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(Russian) Fourtoe tortoise

Agrionemys horsfieldii (Testudo horsfieldii)

This tortoise is mostly referred to as the Russian tortoise. Contrary to what this common name suggests, this tortoise does not occur in Russia. It lives in large regions in central Asia, in countries like Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Iran etc. Some of these countries belonged to the former Soviet Union. (I have over 50 books (in Russian) dealing with reptiles and consequently a vast body of information on this tortoise!)

Russian tortoises grow to a maximum of 11 inches (28 cm). They live in regions with hot dry summers, where the absolute max temperatures reach 42 C (108F), and even colder winters with absolute minima down to -34C (-30F) and 3 to 8 inches of snow. Both the summer maxima and winter minima are nearly the same as those in Minneapolis MN!

It is very important to keep these tortoises dry enough. The regions in central Asia where they come from usually get less than 1cm (0.4inches) of precipitation per month.

I keep 6 pairs in outdoor open enclosures. These enclosures are half covered with fiberglass sheets to give the tortoise enough access to dry areas during rainy spells. Although they are mostly flat, there are some rocks present for the crag lizards living with them. It is amusing to see how these tortoise like to climb over the rocks. While they could easily walk around them, they really seem to prefer to climb up and down the rocks in stead.

As food I give much wild weeds like plantain, clover and various grasses.

It seems difficult to breed these tortoises, probably because of the difficulty in replicating the harshness of their natural environment (I bet that no one in Minnesota would think of keeping them outdoors there year round!). However, in the spring of 2003 I finally succeeded in getting them to lay eggs. Some of the females laid more then one clutch of 3-4 eggs, and several babies hatched from these eggs in the summer. I bought them in 2001 and the winter of 2002-2003 was colder then the the previous winter, so it is hard to tell for sure what triggered their breeding. It may have been the colder winter or they might simply have needed to settle in first. Future winters will help to clarify this.

There are still thousands of these tortoises imported so commercial breeding is frustrated anyway. However, this may change. While they are available, we need to find the clue to breed these tortoises, so that tortoise lovers no longer need to be dependant on w.c. animals.

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