

[dmmj]

The head is a dead give away, survey says desert, or gopherus.

 

[Tom]

Its a DT. That would be one giant Russian at that size!

Luckily care is similar for the two species.

 

[dmmj]

I also believe it is male, based on the plastron.

 

[chaseswife]

I love when i am right! I thought Russians were smaller. And yes- we thought male too. Hard to see in a picture, but he is kind of concave on the bottom as well.

 

[Yvonne G]

Well, I'm going to be the different one and guess that it is a female Texas tortoise (Gopherus berlandieri). The shape is so round. Desert tortoises are more oblong-shaped.

At any rate - it IS a Gopherus species, and as such is protected. I hope your relative knows it should not be put in with his sulcatas.

 

[Tom]

You might be right Yvonne. And the TTs do tend to pyramid easier than the DTs...

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

Where did they get it? He's very dusty!

 

[chaseswife]

He was down in his burrow and my brother pulled him out to show me. I will pass along the info to them.

 

[chaseswife]

Oh- and thank you!

 

[Ciri]

So this tortoise belongs to your uncle? Is it living with any other species of tortoise other than the sulcatas? (As mentioned above, it's not good for the Texas tortoise or desert tortoise to live with sulcatas. That can make a Texas or desert tortoise sick.)

 

[Ciri]

My reptile vet saw these pictures and said that this is either a desert tortoise with a lot of deformation in its shell, or a Texas tortoise. He said the pictures were too blurry to tell. Texas tortoises are actually not supposed to be in Arizona. It's illegal to keep them here. This is not their native range. The reason is that if they mate with desert tortoises, creating an inter-grade offspring, and that offspring is released into the wild, this can cause a serious problem for wild populations. Whether it's a Texas tortoise, or an inter-grade, which is released, either one will change the species, which can potentially cause the demise of the desert tortoise wild populations. Animals escape, or a future keeper who is not as responsible as your uncle could release the tortoise into the desert. Our Sonoran desert tortoise has evolved to live here. The Texas tortoise is different enough that the DNA changes would be problematic.

So my suggestion would be to encourage your uncle to keep this tortoise separate from any other tortoises, until such time that he could have it looked at by reptile veterinarian to find out what species it is. Although rare, Texas tortoises do sometimes show up in Arizona. If he doesn't want to go to a vet, he could contact the Phoenix herpetological Society for help.