Libyan Tortoise (T. g. cyrenaica)
 |
 |
| Male Libyan (Lone Ranger) | Female (Bertha) |
 |
 |
| Female (Cards) | Female (Pac-Woman) |
The Libyan Tortoise is one of the rarer Testudo in herpetoculture. They are one of the larger "Greek" type tortoises, with males in the 6"+ inch range and females reaching at least 8+ inches. Both sexes have a noticeably higher domed shell than other Greeks and probably all other Testudo's in general. The whole body and shell are a straw yellow with splashes of deep black. The heads are generally dark skinned but accented with a distinct cream to faintly pinkish white crown scale atop the head. They are sometimes called the dwarf Leopard tortoise, but the resemblance is pretty superficial.
A small number were imported into the Unites States during the mid 90's but faired poorly and only a few stray individuals seem to have ended up in breeding situations. Then in early 2006, two larger shipments found their way to the the U.S. These individuals came in with severe intestinal disorders and a large majority failed to survive those first few months. Still, the majority of these were preferentially pickup up by hopeful breeders and at least a small number have survived to form a small nucleus of foundation breeders. No one keeper seems to have a large group, but instead the population seems to be spread out among several small breeders. Males in particular had a terrible survival rate and males are actually the much rarer sex in captive breeding programs.
Although we started with approximately 8 males and 16 females, we ultimately ended up with only 1 male and 3 females after spending 3 years cleaning them up of internal parasites and acclimating them to our environmental conditions. Our group is just now starting to actively breed and we've had a few eggs produced both in 2008 and late 2009/2010. We're looking for more individuals so we can build up a self-sustaining breeding group. So very few of our hatchlings will be for sale for the next year or two. We really need all of these to end up in breeding situations as the population is far too small to justify these becoming non-bred pets at this time. If you wish to work with this species, we would very much like to coordinate a working group so we can swap bloodlines, compare breeding notes and help insure these have a reasonable chance of building up a sustainable population in herpetoculture. Future importations are unlike so we really need to focus on succeeding with what few individuals are already in North America.
The care for Libyans is essentially identical to that for Golden Greeks so please see our "Testudo Care Guide" for care information. They are a very outgoing species with excellent temperaments. Interspecies aggression seems low and they do well in colony situations. We are housing ours in the medium size Waterland "Aquatic" tub, using course coconut husk for provide mild "winters" to induce breeding. This entails lowering the day length by several hours per day and dropping the average temperatures by around 15F from their summer levels or 90F daily highs and 80F night time lows. It's too soon to say much about clutch sizes and laying periods, but all indications are that these likely follow the general habits of the Golden Greeks. So we expect several clutches per year of from 2 to 4 eggs each to be the norm (increasing in number with the size of the female). Successive clutches will likely be spaced out to 30+ day intervals between layings with most egg laying occurring during the spring and fall. Mating activity seems to peak several weeks prior to this, with twin peaks in late summer and again in very early spring. So far all our eggs have been laid in early winter or early spring, but our sample size is still small.
We ship based on the prevailing weather patterns between us and you. Usually we can ship most weeks, but when large storms/severe heat/cold are forecasted, we prefer to hold off. Please see "Deer Fern Farms Ordering / Prices" for ordering information.
Email:
douglasdix@deerfernfarms.com
