The desert tortoise is an endangered species in California, so you are
not supposed to take them as pets, but if they wonder onto your property
or dig under the fence to find shade and food, or make a home burrowing
under the yard, you aren't allowed to move them, unless you call in a
special wildlife biologist to assist. It's quite a tricky endeavor.
However, sometimes you can make them feel more at home and they make
nice pets. Still, you might not wish to get too attached, eventually
they decide to leave, and often don't return for a while, sometimes
never .There is quite a bit of difference between
the males and females, and you can easily tell the difference. Males
have an indentation underneath to which matches the shape of the shell
of the females for mating, since the male mounts the female in this
process. That's the easiest way to tell. If you see a desert tortoise,
you might see a small sensor epoxied to the shell, don't worry it's a
wildlife tracking device to help biologists learn more and protect the
species habitat.
Wildlife field biologists remind us to always
check under our car tires and cars if we are in their domain because
they often seek shelter from the hot summer sun in the shade underneath.
If you see a desert tortoise do not pick it up and move very slowly as
not to upset it. If you do scare it or pick it up it might discharge its
bladder where it stores water, this is very bad. If that happens it
might be better of you lay it in some water to let it soak back into its
system. And if you pick one up because it is on the road way, always
put it back down facing the same direction, otherwise it becomes
disoriented as to its direction of travel.
How would you like to
learn more about having a tortoise as a pet? If so, let me recommend a
very good book for you, it is available in digital or paper versions,
the name of the book is:
"Sulcata and Leopard Tortoises - Complete
Herp Care," by EJ Pirog, TFH Publishing, Neptune City, NJ, 2008, 128
pages, (Digital eBook Version) ASIN: B005KKODD4, ISBN:
978-0-7238-2898-2.
In this work you can learn about many of the
African Tortoise species and the size of the egg laying "clutches" and
how many eggs they lay along with their habit needs, mating season,
incubation time for the eggs, and what type of predators try to get
those eggs. Knowing what they eat is very important too. Most arid
region tortoises are similar in nature, and be sure not to call them
turtles, they are different you see. Please consider all this and think
on it
Lance Winslow is the Founder of the Online Think Tank, a diverse
group of achievers, experts, innovators, entrepreneurs, thinkers,
futurists, academics, dreamers, leaders, and general all around brilliant minds. Lance Winslow hopes you've enjoyed today's discussion and topic.
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