# Adopting A Desert Tortoise



## dmarshall1991 (Nov 16, 2014)

Hi all! This coming week I will be adopting a desert tortoise from a friend of mine who rescued him several months ago from a bad home. The past several months he has lived on apartment patio cement and she is just not able to provide him a proper home or care so she asked me if I would adopt him. Of course I said yes! He's not healthy. He's got problems with his back feet, his back claws have curled around into the pads of his feet and they look very sore and inflamed. nobody has taken him to a vet to have it fixed so that is the first thing I will be doing. I'm just posting here to confirm that he is in fact a desert tortoise? I want to make sure I give him the proper care. Here are some photos of him that my friend took a few months ago on his given "birthday".


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## Yvonne G (Nov 16, 2014)

It is not easy to get a desert tortoise to pyramid. I shudder to think of the care he was being given before you took him in. Please read the care sheet written by Don Williams in Bakersfield (and notice how smooth the shell is on the tortoise in his picture):

http://www.donsdeserttortoises.com/2.html


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## dmmj (Nov 16, 2014)

Salutations.
Welcome aboard.


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## Tom (Nov 16, 2014)

Hello and welcome.

Strawberries are not good for them. No fruit is. Weeds, leaves, grasses, flowers, cactus and succulents.

Hopefully his feet will get better once he's off the concrete.


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## dmarshall1991 (Nov 16, 2014)

Yvonne G said:


> It is not easy to get a desert tortoise to pyramid. I shudder to think of the care he was being given before you took him in. Please read the care sheet written by Don Williams in Bakersfield (and notice how smooth the shell is on the tortoise in his picture):
> 
> http://www.donsdeserttortoises.com/2.html


Yes this poor guy was not cared for we at all.  the pyramiding looks much worse in person the pictures don't even show how bad it really is. I haven't got him yet I'm picking him up this coming week so he's going to have a lot of recouping to do.


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## dmarshall1991 (Nov 16, 2014)

Tom said:


> Hello and welcome.
> 
> Strawberries are not good for them. No fruit is. Weeds, leaves, grasses, flowers, cactus and succulents.
> 
> Hopefully his feet will get better once he's off the concrete.


Hi Tom, I do understand that fruit is no good for desert tortoises. Unfortunately I do not have him yet so I'm not in control of what he's being fed. The pictures were taken by the current owner. But that will all change this coming week when I go to pick him up.


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## Tom (Nov 16, 2014)

Well in that case, I'm sure glad he's coming to you. Congrats!


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## dmarshall1991 (Nov 16, 2014)

Tom said:


> Well in that case, I'm sure glad he's coming to you. Congrats!


Thanks! I'm very excited  I'm just glad I can help the little guy out. I along with likely everyone on here have a soft spot for torts in need of a little TLC!


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## ascott (Nov 17, 2014)

The best thing about this species is that they are tenacious....so new housing and care will do good....lovely tort...and pyramiding is not the end of the world.....where did the friend acquire the tortoise from?


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## Jacqui (Nov 17, 2014)

I always wonder what the animals think when we dress them up. Be sure to take good pictures of his feet before and after the Vet. It might be helpful to somebody else in the future.


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## the_newzie (Nov 17, 2014)

Welcome and thanks for giving that little tort a better home!


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## Kenno (Nov 17, 2014)

Jacqui said:


> I always wonder what the animals think when we dress them up. Be sure to take good pictures of his feet before and after the Vet. It might be helpful to somebody else in the future.



Yes, I'd like to see the before and after of the feet, too. Please share!


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## dmarshall1991 (Nov 17, 2014)

I'll definitely take before and afters of the feet! I'm not 100% sure on the condition of them because I haven't personally seen the tortoise yet but she said that they look inflamed and the claws are growing into them. So I'm assuming it's pretty bad. I'll post pictures as soon as I get him home and give him a nice soak


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## Ciri (Nov 17, 2014)

that's wonderful you are taking in a desert tortoise who really needs the help. I hope everything goes very smoothly. I don't know if you have a veterinarian yet, but my vet here in Tucson is excellent with desert tortoises. He's Dr. James Jarchow. He's at Orange Grove animal hospital (877-2626). His bio:
Dr. Jarchow is the consulting veterinarian for reptiles and amphibians at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. He is an internationally-recognized authority in wildlife veterinary medicine and a specialist in desert tortoise health management who has conducted numerous field and clinical studies of North American tortoises.

He has saved the lives of a few of my animals.

Here is a care sheet he wrote:
http://www.desertmuseum.org/programs/tap_tortcare.php

One thing I do differently is to keep water available on a daily basis for young desert tortoises. You can do that for adults as well, but what I learned was that they won't drink on a daily basis, even in the summer. Anyhow, it never hurts to have water around daily.


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## dmarshall1991 (Nov 17, 2014)

Ciri said:


> that's wonderful you are taking in a desert tortoise who really needs the help. I hope everything goes very smoothly. I don't know if you have a veterinarian yet, but my vet here in Tucson is excellent with desert tortoises. He's Dr. James Jarchow. He's at Orange Grove animal hospital (877-2626). His bio:
> Dr. Jarchow is the consulting veterinarian for reptiles and amphibians at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. He is an internationally-recognized authority in wildlife veterinary medicine and a specialist in desert tortoise health management who has conducted numerous field and clinical studies of North American tortoises.
> 
> He has saved the lives of a few of my animals.
> ...


He is my reptile vet aswell  he has helped me with many rescued sick reptiles. Great vet! I do plan on keeping water available at all times. Just in case he decides he wants to drink.


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## Ciri (Nov 17, 2014)

That's great! Dr. Jrchow has a lot of fans here in Tucson. It's rare to run into somebody in tucson with tortoises who doesn't go to him. I'll be very interested to hear how this goes with his feet. Keep us updated.


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## kathyth (Nov 17, 2014)

This is great news! Desert tortoises are my absolute favorite!
Enjoy him and please post plenty of pictures.


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## dmarshall1991 (Nov 28, 2014)

I will be picking him up tomorrow morning!! I am so excited but at the same time so nervous. I am really hoping hes not in worse condition than Im expecting. Either way he will be getting taken care of and made better!


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## Ciri (Nov 29, 2014)

I'm excited also – keep us posted. That's one lucky little tortoise!


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## dmarshall1991 (Nov 29, 2014)

Just made a post of him with lots of pics in general tortoise discussion!! 

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/new-desert-tortoise.106814/


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