tortoise identification

[danielkerk]

This tortoise was in my yard walking around. It was really small so I took it in knowing I have possums and raccoons in my yard. Can someone help me with identification?

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Daniel, and welcome to the forum!

It looks like either a very sick or a very dehydrated desert tortoise. Are you on the west coast? If not and you're on the east coast, it would be a gopher tortoise.

 

[Yvonne G]

A bird might have dropped it in your yard, or maybe your neighbors have a pair of tortoises. You might look carefully to see if you can find more, as they usually lay about 4 or 5 eggs per clutch.

If you plan to keep the tortoise you need to change that substrate and use something you can moisten. Yes, they come from the desert, but they don't stay above ground where it's dry, they stay down in burrows where there is more moisture.

Put the baby into a little bowl of warm water and just let it sit there for 15 or 20 minutes.

 

[danielkerk]

I am from southern California, the tortoise is now sitting in water thank you for your help. in concern with the substrate what do you recommend? I am also using a black light and a heat lamp.

 

[Yvonne G]

A lot of folks on the forum use a combination of coco coir/soil, but my substrate of choice is small grade orchid bark. If you have an Orchard Supply Hardware in your town, you can buy it there for around $10 for a 2cu ft bag. Orchid bark has to be pure or orchids won't grow in it. It's really just fir bark, so if you can find a small grade of fir bark, that would be ok to use.

Coco coir comes in a compressed brick that you put in hot water to re-hydrate. I don't like it because its so small it gets stuck on everything. But some of our members just swear by it.

Whatever you use, keep it moist.

 

[Yvonne G]

We don't have a care sheet on the Forum for desert tortoise babies, but we do have a good care sheet for baby sulcatas, and the care would be the same. Look at the top of the Sulcata section for some good baby tortoise reading.