Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This guy was just recently given to me as a possible Russian. I have very little experience with torts, so I'm looking for some confirmation. Several owners ago, he was mauled by a dog so you can see the shell abnormalities. Thanks in advance.

That guy is pretty far from being a Russian. It is a type of forrest hingeback. It's care is similar to identical to a red foot tortoise.

It looks like it's be in captivity for a while and looks quite good.

Wild caught specimens are sometimes very tough to acclimate but once they do they have the most out going personality.
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

This is an example of an irony that I have seen repeated a number of times over the years. A species that is usually very difficult to acclimate even when given the best of care-- and yet occasionally a very healthy individual shows up as an escapee or in the hands of someone who doesn't realize what they have.
Like EJ I have the feeling that this thing has been doing pretty well. Figures, these hingebacks normally are tough ones to keep.
There is a pet store near me that had one for sale for a couple of years in a plain ten gallon aquarium. The thing absolutely thrived and grew perfectly. Eventually, one of the employees took it home.
A number of years back a friend brought a hingeback to me that was found crossing a road in a wooded area. It was heavy as a rock and fed voraciously.

Appreciate it gents. I kind of wondered if it was a hingeback due shell shape, but with the dog mauling I wasn't sure if it was a result of that or not.

I believe it is K. homeana.
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

I got one as an adoption that was raised by people who were 'clueless'... fed it lettuce and tomato for the most part. It introduce me to how wonderful tht species could be if you could get them to live.
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

Yep. The K. homeana and K. erosa can be hard but some folks have great success.
K. belliana (and related species like speckii, etc) are my favorites and they also are by far the easiest to keep.
The one I mentioned above that was in the pet store was an erosa.