i just heard from a family friend that they may be looking for a new home for their desert tortoise, 'Paulina'. if i adopt paulina what are warning signs i should look for? i'm not entirely sure what her life has been like thus far. are there any tell tale signs of sickness or depression etc etc?
thanks in advance!

Active tortoise is the best sign of good health.
Sometimes they have a slightly runny nose but that could be a variety of things that may not be worth worry

Congrats on the opportunity! I agree that active is a good sign. For general guidelines on care, check out http://www.sdturtle.org/
They have some good general info. I say general because each situation is different. We have a 30 yr old female desert tort and just recently checked out the sdturtle site and info. We were doing alot of what they suggest - free roam on bermuda grass, supplementing with veggies and such but some of what they say absolutely no to, we find to be fine with our tort. We like to say that she knows more about being a desert tort than we ever will. Let us know how life with Pauline works out. If she's by herself, she should be pretty healthy and hopefully disease free.

K

I really love the idea of adopting a species that is endangered. i think it's important that these animals stick around many years to come

still no word on paulina luckily there are lots of tortoises to adopt in my area.

UPDATE: paulina may be too big at this point for me to adopt her. i will probably help her existing family find her a new home though. she will find the care she needs.
in other news, i've decided to submit an application to adopt a DT through the JoshuaTree DT Rescue. if they have something small enough, i'll be more than happy to give it a new home

Hope you can find one the right one.So I think you're going to keep it inside right?

This post was last modified: 08-26-2007 05:30 PM by Rees2.

just to let everyone know... desert tortoises are no longer endangered in captivity, but they are in the wild. there are more than plenty desert tortoises in captivity, and most of them have an upper respiratory tract infection which can only be treated, but never cured.

also if you live in the state of california, it is highly recommended that you get permits from the depart of fish and game. the valley chapter cttc president is allowed to issue those. i have them for my tortoises. i got little license plates and certificates for them.

it is good for identification purposes and for the state to keep track on how many tortoises there are out there. also if you get caught without a permit, you could get fined or have your tortoise taken away or both.

so just be careful when considering a desert tortoise. also it is ILLEGAL to sell desert tortoises. they can only be given away for free, that means no adoption fee, no rehoming fee, nothing.

You are also not really suppose to encourage them to breed nor incubate the eggs. Something I find sorta strange and hard to understand.

Your lucky you live in CA and can get a DT so easily. I live in Nebraska and was blessed with getting a rescue one many years ago. He was a wonderful elderly fellow and he captured my heart. He had outlived two other sets of caretakers before we got him. Unfortunately he was only with us a few short years. Since thing I have kept my fingers crossed that another one would find his/her way to me.

i have 8 desert tortoises. 2 adults male and female, and 6 kids. i also have 7 eggs in an incubator. i really enjoy having them and my sister is a teacher, so i use them for education in her classroom. i find them to be a very valuable tool to educating the public about awareness to tortoises and the desert and the human impact on desert animals.