Tortoise Identification ??

Frenchstan

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Joined
Oct 17, 2020
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2
Location (City and/or State)
Carcassonne, France, Europe
Hi all.

I'm a newbie to this forum and don't have much experience with tortoises although I'm pretty into reptiles and have had various lizards and snakes over the years.

We recently (April) acquired a tortoise from my son's girlfriend as her father found it at a local waste tip in a pile of leaves that had been thrown out.

It appears to be healthy and is doing ok but I really need to identify it and find out more about it's general needs, diet, hibernation (or not), etc.

I've added a photo of it on this post. It measures approx. 6 inch front to back over the carapace.

It has very prominent yellow spots on it's front legs and yellow/red coloration on it's head.

My initial thoughts were obviously a yellow footed tortoise but it just doesn't look the same as all the photos I seem to find on the net.

If anyone can give me a pointer as to what breed it is and any more info it would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Martin.

IMG_0030.JPG
 

method89

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May 15, 2019
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Malverne, NY
Its a box turtle... which species, i do not know
 

zovick

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Nov 17, 2013
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3,388
Hi all.

I'm a newbie to this forum and don't have much experience with tortoises although I'm pretty into reptiles and have had various lizards and snakes over the years.

We recently (April) acquired a tortoise from my son's girlfriend as her father found it at a local waste tip in a pile of leaves that had been thrown out.

It appears to be healthy and is doing ok but I really need to identify it and find out more about it's general needs, diet, hibernation (or not), etc.

I've added a photo of it on this post. It measures approx. 6 inch front to back over the carapace.

It has very prominent yellow spots on it's front legs and yellow/red coloration on it's head.

My initial thoughts were obviously a yellow footed tortoise but it just doesn't look the same as all the photos I seem to find on the net.

If anyone can give me a pointer as to what breed it is and any more info it would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Martin.
It is definitely a Box Turtle as Method89 said. They are from the US, not France, so it may have been a pet which escaped at some time prior to its being found. From the skin coloration, it appears to be an Eastern Box Turtle. I cannot see the shell colors well enough in the photo to verify that identification, though. If you wash the turtle off and post another photo or two of the shell, it may be possible to further identify it or confirm that it is an Eastern Box Turtle rather than one of the other species or subspecies of Box Turtles.
 

Frenchstan

New Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2020
Messages
2
Location (City and/or State)
Carcassonne, France, Europe
OK thanks for the initial thoughts. I'll get a couple of better photos tomorrow and see if they help.

I always thought it was a foreign species and not indigenous to France but just didn't know any more.
 

Maro2Bear

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May 29, 2014
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Glenn Dale, Maryland, USA
Agree, definitely a Box Turtle. Almost looks like exactly like the ones we have here in Maryland.



Make sure that you make water available & soak in clean warm water often!
 
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