# irregular scutes



## Yvonne G (Nov 2, 2018)

I took in 9 baby desert tortoises a week or so ago. I just noticed the scute pattern on this guy this a.m. Sorry for the bad picture quality. I'm rubbish at close up shots:




He's got a cluster of 4 tiny scutes right above his right front leg.


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## wellington (Nov 2, 2018)

Cute, kinda makes him look crooked lol.


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## CandyAss (Nov 26, 2018)

How's this guy doing? Have you gotten anymore info about the scutes?


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## drew54 (Nov 26, 2018)

Kind of cute


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## Yvonne G (Nov 27, 2018)

CandyAss said:


> How's this guy doing? Have you gotten anymore info about the scutes?


It's hard to find him in amongst the group. He's the one just to the left of the orange one on the right of the group. In the second picture I've moved him to the front. He has a bit of something on his eye. They're all doing very nicely. They all eat and are very tame compared to the leopard babies I raise. When I open the door to clean off the food tile they all come over to my hand and get in the way. When I open the door to the leopard babies they all head for the hills and hide:


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## drew54 (Nov 27, 2018)

Yvonne G said:


> It's hard to find him in amongst the group. He's the one just to the left of the orange one on the right of the group. In the second picture I've moved him to the front. He has a bit of something on his eye. They're all doing very nicely. They all eat and are very tame compared to the leopard babies I raise. When I open the door to clean off the food tile they all come over to my hand and get in the way. When I open the door to the leopard babies they all head for the hills and hide:
> 
> View attachment 258280
> View attachment 258281



Look at all them beauties! Looking good as always!


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## Yvonne G (Nov 27, 2018)

drew54 said:


> Look at all them beauties! Looking good as always!


I just love desert tortoise babies.


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## drew54 (Nov 27, 2018)

Yvonne G said:


> I just love desert tortoise babies.


How many do you have in total?


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## Yvonne G (Nov 27, 2018)

I have three yearlings left from last year then someone gave me three two year olds. They're outside on the carport in an insulated cinder block house. In the house, I had three, the orangish colored ones, then I took in 9 from a SoCal chapter of CTTC that was having trouble getting someone to take care of them until they could be adopted. So a dozen in the house and a half dozen a little bit bigger in a shelter outside.


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## drew54 (Nov 27, 2018)

Yvonne G said:


> I have three yearlings left from last year then someone gave me three two year olds. They're outside on the carport in an insulated cinder block house. In the house, I had three, the orangish colored ones, then I took in 9 from a SoCal chapter of CTTC that was having trouble getting someone to take care of them until they could be adopted. So a dozen in the house and a half dozen a little bit bigger in a shelter outside.



Do you find having that many torts rewarding?


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## Yvonne G (Nov 28, 2018)

drew54 said:


> Do you find having that many torts rewarding?


Not really. I've been considering getting out of the rescue business, but there's no one here to hand the baton to. Most rescues are found homes within a couple weeks, but I keep the babies for a year before I find homes for them. This year winter came around too soon, but I'm sure I can place those yearlings in the Spring.


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## drew54 (Nov 28, 2018)

Yvonne G said:


> Not really. I've been considering getting out of the rescue business, but there's no one here to hand the baton to. Most rescues are found homes within a couple weeks, but I keep the babies for a year before I find homes for them. This year winter came around too soon, but I'm sure I can place those yearlings in the Spring.


I understand as those are real concerns of mine. I've thought about getting into the rescue business here, but realistically I don't think it would be easy to find good homes them. I could be wrong. I think the closet rescue is in Ohio the last time I checked. I'll have to do more research on my state. 

Oh often do you get hatchlings and what are some reasons people bring them to you?


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## Yvonne G (Nov 28, 2018)

It's illegal to breed desert tortoises in California, but most backyard tortoise keepers don't really know that. They want a pair, they allow them to breed just for the pleasure of bringing a new life into the world, but they don't want the babies or to mess with finding homes for them.

