# My tortoise Shelly's species?



## JackFrost (Dec 5, 2014)

My little 6 month old Shelly was born in Arizona but her parents which are 50 years old are from Nevada. I not positive what type she is? Mohave tortoise? Help would be appreciated thank you much!


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## tortadise (Dec 5, 2014)

Welcome. A photo would be best for us ID It for yah.


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## Yvonne G (Dec 5, 2014)

It's probably a Mojave desert tortoise, however we'll have to see pictures to tell you for sure. The orange is where Gopherus agassizii comes from, and the green is where gopherus morafkai comes from. But to toss a monkey wrench into the mix, Sulcatas are bred by private individuals everywhere. So we'll have to see a picture


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## JackFrost (Dec 5, 2014)

Another pic of her.


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## Moozillion (Dec 6, 2014)

She's a real cutie! 
I'm still learning to ID torts, do I'll be interested to see what she is!


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## Yvonne G (Dec 6, 2014)

Yes, it is a desert tortoise, but I've never been able to see the difference between the agassizii and the morafkai...sorry. Since the parents were from Nevada, according to the map, that makes them agassizii.


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## Tom (Dec 6, 2014)

Yvonne G said:


> Yes, it is a desert tortoise, but I've never been able to see the difference between the agassizii and the morafkai...sorry.



Me neither. It was easier when it was all one species...

Either way, for your purposes JackFrost, the care, feeding and housing is identical.

I typed this up for russians, but I house my DT babies exactly the same. Dehydration due to overly dry conditions, lack of soaking, and lack of water, is the number one killer of these babies. All the typical DT info sites advise people to keep them in ways in which a large percentage of them will die.
Check it out:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/forums/russian-tortoises.81/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/semi-underground-russian-box.98590/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/


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## JackFrost (Dec 7, 2014)

Thx all. She is well taken care of loves broccoli and always has a bathing dish she uses a lot. I also have Uva lamp for her. I probably take too good care of her lol. She likes me a lot and when she sees me she scratches to get out. Very affectionate creatures lol.


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## Yvonne G (Dec 7, 2014)

You really should be using a UVB light instead of UVA. It's the UVB that causes the tortoise to make vitamin d3 for the ingested calcium to work.


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## JackFrost (Dec 7, 2014)

Sorry it's uvb.


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## JackFrost (Dec 7, 2014)

I do give her calcium too. Also take her out in the sun for about 5 to 10 minutes a week to crawl around in the sand or grass.


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## JackFrost (Dec 7, 2014)

If it's not above 90 degs


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