Grandma the Desert Tortoise gets PT for weak hind legs following bladder stone surgery. She wonders, “Does this make my butt look big?”

{The desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) is a species of tortoise native to the Mojave desert and Sonoran desert of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. | The epithet agassizii is in honor of Swiss-American zoologist Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz. | The carapace of these tortoises may attain a length of 6 inch to 15 inches (15 to 38 cm), with males being slightly larger than females. | Male tortoises have a longer gular horn than females, their plastron (lower shell) is concave compared to female totoises. | Their shells are high-domed, and greenish-tan to dark brown in color. | Desert tortoises can grow from 4–6 inches in height and weigh 8–15 lb (4–7 kg) when fully grown. | The front limbs have heavy, claw-like scales and are flattened for digging. | Back legs are more stumpy and elephantine. | The tortoise is able to live where ground temperature may exceed 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius) because of its ability to dig underground burrows and escape the heat. | At least 95% of its life is spent in burrows. | There, it is also protected from freezing winter weather while dormant, from November through February or March. | With its burrow, this tortoise creates a subterranean environment that can be beneficial to other reptiles, mammals, birds and invertebrates. |Scientists have divided the desert tortoise into two types: the Mojave and Sonoran Desert tortoises, with a possible third type in the Black Mountains of northwestern Arizona. | They live in a different type of habitat, from sandy flats to rocky foothills. | They have a strong proclivity in the Mojave desert for alluvial fans, washes and canyons where more suitable soils for den construction might be found. | They range from near sea level to around 3,500 feet in elevation. | It is believed that, in their entire lives, these tortoises rarely move more than two miles from their natal nest. | They also live to be 80-100 years old. |The desert tortoise is a herbivore. | Grasses form the bulk of its diet, but it also eats herbs, annual wildflowers, some shrubs, and new growth of cacti, as well as their fruit and flowers. | Rocks and soil are also ingested, perhaps as a means of maintaining intestinal digestive bacteria and/or as a source of supplementary calcium or other minerals. | As with birds, stones may also function as gastroliths, enabling more efficient digestion of plant material in the stomach. |Much of the tortoises water intake comes from moisture in the grasses and wildflowers they consume in the spring. | A large urinary bladder can store over forty percent of the tortoises body weight in water, urea, uric acid and nitrogenous wastes. | During very dry times they may give off waste as a white paste rather than a watery urine. | During periods of adequate rainfall, they drink copiously from any pools they find, and eliminate solid urates. | Adult tortoises can survive a year or more without access to water. |One defense mechanism the tortoise has when it is handled or molested is to empty its bladder. | This can leave the tortoise in a very vulnerable condition in dry areas, and they should never be alarmed, handled or picked up in the wild. |Tortoises may also be vulnerable to diseases and viruses. | Coming into contact may cause them to catch unfamiliar strains. |The mating season for the desert tortoise is lengthy. | It occurs from spring to fall, with a peak in late summer/early fall (September). | They typically lay 4-8 eggs per clutch, with 1-2 clutches per year. | The eggs are hard, chalky and elliptical or spherical and buried in a funnel-shaped nest. | They are incubated for 90-120 days. | Hatchlings from only a few eggs out of every hundred actually survive the 7-15 years it takes to reach full adulthood. | Ravens, gila monsters, kit foxes, badgers, roadrunners, coyotes, and fire ants are all natural predators of the desert tortoise. | They prey on eggs, juveniles, which are 2-3 inches long with a thin, delicate shell, or in some cases adults. | Ravens are hypothesized to cause significant levels of juvenile tortoise predation in some areas of the Mojave Desert – frequently near urbanized areas. | The most significant threats to tortoises include urbanization, habitat destruction and fragmentation, illegal collection and vandalism by humans, and competition with cattle for forage plants. | The eggs they lay can get so shiny that they can look like theyve been hard boiled. |Desert tortoise populations in some areas have declined by as much as 90% since the 1980s and the Mojave population is listed as threatened. | It is unlawful to touch, harm, harass or collect wild desert tortoises. | It is, however, possible to adopt captive tortoises through the Tortoise Adoption Program (TAP) in Arizona, or through the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada. | When adopted in Nevada, they will have a computer chip embedded on their back for reference. | Under Arizona law, one tortoise per family member may be possessed if the tortoises are obtained from a captive source which is properly documented. | Captive sources include urban foundlings, unwanted captives, and their progeny. |||||||||}

Our tortoise in our back yard. He’s 11 years old.

