Hi there

Today I rehomed a tortoise whose 92 year owner passed away recently. I have several questions...sorry!

1. ID - I know she is female because I have been told she started laying eggs about 10 years ago. I think she is a minimum of 48 years old. I have been doing lots of research and I think that she is a hermanni boettgeri but I must be absolutely sure as i have a 6 year old female THB and I know that different species should not be mixed. She is very similar in markings and appearance to my one however the markings on her underside are very faint but I wonder if this is due to wear. I did wonder if she could be a Greek tortoise because she has big scales where spurs might be but they don't seem to be as obvious as I imagine they should?

2. If she is the same as my little one how long do i wait before intro'ing them. I think it is 6 months quarantine but what does this mean exactly. I keep them separately and wait to see if any health problems arise in the new one? Or as they have both been kept alone will they be ok to put together straight away?

3. Her diet has not been great, lettuce, tomato, biscuits (!) but her shell is quite smooth, there are a couple of areas of flakiness on it though. She has been kept outside and never been under a heat lamp and she self hibernates. I know I have to rectify the diet etc but should I do it immediately, I am worried the stress of moving her and putting her on a new diet at the same time will be too much.

Any advice gratefully received.

Thank you.

Photos please to help progress and objective advice.

Regards, David nr York

Sorry I thought I had uploaded pics, I'll try again tomorrow!

Hi
I can't seem to upload photos on here even though i've made them really small and photobucket is not working for me either - final attempt with dropbox otherwise is there someone I can email them to?

I also have noticed these small white bits on the shell - is this serious?

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ft1a724wbhg3vln/hG0z98MUO3

Sarah