Ok thank you for confirming! Im glad this is not something to worry about. Spiders often like his house and i was worried this was a bite or something. I guess he's just got his summer mojo going.
Ok..if we're talking blocked on infected gland, is there anything I can do for him or is this a vet appt. situation? We've only had him 2 yrs and haven't had to field this before. Can probably get an appointment with my reptile vet this week if he needs it.
Noticed these growths on my male desert tortoise's jaw today. Symmetrically placed, though one is larger than the other. Where the skin is bulging the scales are parted away. Not sure how long they've been there exactly because we open his house and leave straight for work, and he often puts...
Noticed today that Bobo has a light spot on his lower beak. At first we thought it was a light colored piece of food left from a meal, but upon closer inspection it seems like his skin is missing here and we might be looking at exposed flesh or bone. It does not appear that it is painful for him...
Mine did very well! He emerged on Easter and started eating right away, as if the last few months were just a 10 minute nap. He's already back to his regular routine.
Interesting about the pumpkin. I offer squash leaves and zucchini, but haven't tried regular pumpkin yet. He definitely has access to all the weeds and grass he wants, we've just noticed he doesn't really want as much as he did this summer (when he would just destroy entire branches of...
We adopted our 30yr old CA desert tortoise in May, so his first hibernation with us is coming up. He's 30-something years old, so one might argue HE knows what he's doing, but I just want to make sure everything is a go.
He have noted that as the weather is getting cooler, he is slower to come...
I am also curious about the main topic posted here. I am in Los Angeles and recently adopted my CA desert tortoise through a rescue. This will be my first winter with him. I can tell he's slowing down, but want to make sure he's got enough meat on him to sustain himself during hibernation...
Sound advice, I hear ya. Btw...when I say he gets "a strawberry" I mean he gets the top with just a tiny bit of fruit after I've eaten the main berry--not the whole dang thing.
Fortunately he does get lots of healthy grazing in throughout the week. Grass, weeds, baby tears, squash leaves and...
I second the suggestion to use a towel or ground cover to disperse the heat of the hand warmers. Not only will it give you more coverage, but those things can get HOT to the point where it could burn a little guy (like those plug in heat rocks everyone used to use for reptiles that are now...
I've read a number of different things here and elsewhere on the internet regarding whether tomatoes and tomato plants are ok for tortoises. So, for gopherus specifically, what's the real deal?
Are tomato plant leaves ok --yes or no?
Is the fruit itself ok--yes or no?
I have a large plant...
To be clear, I am NOT interested in trying to do this or seeking to do this.
I ask because as soon as I announced having adopted a male gopherus, a guy I know through work connections posted on my Facebook saying his family has a female "if i ever wanted to breed them". I kinda wanted to slap...
Last month I made my first intro post as I prepared to welcome our first tortoise, a CA desert tortoise adopted through the CTTC and the state.
Well, he's here and did wonderfully his first week in his new yard. No digging, finding his way into his enclosure all by himself at night, and...
Still preparing to receive our adopted adult desert tortoise from the tortoise club. I have versed myself in WHAT they can/ should eat, but nobody has ever really told me HOW MUCH one should eat in a day.
Our back yard has already been visited and approved. It is not huge and the lawn is...
I have read other posts here saying that corn can make a nice occasional treat for tortoises. More specifically, I was wondering if the husk from corn on the cob would have any appeal/ nutritional value for a CA desert tortoise. Certainly seems very fibrous, and the fresh stuff is still green...
Thanks for the response. Interesting! I had been told they were sensitive to vibrations but didn't realize that could be in place of most sound altogether. I guess I'll have to do some tests in person.
Ha! I'm interested to see how food motivated he is. Dogs and cats seem very food motivated, but the way people talk about their tortoises makes the worst beggar of a dog seem like an amateur!
New expecting tortoise parent here (we are adopting a CA desert tortoise from the state and he arrives this weekend).
Is there solid evidence that tortoises recognize/ respond to the name they've been given? I would think it would make sense from an evolutionary standpoint for creatures with...