# Maximum Size for Desert Tortoise



## capedthespian (Feb 6, 2014)

How big are males typically expected to get?


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## Team Gomberg (Feb 6, 2014)

I can't tell you the typical size but I can tell you the size of my male. He's an old WC guy so I'm fairly certain he is done growing.

He is 13" long, 11.5" wide and a bit underweight right now (recovery from a surgery) at 10lbs.


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## ascott (Feb 6, 2014)

_Monster was found several weeks ago by a helpful neighbor who just happened to see him in the yard. What a shock it must have been to see this huge tortoise traipsing around the yard of a home that had been empty for weeks. When I went to the home to do the pickup, I was met by the neighbor as I arrived. When I unloaded the plastic tote to transport the tortoise back to the DTCC, the neighbor, with a look of surprise, told me that the tote would definitely not be big enough for this tortoise.

In disbelief, I told her that if the tortoise would not fit in the tote, it could not be a desert tortoise; instead, I thought it had to be some other large tortoise species, such as an African sulcata, which are also popular pets here in Las Vegas. You can imagine when I walked into the yard and saw the supersized desert tortoise that I was, to say the least, a little bit surprised! How was I going to get him back to the DTCC? With a bit of ingenuity and some great MacGyver skills, I was able to fashion a large transport carrier using both the plastic tote and a cardboard box, which delivered Monster safely to the DTCC.


Monster heads out from his enormous man-made burrow.
Since arriving at the DTCC, Monster has had his fair share of visitors! Heâ€™s been greeted by all of the staff at one time or another, and our seasonal staff members did a great job of digging him the largest burrow weâ€™ve ever had. We can happily report that Monster is adapting well to his new surroundings, and with a little movement around his burrow, heâ€™s always happy to come out and greet us! While Monsterâ€™s story had a happy ending, Iâ€™m reminded that for every happy ending for a lost or unwanted pet tortoise that is given up to us, there are many still stuck in the backyards of abandoned homes that we might never find out about.

Desert Tortoise Team
Posted June 29, 2011 at 9:45 AM
Monster is over 17 inches long and weighs over 26 pounds! We had to bring him to a vetâ€™s office to weigh him because we donâ€™t have a scale big enough to hold him here at the DTCC. He has been here for several months now, and he seems to be less aggressive than when he arrived, possibly because he is now being fed a proper diet; no more dog food for him!_


Apology...the pic won't seem to come over, let me try once more 

http://blogs.sandiegozoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Monster-Tort-Photo-1.jpg


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## Team Gomberg (Feb 6, 2014)

Monster is right!

What are the sizes of the old men at your place Angela?


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## ascott (Feb 6, 2014)

> What are the sizes of the old men at your place Angela?



My old man is a little over a foot long, never checked width and I don't know what his current weight is, he is still catching up on his beauty sleep....and as a matter of fact, I don't ever recall actually weighing him, he is solid though..

The next one down is around the same size, Herman.

Then Haus, he is about 11 inches and never weighed him, but he is solid as well.

Finally, Gam is the smallest at likely 10 inches or so and he is solid as well, no weight ever taken...he was the most recently displaced tort from the wild...he is likely the youngest....


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## capedthespian (Feb 9, 2014)

Oh okay. So my Larry isn't the biggest out there, just the the biggest I've seen. He's 13.5 inches long, and I haven't measured his width. He weighed twelve pounds a few years ago, but he hasn't been weighed for awhile. His previous owner told me he was fifteen years old, but that's obviously not true. How old is your 13 inch male?


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