# texas tortoise



## jasso2 (May 19, 2008)

some guy my cousin knows has a texas tortoise, illegal if im not mistaken. he was going to give it to me but i told him i need to do research if theres a permit of some sort for a texas tortoise (here is texas). this shell looked alittle rough so im guessing he got him from the wild but told me got it from his uncle years ago. was looking for permits but only found some form desert tortoise in cali,az,etc (no texas/texas tortoise).....advise?


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## jasso2 (May 19, 2008)

any advise would help. thanks


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## Yvonne G (May 19, 2008)

jasso2 said:


> some guy my cousin knows has a texas tortoise, illegal if im not mistaken. he was going to give it to me but i told him i need to do research if theres a permit of some sort for a texas tortoise (here is texas). this shell looked alittle rough so im guessing he got him from the wild but told me got it from his uncle years ago. was looking for permits but only found some form desert tortoise in cali,az,etc (no texas/texas tortoise).....advise?



You need to contact the government agency that handles this species of tortoise. Here in California its called Department of fish and game. I don't know what its called in Texas. It might be the same agency that issues fishing licenses. At any rate, its usually not illegal to have them, you just need a permit. Here in California, the tortoise never belongs to you, it belongs to the state of California. We just have a permit to keep it on our premises.

Yvonne


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## Itort (May 19, 2008)

Here is a link that explains about texas torts and permits : www.gctts.org/node/45


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## Yvonne G (May 19, 2008)

Itort said:


> Here is a link that explains about texas torts and permits : www.gctts.org/node/45



Larry: Thanks for that link. Its good to know that in Texas a private party cannot get a permit to keep a Texas tortoise. Funny that here in California, we can keep them and have to get a permit!

Yvonne


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## Itort (May 19, 2008)

I think that the states in range of desert tort are fine examples (in most cases) of management of these guys. I wish all states within range of gopherus species would follow that example.


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## jasso2 (May 19, 2008)

thanks for the info guys!


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