{The desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) is a species of tortoise native to the Mojave desert and Sonoran desert of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. | The epithet agassizii is in honor of Swiss-American zoologist Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz. | The carapace of these tortoises may attain a length of 6 inch to 15 inches (15 to 38 cm), with males being slightly larger than females. | Male tortoises have a longer gular horn than females, their plastron (lower shell) is concave compared to female totoises. | Their shells are high-domed, and greenish-tan to dark brown in color. | Desert tortoises can grow from 4–6 inches in height and weigh 8–15 lb (4–7 kg) when fully grown. | The front limbs have heavy, claw-like scales and are flattened for digging. | Back legs are more stumpy and elephantine. | The tortoise is able to live where ground temperature may exceed 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius) because of its ability to dig underground burrows and escape the heat. | At least 95% of its life is spent in burrows. | There, it is also protected from freezing winter weather while dormant, from November through February or March. | With its burrow, this tortoise creates a subterranean environment that can be beneficial to other reptiles, mammals, birds and invertebrates. |Scientists have divided the desert tortoise into two types: the Mojave and Sonoran Desert tortoises, with a possible third type in the Black Mountains of northwestern Arizona. | They live in a different type of habitat, from sandy flats to rocky foothills. | They have a strong proclivity in the Mojave desert for alluvial fans, washes and canyons where more suitable soils for den construction might be found. | They range from near sea level to around 3,500 feet in elevation. | It is believed that, in their entire lives, these tortoises rarely move more than two miles from their natal nest. | They also live to be 80-100 years old. |The desert tortoise is a herbivore. | Grasses form the bulk of its diet, but it also eats herbs, annual wildflowers, some shrubs, and new growth of cacti, as well as their fruit and flowers. | Rocks and soil are also ingested, perhaps as a means of maintaining intestinal digestive bacteria and/or as a source of supplementary calcium or other minerals. | As with birds, stones may also function as gastroliths, enabling more efficient digestion of plant material in the stomach. |Much of the tortoises water intake comes from moisture in the grasses and wildflowers they consume in the spring. | A large urinary bladder can store over forty percent of the tortoises body weight in water, urea, uric acid and nitrogenous wastes. | During very dry times they may give off waste as a white paste rather than a watery urine. | During periods of adequate rainfall, they drink copiously from any pools they find, and eliminate solid urates. | Adult tortoises can survive a year or more without access to water. |One defense mechanism the tortoise has when it is handled or molested is to empty its bladder. | This can leave the tortoise in a very vulnerable condition in dry areas, and they should never be alarmed, handled or picked up in the wild. |Tortoises may also be vulnerable to diseases and viruses. | Coming into contact may cause them to catch unfamiliar strains. |The mating season for the desert tortoise is lengthy. | It occurs from spring to fall, with a peak in late summer/early fall (September). | They typically lay 4-8 eggs per clutch, with 1-2 clutches per year. | The eggs are hard, chalky and elliptical or spherical and buried in a funnel-shaped nest. | They are incubated for 90-120 days. | Hatchlings from only a few eggs out of every hundred actually survive the 7-15 years it takes to reach full adulthood. | Ravens, gila monsters, kit foxes, badgers, roadrunners, coyotes, and fire ants are all natural predators of the desert tortoise. | They prey on eggs, juveniles, which are 2-3 inches long with a thin, delicate shell, or in some cases adults. | Ravens are hypothesized to cause significant levels of juvenile tortoise predation in some areas of the Mojave Desert – frequently near urbanized areas. | The most significant threats to tortoises include urbanization, habitat destruction and fragmentation, illegal collection and vandalism by humans, and competition with cattle for forage plants. | The eggs they lay can get so shiny that they can look like theyve been hard boiled. |Desert tortoise populations in some areas have declined by as much as 90% since the 1980s and the Mojave population is listed as threatened. | It is unlawful to touch, harm, harass or collect wild desert tortoises. | It is, however, possible to adopt captive tortoises through the Tortoise Adoption Program (TAP) in Arizona, or through the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada. | When adopted in Nevada, they will have a computer chip embedded on their back for reference. | Under Arizona law, one tortoise per family member may be possessed if the tortoises are obtained from a captive source which is properly documented. | Captive sources include urban foundlings, unwanted captives, and their progeny. |||||||||}

The last couple of days had been colder than usual and I hadn’t seen my tortoise. I tried thumping the ground because that usually works but it must have been too cold. Anyway, I started thinking, “what if he’s not in his burrow and he’s been gone for who knows how long?” Yada, yada, yada…his burrow is under a tent and it’s a biatch just to get to the mouth of it. So I used a camera to see if he was in there. Checked pics couldn’t tell, started to stress a bit. Went back with flashlight and took a movie. Couldn’t see what I was filming so by the time I crammed my head under the tent too look at the lcd, who did I see…?

