desert tortoise?

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Blakem

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Good evening, my girlfriends sister currently lives in las Vegas and has recently told me about desert tortoises she has seen. I do not know if this can be answered. But, she said that there are desert tortoises that are native to the mojave and sonoran desert. Any idea of what kind this may be?
 

cmosuna

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Blake m said:
Good evening, my girlfriends sister currently lives in las Vegas and has recently told me about desert tortoises she has seen. I do not know if this can be answered. But, she said that there are desert tortoises that are native to the mojave and sonoran desert. Any idea of what kind this may be?

Most likely Gopherus agassizii - Desert Tortoise. They are all over the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts. I posted a picture of ours.
 

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Blakem

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That's a great looking tortoise. Is the care very much different from a sulcata?
 

Laura

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yes and no...
you dont need a permit to keep a sulcata, sulcatas dont hibernate and need heat in the winter, diet is similar, sulcatas need more room...
you should Not house them together... they will make each other sickly..
 

cmosuna

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Laura said:
yes and no...
you dont need a permit to keep a sulcata, sulcatas dont hibernate and need heat in the winter, diet is similar, sulcatas need more room...
you should Not house them together... they will make each other sickly..

They don't do to bad with the Sulcatas, ours don't interact a ton but yeah once a Sulcata is much larger it's not a great idea.
 

Blakem

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Please do not jump to conclusions. I simply was interested in the species that lived there. If I did my only interest would be to rescue one from a shelter. I understand that you are just trying to look out for them.
 

cmosuna

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Shelly said:
DO NOT collect wild tortoises from this area, it is highly illegal.

Highly illegal with huge fines and possible jail time, besides there are plenty of them looking for homes in rescue groups. The law is that ones in homes cannot be released back into the wild, and people have been backyard breeding these guys for decades. Usually just throwing a couple out there and letting them do their things. But they cannot sell them, also highly illegal, so they end up in rescue groups. Our Athena is tagged and registered as all desert torts should be. We are also members of the CTTC
 

Blakem

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That's great! They are great looking torts. I really wish people would do things the right way and truly care about all animals.
 

Utah Lynn

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In Utah, You can ADOPT from WildLifeResources, but you cannot OWN them. They remain the property of WLR.
 

ascott

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Blake there is really no way to say for sure which of the two species your sister has seen (referring to the species update last year that Yvonne attached link for) likely it is one or the other or even perhaps a hybrid of the two....they are a beautiful creature...very regal. It is awesome that she has seen them in the wild...:D
 
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