Desert Tortoise Puns

It's crawling toward you. You reach down and you flip the tortoise over on its back. The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over, but it can't. Not without your help. But you're not helping. Why is that?

Recently came into owning a hatchling desert tortoise, probably ~1-2 weeks old. Have not owned a tortoise since I was a young kid living with my parents, so I'm starting ownership knowledge from a clean slate. I feel like I have provided decently for it so far, but I have so many questions and so many self-doubts as to if I am taking the right steps.

1. I have given it a temporary home that I think is sufficient for the moment, but would like to give it the best possible enclosure. Currently, it is living in a 40" by 18" glass terrarium with a substrate of dirt and local grass with a makeshift den. I have two lights for UVB and Heat during the day, and a Nightbulb for the night-time. My concerns involving this setup are that I read glass terrariums are not a good idea as the tortoise might stress itself out trying to escape out of it. Would blocking its' vision of the outside room prevent that or is it not a pressing concern? Also, The lights that I have for its' enclosure are sitting roughly 12" above the floor and I am wondering if it would be receiving enough UVB/heat from the lamps or if they need to be lowered/the substrate raised higher?

2. I do not know how much this little guy is supposed to eat for its size. I did a bit of research and found I should be feeding it a diet of local plants (Tucson) and was able to feed it wild dandelion greens. I put a mix of different veggies and plants in the enclosure, along with a shallow water bath, and have seen it eat and drink so far, as well as move comfortably around both in and out of the enclosure. I am just wondering how much I should be expecting it to eat each day or if it should be mostly sleeping/hibernating in its' den due to the time of year/age?

3. My final concern/question is about interaction. I have taken it (unsure of sex) out of its' enclosure to let it roam or outside to let it roam in the sun and it seems to move well and generally be curious and happy. It seems to have a very expressive personality and so much life in its little eyes and It makes me happy to watch it, so I am wondering whether or not interaction with it at this young age is encouraged or if I should allow it to do its own thing in the enclosure?

Thanks in advance for any advice you all could give me!

https://imgur.com/a/eHxwqCb A video of the little one eating

This will be my first winter with my desert tortoise after adopting him last spring. He lives in an outdoor enclosure and has a burrow I built for him, though he does not seem to prefer to use it, so I have to put him in it myself every night. Day time temps here in Southern AZ are still in the 80s for the most part, but night time temps have dipped below 50 degrees a few times.

His activity is way down. He'll come out for maybe an hour a day to bask and then go hide under one of the bushes, where I will let him hang out until night fall when I move him into his burrow. I feel like he should be hibernating already, but like I said he makes an appearance everyday just about. I'm not too worried about It right now as I saw a wild box turtle last week who was still roaming so maybe temps are still too high?

I read up on how to prepare them for hibernation and stopped giving him supplemental feedings at the beginning of October (he has plants in his enclosure he can eat though I haven't been seeing him eat much) and have been offering water once a week. I'm just wondering what I should do here? Should I plan on hibernating him in a box in my garage? Should I let him call the shots and just keep moving him every night and see if he eventually just stops coming out?

I'm not really sure what's the best route. I figured he's the survival expert, but I don't want to neglect him at all either.

Thanks for any help!

Hello! My brother got me the Repti-Zoo THC-15 habitat controller, it's awesome! But it's not the most intuitive and the manual is a bit scarce on information.

Maybe you can help me: Can I plug my Horsfield's tortoise's night red heat lamp into the humidifier outlet since I don't need a humidifier? I suppose I'd unplug the hygrometer sensor to keep it on. I have an analog humidity sensor in the habitat to monitor humidity anyway.

Thanks!

Can't find any mention of it (good or bad) with regard to tortoises, so hoping to confirm that it is not dangerous. Thank you!

Y’all probably know about the captive desert tortoise overpopulation problem but did you know they can be spayed/neutered? They can perform the surgery at AZ Exotic Animal Hospital at Grant and Swan. Just spreading the word as I just learned about it when I took my torts to the vet today. ❤️🐢

Edit: Apparently my post is causing confusion. This post is intended to be informative for people who OWN or have ADOPTED CAPTIVE DESERT TORTOISES through AZ Department of Game and Fish, have inherited tortoises, or otherwise obtained a CAPTIVE DESERT TORTOISE. This does not apply to WILD ANIMALS. If you know, you know. If you’re confused you can Google all about it and maybe even adopt one of your own. There is an overpopulation problem similar to the cat/dog overpopulation problem.

Thank you and happy tortoising 🐢

https://i.imgur.com/CK2hncI.jpg

CLAIMED

We adopted a 10-20 year old desert tortoise from the state (Utah). I’ve had him inside for about the last 3 weeks, as the weather has gotten chilly. I have not given him food for about 2 weeks, and he really has showed little interest even when I did offer it.

I’ve been doing regular soakings and last week put him in a box in our underground cold storage. The temp has ranged from 57 to 64, and it doesn’t seem quite cold enough to put him into hibernation.

I brought him up today for another soaking. Afterward, he found the darkest corner of the bathroom and tucked himself in there for the rest of the day. That’s what’s he’s done basically the whole time. I moved him back down to the cold storage. I anticipate that it will get down to about 50 degrees for most of the winter when it gets colder. But in the meantime what should I be doing to make sure he doesn’t starve or get dehydrated? How long should I hibernate him in general?

I just unexpectedly inherited a desert tortoise. I live in the Mojave desert and have a huge escape proof yard for her but other than that, don’t have much else going for her. I want to give her a great life but don’t even know where to begin. Any and all help is greatly appreciated! Thank you

So, on our morning dog walk today, my fiancé & I walked past a desert tortoise just chilling on the sidewalk. He seemed in good health & spirits, and after withdrawing into his shell because the curious dogs made him nervous, he continued walking along. I was worried that someone might have dumped a pet tortoise and that he might have needed help, but my fiancé did some quick googling & discovered they do live in the wild in the desert southwest.

Anyway, long story longer, has anyone seen one of these guys out and about before? I ask because my fiancé’s mom seemed really surprised we saw one (and she’s been in the area 20 years).

PS: Sorry for no pics. For whatever reason, I was too wound up about the welfare of the tortoise at the time to think to take a photo..

I have 3, 2 year old desert tortoises and the previous two winters I've kept them up. They've been very slow during those periods but still semi active and will eat/drink/bask if I keep the temps up enough.

I've read you can start let them brumate after 2 -3 years. I just want to do what's in the best interest of my animals. I live in Fresno where it can get into the low 40's and 30's in winter yet be like 65-70 during the day.

Do you think at this age they are strong enough to go in a box in the garage for the winter? How long should I keep them in there? I've seen 3-4 weeks recommended but I feel like they wouldn't wake up after that short of a period based on how lethargic they have been the previous two winters while being kept awake.

They're all healthy and fed a proper diet w/supplements, live outside, plenty of water.

75lbs dessert Tortoise around Eubank and constitution area. Message me to put you into contact with the owner. Photo of Desert Tortoise

Update! The Tortoise has been found!