{The desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) is a species of tortoise native to the Mojave desert and Sonoran desert of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. | The epithet agassizii is in honor of Swiss-American zoologist Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz. | The carapace of these tortoises may attain a length of 6 inch to 15 inches (15 to 38 cm), with males being slightly larger than females. | Male tortoises have a longer gular horn than females, their plastron (lower shell) is concave compared to female totoises. | Their shells are high-domed, and greenish-tan to dark brown in color. | Desert tortoises can grow from 4–6 inches in height and weigh 8–15 lb (4–7 kg) when fully grown. | The front limbs have heavy, claw-like scales and are flattened for digging. | Back legs are more stumpy and elephantine. | The tortoise is able to live where ground temperature may exceed 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius) because of its ability to dig underground burrows and escape the heat. | At least 95% of its life is spent in burrows. | There, it is also protected from freezing winter weather while dormant, from November through February or March. | With its burrow, this tortoise creates a subterranean environment that can be beneficial to other reptiles, mammals, birds and invertebrates. |Scientists have divided the desert tortoise into two types: the Mojave and Sonoran Desert tortoises, with a possible third type in the Black Mountains of northwestern Arizona. | They live in a different type of habitat, from sandy flats to rocky foothills. | They have a strong proclivity in the Mojave desert for alluvial fans, washes and canyons where more suitable soils for den construction might be found. | They range from near sea level to around 3,500 feet in elevation. | It is believed that, in their entire lives, these tortoises rarely move more than two miles from their natal nest. | They also live to be 80-100 years old. |The desert tortoise is a herbivore. | Grasses form the bulk of its diet, but it also eats herbs, annual wildflowers, some shrubs, and new growth of cacti, as well as their fruit and flowers. | Rocks and soil are also ingested, perhaps as a means of maintaining intestinal digestive bacteria and/or as a source of supplementary calcium or other minerals. | As with birds, stones may also function as gastroliths, enabling more efficient digestion of plant material in the stomach. |Much of the tortoises water intake comes from moisture in the grasses and wildflowers they consume in the spring. | A large urinary bladder can store over forty percent of the tortoises body weight in water, urea, uric acid and nitrogenous wastes. | During very dry times they may give off waste as a white paste rather than a watery urine. | During periods of adequate rainfall, they drink copiously from any pools they find, and eliminate solid urates. | Adult tortoises can survive a year or more without access to water. |One defense mechanism the tortoise has when it is handled or molested is to empty its bladder. | This can leave the tortoise in a very vulnerable condition in dry areas, and they should never be alarmed, handled or picked up in the wild. |Tortoises may also be vulnerable to diseases and viruses. | Coming into contact may cause them to catch unfamiliar strains. |The mating season for the desert tortoise is lengthy. | It occurs from spring to fall, with a peak in late summer/early fall (September). | They typically lay 4-8 eggs per clutch, with 1-2 clutches per year. | The eggs are hard, chalky and elliptical or spherical and buried in a funnel-shaped nest. | They are incubated for 90-120 days. | Hatchlings from only a few eggs out of every hundred actually survive the 7-15 years it takes to reach full adulthood. | Ravens, gila monsters, kit foxes, badgers, roadrunners, coyotes, and fire ants are all natural predators of the desert tortoise. | They prey on eggs, juveniles, which are 2-3 inches long with a thin, delicate shell, or in some cases adults. | Ravens are hypothesized to cause significant levels of juvenile tortoise predation in some areas of the Mojave Desert – frequently near urbanized areas. | The most significant threats to tortoises include urbanization, habitat destruction and fragmentation, illegal collection and vandalism by humans, and competition with cattle for forage plants. | The eggs they lay can get so shiny that they can look like theyve been hard boiled. |Desert tortoise populations in some areas have declined by as much as 90% since the 1980s and the Mojave population is listed as threatened. | It is unlawful to touch, harm, harass or collect wild desert tortoises. | It is, however, possible to adopt captive tortoises through the Tortoise Adoption Program (TAP) in Arizona, or through the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada. | When adopted in Nevada, they will have a computer chip embedded on their back for reference. | Under Arizona law, one tortoise per family member may be possessed if the tortoises are obtained from a captive source which is properly documented. | Captive sources include urban foundlings, unwanted captives, and their progeny. |||||||||}

Grandma the desert tortoise gets tube feeding while recovering from surgery for a bladder stone.

