Shelby our pet tortoise taking a little walk.

Desert tortoises can grow from 4–6 inches in height and weigh 8–15 lb 4–7 kg when fully grown.

Thank you to:

Mike and Phil of NAFHA

North
American
Field
Herping
Association

“Patches” is an Argentinian Red Tagu

Male tortoises have a longer gular horn than females, their plastron lower shell is concave compared to female totoises.

Mike the Rottweiler, Jack the Desert Tortoise, and Kitty the cat. Mike died on September 26, 2006. Everyone loved this dog, animals included.

There, it is also protected from freezing winter weather while dormant, from November through February or March.

Treppie, a 14 year old captive-bred California desert tortoise, grazes outside for the first time this year. Here, he samples various plants, checks to see if the embedded rock in the patio substrate is edible this year (despite its not having been edible for the past 13 years), checks out the camera, and wanders over to a patch of young clover.

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.

desert tortoise laying egg

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.

My new Desert Tortoise.

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

Tortoise on the move

Gibson is a desert tortoise. He is celebrating his 60th birthday eating dandelions!

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

This is the Tortoise we found. This was May 26th, about 10:00 in the morning.

They prey on eggs, juveniles, which are 2-3 inches long with a thin, delicate shell, or in some cases adults.

Desert Tortoise eating corn on the cob.

As with birds, stones may also function as gastroliths, enabling more efficient digestion of plant material in the stomach.