I almost always get a few hatchlings every September (the month they hatch here). Mostly what I get are male desert tortoises and male sulcatas. A couple weeks ago I took in rescue #81 for the year. I don't normally take in water turtles, but this was a painted, not a red ear, so I relented. Now I'm stuck with it until Spring because it has an ear abscess and can't go into an outside pond (my requirement for adopting a water turtle) until she's healed and the weather is warmer. Box turtles, Russians are the next most frequent rescues here.

It has been a satisfying venture (finding good homes for turtles and tortoises), but I'm getting tired and am ready to not be doing it anymore. It's the yard inspections that cause me the most grief. I'm just tired of doing it.


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## drew54 (Nov 28, 2018)

Yvonne G said:


> It's illegal to breed desert tortoises in California, but most backyard tortoise keepers don't really know that. They want a pair, they allow them to breed just for the pleasure of bringing a new life into the world, but they don't want the babies or to mess with finding homes for them.
> 
> I almost always get a few hatchlings every September (the month they hatch here). Mostly what I get are male desert tortoises and male sulcatas. A couple weeks ago I took in rescue #81 for the year. I don't normally take in water turtles, but this was a painted, not a red ear, so I relented. Now I'm stuck with it until Spring because it has an ear abscess and can't go into an outside pond (my requirement for adopting a water turtle) until she's healed and the weather is warmer. Box turtles, Russians are the next most frequent rescues here.
> 
> It has been a satisfying venture (finding good homes for turtles and tortoises), but I'm getting tired and am ready to not be doing it anymore. It's the yard inspections that cause me the most grief. I'm just tired of doing it.


Oh wow. That's so sad. I didn't realize half of these issues until I got on this forum. I do hope someone will take the reigns from you soon, so you can retire. If you are able to quit the rescue will you still be breeding leopards with Will?


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## Yvonne G (Nov 28, 2018)

drew54 said:


> Oh wow. That's so sad. I didn't realize half of these issues until I got on this forum. I do hope someone will take the reigns from you soon, so you can retire. If you are able to quit the rescue will you still be breeding leopards with Will?


Oh yes. I'll still have my own collection of tortoises. I have breeding colonies of Russians, RF and YF, as well as the two types of leopards. I have a pair of Manouria emys emys that I'm getting eggs from, but so far none have hatched. I'm not having much luck with the RF, YF and russians. I was able to hatch a couple russians the very first clutch I discovered, many years ago, and I hatched the first clutch of YF many years ago. The RF are just starting to breed.

Several years ago I told Will I wanted to thin down my collection so I didn't have so much to do. He came and took the three large Manouria emys phayrei home, but at that same time, he brought me all the SA leopards and a RF. I guess he doesn't understand the meaning of 'thinning down.'


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## drew54 (Nov 28, 2018)

Yvonne G said:


> Oh yes. I'll still have my own collection of tortoises. I have breeding colonies of Russians, RF and YF, as well as the two types of leopards. I have a pair of Manouria emys emys that I'm getting eggs from, but so far none have hatched. I'm not having much luck with the RF, YF and russians. I was able to hatch a couple russians the very first clutch I discovered, many years ago, and I hatched the first clutch of YF many years ago. The RF are just starting to breed.
> 
> Several years ago I told Will I wanted to thin down my collection so I didn't have so much to do. He came and took the three large Manouria emys phayrei home, but at that same time, he brought me all the SA leopards and a RF. I guess he doesn't understand the meaning of 'thinning down.'



[emoji23] that's funny he wasn't letting you off that easy. Are the eggs not fertile? Why are you not having luck with your Russians or YFs?


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## Yvonne G (Nov 28, 2018)

I'm not sure, but I'm thinking it might be a problem wth incubation


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## drew54 (Nov 28, 2018)

Yvonne G said:


> I'm not sure, but I'm thinking it might be a problem wth incubation


Do these problems occur a lot?


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