{The desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) is a species of tortoise native to the Mojave desert and Sonoran desert of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. | The epithet agassizii is in honor of Swiss-American zoologist Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz. | The carapace of these tortoises may attain a length of 6 inch to 15 inches (15 to 38 cm), with males being slightly larger than females. | Male tortoises have a longer gular horn than females, their plastron (lower shell) is concave compared to female totoises. | Their shells are high-domed, and greenish-tan to dark brown in color. | Desert tortoises can grow from 4–6 inches in height and weigh 8–15 lb (4–7 kg) when fully grown. | The front limbs have heavy, claw-like scales and are flattened for digging. | Back legs are more stumpy and elephantine. | The tortoise is able to live where ground temperature may exceed 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius) because of its ability to dig underground burrows and escape the heat. | At least 95% of its life is spent in burrows. | There, it is also protected from freezing winter weather while dormant, from November through February or March. | With its burrow, this tortoise creates a subterranean environment that can be beneficial to other reptiles, mammals, birds and invertebrates. |Scientists have divided the desert tortoise into two types: the Mojave and Sonoran Desert tortoises, with a possible third type in the Black Mountains of northwestern Arizona. | They live in a different type of habitat, from sandy flats to rocky foothills. | They have a strong proclivity in the Mojave desert for alluvial fans, washes and canyons where more suitable soils for den construction might be found. | They range from near sea level to around 3,500 feet in elevation. | It is believed that, in their entire lives, these tortoises rarely move more than two miles from their natal nest. | They also live to be 80-100 years old. |The desert tortoise is a herbivore. | Grasses form the bulk of its diet, but it also eats herbs, annual wildflowers, some shrubs, and new growth of cacti, as well as their fruit and flowers. | Rocks and soil are also ingested, perhaps as a means of maintaining intestinal digestive bacteria and/or as a source of supplementary calcium or other minerals. | As with birds, stones may also function as gastroliths, enabling more efficient digestion of plant material in the stomach. |Much of the tortoises water intake comes from moisture in the grasses and wildflowers they consume in the spring. | A large urinary bladder can store over forty percent of the tortoises body weight in water, urea, uric acid and nitrogenous wastes. | During very dry times they may give off waste as a white paste rather than a watery urine. | During periods of adequate rainfall, they drink copiously from any pools they find, and eliminate solid urates. | Adult tortoises can survive a year or more without access to water. |One defense mechanism the tortoise has when it is handled or molested is to empty its bladder. | This can leave the tortoise in a very vulnerable condition in dry areas, and they should never be alarmed, handled or picked up in the wild. |Tortoises may also be vulnerable to diseases and viruses. | Coming into contact may cause them to catch unfamiliar strains. |The mating season for the desert tortoise is lengthy. | It occurs from spring to fall, with a peak in late summer/early fall (September). | They typically lay 4-8 eggs per clutch, with 1-2 clutches per year. | The eggs are hard, chalky and elliptical or spherical and buried in a funnel-shaped nest. | They are incubated for 90-120 days. | Hatchlings from only a few eggs out of every hundred actually survive the 7-15 years it takes to reach full adulthood. | Ravens, gila monsters, kit foxes, badgers, roadrunners, coyotes, and fire ants are all natural predators of the desert tortoise. | They prey on eggs, juveniles, which are 2-3 inches long with a thin, delicate shell, or in some cases adults. | Ravens are hypothesized to cause significant levels of juvenile tortoise predation in some areas of the Mojave Desert – frequently near urbanized areas. | The most significant threats to tortoises include urbanization, habitat destruction and fragmentation, illegal collection and vandalism by humans, and competition with cattle for forage plants. | The eggs they lay can get so shiny that they can look like theyve been hard boiled. |Desert tortoise populations in some areas have declined by as much as 90% since the 1980s and the Mojave population is listed as threatened. | It is unlawful to touch, harm, harass or collect wild desert tortoises. | It is, however, possible to adopt captive tortoises through the Tortoise Adoption Program (TAP) in Arizona, or through the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada. | When adopted in Nevada, they will have a computer chip embedded on their back for reference. | Under Arizona law, one tortoise per family member may be possessed if the tortoises are obtained from a captive source which is properly documented. | Captive sources include urban foundlings, unwanted captives, and their progeny. |||||||||}

Truffle, the neighbor’s kitten, takes a “ride” on Amos, our desert tortoise.

