As far as I know, they're only issued for rehabilitation and scientific purposes. I imagine it'd be very difficult to get one as an individual, as opposed to a rehabilitation/education business.
I was just thinking about this, but the other way around. We know that daylight/night is important to their health. I wonder if some of the other natural daily/seasonal changes also provide them a benefit. There's probably some benefit to stability in the hide for the burrowing variety...
Good job!
If you get a reply and end up discussing it further, another point to make is that gopher tortoises are important to many other animals (some of which are endangered themselves) that make use of the gopher tortoise's burrow. Here's one of many articles that mention so...
I wouldn't correlate the two. If you're willing and able to properly rescue, then you should rescue. If you're a responsible breeder and wish to properly breed, then you should breed. If you happen to fulfill both descriptions, then do both. The important part is that you do so properly.
Thanks for the tip. I moved their food and water towards the center and that definitely helped. There were only a few pieces of substrate in the water at the end of the day today.
After the smell dissipated I didn't mind the repti-bark as much. I haven't had it nearly long enough to...
I'm glad that so many of you have it thought out. I figured that you guys would have it all planned out, but wanted to raise awareness nonetheless.
I'm grateful that I got these tortoises, but I would have felt much better if I knew what I was in for from the start as opposed to scrambling...
Kristina - Sorry, I should have had someone else take the picture. I was more focused on holding them securely than lining up the camera.
Danny - Thanks. In that case, I won't have to research the legalities of their offspring.
I ask because I ended up scrambling to learn how to raise two tortoises after their owner died. The guy who ended up with the tortoises didn't really know about proper care (though I fully admit I didn't either when I took them, but I knew I could do better and was willing to spend the time...
Smaller, (very slight) concavity of the plastron, and sharp V makes me think male:
Larger, flat plastron, and less sharp V makes me think female:
Anyone agree/disagree? I don't think the suspected male had a more pointy tail, but it's a little tough to tell.
Thanks. We've gotten attached to them pretty quickly. My favorite part is watching them eat.
I'm not going to go with the Repti Bark again. I saw some cypress mulch at Lowe's, but I wasn't sure if it was pure cypress or not. There was a thread somewhere where they found out that there...
It says it's 100% pure Fir bark. It's called Zoo-Med Repti Bark.
They're Gopherus. I rescued them after their original owner died. The thread on all of that (including their former enclosure) is here:
http://tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Animal-lover-in-need-of-help-and-advice-ASAP
Well they're...
I haven't put them in yet. I wanted it to let it air out, and I have to clear out the spot the table's going to sit, move their light, etc. I'll put up some more pictures with them inside once I have everything in place.
They're eating, but not as much as I thought they would and are a little...
After more reading and a closer plastron inspection, I'm pretty sure we had the sexes backwards, so we swapped names: Om is the male (brown, 7.5"x5"), Opal is the female (gray, 9"x6").
Found a local vet thanks to a recommendation from a forum member. I'm planning to make an appointment...