breeding

susanne

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Hi! I'm new to this forum.. so happy to have tortoise peeps to chat with. I have a gorgeous 14 year old female cali desert tortoise.
I want to adopt a male so they can mate - but the Calif Tortoise society is against captive breeding - anyone know why?
 

KarenSoCal

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Hello, and welcome to TFO!

They are more than just against breeding...it is illegal to purposely breed CDT's in CA, and I think also in AZ and NV.

The reason given is that any CDT that has been in captivity can no longer ever be released into the wild. The fear is that captive torts will carry pathogens into the wild population, infecting, and eventually devastating those wild torts. CDT's are endangered in all 3 states in which they are found, so a rampant disease is a very real concern.

However, some of us really disagree with this restriction. We would like to see responsible breeding programs with the purpose of releasing well started juveniles into their native ranges. That makes perfect sense to us, but those in Sacramento ....well, nothing comes out of there that makes sense.
 

Yvonne G

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As Karen said, it's against the law. If you are caught, the fine is in the thousands.
 

Tom

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Hi! I'm new to this forum.. so happy to have tortoise peeps to chat with. I have a gorgeous 14 year old female cali desert tortoise.
I want to adopt a male so they can mate - but the Calif Tortoise society is against captive breeding - anyone know why?
The short answer is because they are animal rightist morons that abuse the governmental powers that WE have given them.

It makes no sense: This animal is going extinct. NO ONE can intentionally breed any of the thousands of them in captivity and make more!!!

I can COMPLETELY understand the reasons for making them illegal to sell, though I don't agree with this policy for many reasons, and I can completely understand the reason for the average pet keeper NEVER releasing captive animals back into the wild. But not "allowing" them to be bred in captivity is stupid, short sighted, bad for "the people" and bad for the species. Yet another case of government wildlife policy being detrimental to the people and the species in question.

All of my personal feelings on the matter aside, breeding them is currently illegal, and we cannot condone or recommend illegal activities on a public forum. I think it would be great for you to rescue more DTs and house them separately. We cannot condone any illegal activity, so we have to tell you to be careful to not let any accidental breeding happen. If accidental breeding does happen, you are not supposed to interfere with the eggs in any way. If babies hatch out of the ground all on their own, you are then allowed to care for them and either raise them or give them away for free to adoptive homes.

Here is the most current and correct care info for the species. In this thread are pictures and description of a double door night house that will allow you to house them separately but still share the same shelter.

It would not be right to tell you how to incubate and start hatchlings of this species, but if you ever become interested in breeding other species that ARE legal to breed, here is some general info outlining what to do:
 
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