{The desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) is a species of tortoise native to the Mojave desert and Sonoran desert of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. | The epithet agassizii is in honor of Swiss-American zoologist Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz. | The carapace of these tortoises may attain a length of 6 inch to 15 inches (15 to 38 cm), with males being slightly larger than females. | Male tortoises have a longer gular horn than females, their plastron (lower shell) is concave compared to female totoises. | Their shells are high-domed, and greenish-tan to dark brown in color. | Desert tortoises can grow from 4–6 inches in height and weigh 8–15 lb (4–7 kg) when fully grown. | The front limbs have heavy, claw-like scales and are flattened for digging. | Back legs are more stumpy and elephantine. | The tortoise is able to live where ground temperature may exceed 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius) because of its ability to dig underground burrows and escape the heat. | At least 95% of its life is spent in burrows. | There, it is also protected from freezing winter weather while dormant, from November through February or March. | With its burrow, this tortoise creates a subterranean environment that can be beneficial to other reptiles, mammals, birds and invertebrates. |Scientists have divided the desert tortoise into two types: the Mojave and Sonoran Desert tortoises, with a possible third type in the Black Mountains of northwestern Arizona. | They live in a different type of habitat, from sandy flats to rocky foothills. | They have a strong proclivity in the Mojave desert for alluvial fans, washes and canyons where more suitable soils for den construction might be found. | They range from near sea level to around 3,500 feet in elevation. | It is believed that, in their entire lives, these tortoises rarely move more than two miles from their natal nest. | They also live to be 80-100 years old. |The desert tortoise is a herbivore. | Grasses form the bulk of its diet, but it also eats herbs, annual wildflowers, some shrubs, and new growth of cacti, as well as their fruit and flowers. | Rocks and soil are also ingested, perhaps as a means of maintaining intestinal digestive bacteria and/or as a source of supplementary calcium or other minerals. | As with birds, stones may also function as gastroliths, enabling more efficient digestion of plant material in the stomach. |Much of the tortoises water intake comes from moisture in the grasses and wildflowers they consume in the spring. | A large urinary bladder can store over forty percent of the tortoises body weight in water, urea, uric acid and nitrogenous wastes. | During very dry times they may give off waste as a white paste rather than a watery urine. | During periods of adequate rainfall, they drink copiously from any pools they find, and eliminate solid urates. | Adult tortoises can survive a year or more without access to water. |One defense mechanism the tortoise has when it is handled or molested is to empty its bladder. | This can leave the tortoise in a very vulnerable condition in dry areas, and they should never be alarmed, handled or picked up in the wild. |Tortoises may also be vulnerable to diseases and viruses. | Coming into contact may cause them to catch unfamiliar strains. |The mating season for the desert tortoise is lengthy. | It occurs from spring to fall, with a peak in late summer/early fall (September). | They typically lay 4-8 eggs per clutch, with 1-2 clutches per year. | The eggs are hard, chalky and elliptical or spherical and buried in a funnel-shaped nest. | They are incubated for 90-120 days. | Hatchlings from only a few eggs out of every hundred actually survive the 7-15 years it takes to reach full adulthood. | Ravens, gila monsters, kit foxes, badgers, roadrunners, coyotes, and fire ants are all natural predators of the desert tortoise. | They prey on eggs, juveniles, which are 2-3 inches long with a thin, delicate shell, or in some cases adults. | Ravens are hypothesized to cause significant levels of juvenile tortoise predation in some areas of the Mojave Desert – frequently near urbanized areas. | The most significant threats to tortoises include urbanization, habitat destruction and fragmentation, illegal collection and vandalism by humans, and competition with cattle for forage plants. | The eggs they lay can get so shiny that they can look like theyve been hard boiled. |Desert tortoise populations in some areas have declined by as much as 90% since the 1980s and the Mojave population is listed as threatened. | It is unlawful to touch, harm, harass or collect wild desert tortoises. | It is, however, possible to adopt captive tortoises through the Tortoise Adoption Program (TAP) in Arizona, or through the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada. | When adopted in Nevada, they will have a computer chip embedded on their back for reference. | Under Arizona law, one tortoise per family member may be possessed if the tortoises are obtained from a captive source which is properly documented. | Captive sources include urban foundlings, unwanted captives, and their progeny. |||||||||}

Treating our tortoises to con on the cob which the truly love.

A large urinary bladder can store over forty percent of the tortoises body weight in water, urea, uric acid and nitrogenous wastes.

Yertle giving a ride

Grasses form the bulk of its diet, but it also eats herbs, annual wildflowers, some shrubs, and new growth of cacti, as well as their fruit and flowers.

Desert Tortoise in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona

The most significant threats to tortoises include urbanization, habitat destruction and fragmentation, illegal collection and vandalism by humans, and competition with cattle for forage plants.

Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants – Episode 318,
The Desert Tortoise: A Marvel of Creation,
Air date: July 29, 2007 (AW – 20070729)

During periods of adequate rainfall, they drink copiously from any pools they find, and eliminate solid urates.

Desert Tortoise Eating some vegetables

It is unlawful to touch, harm, harass or collect wild desert tortoises.