Breed identification?

Smashy

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Oct 10, 2020
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1 year or so ago I started renting a home and the owner has 2 tortoises that live in a den in the backyard. All of the plants in the yard are tortoise safe and and I give them additional veggies and fruits as treats. A few weeks ago we discovered 4 hatchlings in the yard. We have set up a habitat for the babies and have been doing research on their care and such, but I am very curious as to what type of tortoise they are. Can anyone help?

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Chubbs the tegu

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Gopherus agassizii) california desert tortoise.. but ive been wrong once or twice so dont hold me to it
 

Smashy

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Welcome to the forum btw!
Thank you! That makes since I live in Nevada. I'm not sure where the original owner got them but seeing as they have an outdoor habitat where they live almost as they would in the wild I would imagine they are native to this general area. I really appreciate the welcome and the quick informative reply!
 

Chubbs the tegu

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Now the bad news lol if it is a desert tortoise i believe its illegal to own one in Nevada without a permit
 

Tom

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1 year or so ago I started renting a home and the owner has 2 tortoises that live in a den in the backyard. All of the plants in the yard are tortoise safe and and I give them additional veggies and fruits as treats. A few weeks ago we discovered 4 hatchlings in the yard. We have set up a habitat for the babies and have been doing research on their care and such, but I am very curious as to what type of tortoise they are. Can anyone help?
They are indeed desert tortoises, but they are native to CA, NV, and AZ too. Its legal to have them in NV with a free, easily obtained permit. Used to be all one species, but now they've broken them into two.

I'm not sure about the laws in NV, but here in CA you aren't supposed to breed them, so says the government. Makes perfect sense. Why would we want to breed an endangered species and make more of them???

Most of the care info you find for them will be wrong, so here is the right info:

Those babies need to be housed mostly indoors and soaked daily if you want them to survive. So many of them die because the care advice for them is soooo wrong.

Some veggies are okay once in a while, but the main diet should be grasses, weeds, succulents like spineless opuntia (aka: nopales), leaves and flowers of the right types.

Questions are welcome! :)
 

Smashy

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Joined
Oct 10, 2020
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Location (City and/or State)
Las Vegas
They are indeed desert tortoises, but they are native to CA, NV, and AZ too. Its legal to have them in NV with a free, easily obtained permit. Used to be all one species, but now they've broken them into two.

I'm not sure about the laws in NV, but here in CA you aren't supposed to breed them, so says the government. Makes perfect sense. Why would we want to breed an endangered species and make more of them???

Most of the care info you find for them will be wrong, so here is the right info:

Those babies need to be housed mostly indoors and soaked daily if you want them to survive. So many of them die because the care advice for them is soooo wrong.

Some veggies are okay once in a while, but the main diet should be grasses, weeds, succulents like spineless opuntia (aka: nopales), leaves and flowers of the right types.

Questions are welcome! :)
Perfect, thank you! Technically, I don't own them as they Technically belong to the homeowners.
They are indeed desert tortoises, but they are native to CA, NV, and AZ too. Its legal to have them in NV with a free, easily obtained permit. Used to be all one species, but now they've broken them into two.

I'm not sure about the laws in NV, but here in CA you aren't supposed to breed them, so says the government. Makes perfect sense. Why would we want to breed an endangered species and make more of them???

Most of the care info you find for them will be wrong, so here is the right info:

Those babies need to be housed mostly indoors and soaked daily if you want them to survive. So many of them die because the care advice for them is soooo wrong.

Some veggies are okay once in a while, but the main diet should be grasses, weeds, succulents like spineless opuntia (aka: nopales), leaves and flowers of the right types.

Questions are welcome! :)
Thank you for all of the info! Technically the home owner is still the owner of the parents seeing as when I am no longer renting the property they (the parent tortoises) will remain at the property. I definitely was not intentionally breeding tortoises, however I did observe quite a bit of frisky business going on between the parents. In fact, the first time I witnessed the mating ritual I was alarmed by the bucking and biting that was going on, and contacted the owner. It seemed so mean lol. She assured me that it was normal. I guess I should have put 2 and 2 together and realized that babies surely would follow. I found the babies and did quite a bit of research and have already been following the directions that you listed. I have been soaking them daily but I'm concerned because I haven't seen any poops. My daughter says that she has seen what she believes was excrement but I'm honestly not quite sure what it should look like. I'm also wondering now that the weather is beginning to change how I should handle hibernation, or if they should even hibernate their first winter. This is a large part of why I wanted to identify what type of tortoises that are. I wanted to be able to properly research all of their care and requirements. The parents are quite easy as they are in the home that they have lived in for many many years and don't really require much. I would appreciate any advice that you may have on care. My family and myself have really fallen in love with these little guys!
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
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I would appreciate any advice that you may have on care. My family and myself have really fallen in love with these little guys!

@Smashy did you see this care sheet? It explains all the details for keeping those precious babies alive and well:
 
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