First Post!

[The Mojave Kid]

Hello everyone! This is my first post so I figure I would introduce a couple of my Mojave's!

This is Lucy our only female, she has a separate enclosure away from the boys:

And this is Zeus, Duke, and Gus eating one of their varied meals:

Here is the meal (Mulberry leaves, Squash, Mustard Greens, and ZooMeds Grassland Tortoise Diet, and a little Spinach):

Thanks for looking! I hope I get to see some of your Desert Tortoises! I really need some new enclosure ideas! ha!

 

[jaizei]

Welcome, they look good.

 

[african cake queen]

hello, nice pictures! lindy

 

[Laura]

very cool. do they grass to graze on?

 

[dmarcus]

Hello and welcome to the forum, those are some very nice tortoises

 

[jackrat]

Nice torts! Welcome to the forum.

 

[The Mojave Kid]

hello, nice pictures! lindy

Thank you both! Its odd to here someone say that Gus (the tortoise on the far left) looks "good" haha. He was a rescue that was pulled from a backyard in the city. The owners moved out the winter and left him while he was hibernating then in the spring when he woke up the new owners had 3 dogs that liked to chew...They completely ate his gular horn, leaving a huge wound that was infected and infested with maggots The dogs also chewed of the marginal scutes above his head and all four legs. He also suffered some severe damage to his front and back legs and now walks with a sort of limp. We got him just in time and were able to clean all of his wounds thoroughly and flush all of the maggots from his neck and chest. We have now had him for about 11 years and he has become a local mascot and teaching tool for people interested in adopting a Mojave Desert Tortoise. .

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very cool. do they grass to graze on?

Yes, they have the run of the front yard once a week which is full of grass and weeds for them.

 

[wrmitchell22]

They are gorgeous and happy looking torts, so glad you rescued Gus! Welcome to TFO

 

[coreyc]

Welcome what a nice group of tort's you have

 

[The Mojave Kid]

Hello and welcome to the forum, those are some very nice tortoises

Thank you very much! Zeus and Lucy have been in captivity their whole lives about 85 years now! Believe it or not we have proof of this! So they are basically spoiled here. lol

 

[ascott]

Welcome! They are all beautiful.....how long have you had them? Love the CDTs

 

[dmarcus]

Thats cool, I am originally from Las Vegas and of course we had Majave Max as our local mascot...

 

[The Mojave Kid]

They are gorgeous and happy looking torts, so glad you rescued Gus! Welcome to TFO

Thank you very much! and so am I! he's a trooper!

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Welcome! They are all beautiful.....how long have you had them? Love the CDTs

Thank you! Its hard to keep up with responding to you all! This is great! I feel very welcomed! haha!

I have had Zeus and Duke the longest about 12 years then we got Gus about 11 years ago then finally we got lucy about 7-8 years ago.

 

[ascott]

Very cool......do they live outside 24/7?

 

[The Mojave Kid]

Thats cool, I am originally from Las Vegas and of course we had Majave Max as our local mascot...

I know mojave max! lol Awesome Tortoise for sure not at all cocky over the publicity he gets!

Have you heard of the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center outside of Vegas?

 

[ascott]

I know of the conservation center.....

 

[The Mojave Kid]

Very cool......do they live outside 24/7?

Yes 24/7...They all have established burrows and plenty of shade if they want it but they do manage to sneak in and cool off once in a while though...especially now with this heat. Me being from Barstow and you from AV we basically suffer the same!

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I know of the conservation center.....

Nice! I actually worked on a book called "Tortoise through Lens" and we got to go put in some hours there and work with some hatchling and injured Torts as well as release some adults! It was awesome! Dr. Kahn is an awesome person who has alot of help there but I have been meaning to get back out there to help anyway! ha

 

[dmarcus]

Thats cool, I am originally from Las Vegas and of course we had Majave Max as our local mascot...

I know mojave max! lol Awesome Tortoise for sure not at all cocky over the publicity he gets!

Have you heard of the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center outside of Vegas?

Yes I have, it was mainly started to preserve wild tortoises that were being dislocated because of they growth and development of Las Vegas. They do great work out there..

 

[ascott]

Awesome...and yup we share the same weather....how did they do with the crazy volume of rain and freezing weather at the start of the year? I was not able to leave mine out for the entire winter....actually had to dig em out by hand ....we were subjected to crazy amounts of rain /flooding as we live below the mountains a out a mile below the base.....I have always been an advocate for letting them remain outside 24/7 and pretty much still am....but kinda sucks because I don't know if I will chance it again this coming winter.....?

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Very nice....I have spoken with Dave Lamfrom a bit about natural viewing sites that are guaranteed CDT sightings as well as Bighorn Sheep viewing.....I have a friend at DEFY that I was privileged to assist in the release of tort back into the desert out by you...luckily the person who helped the tortoise out had the sense to not allow anything to come into co.tact with the wild tort and called right away so the tortoise was eligible to be put back....so very cool and nerv racking making sure they go back to advantageous spot.....I have four adult males....they all have separate yards as they are all full of themselves LOL my except my old man--he has horrible eye sight and so he has a yard right up next to the front porch and sleeps indoors at night for his safety....

 

[Shelly]

Why does this one look like it's covered with ashes?