Surplus of tame tortoises an Arizona wildlife crisis

tortdad

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Now I am concerned.. is 2 acres enough?
Yes that's plenty. Are you setting up 4 different pens for them or are you housing them together. Just curious is all. Do you know how small they are? Will you need to set up an indoor one for them in the winter until they're big enough?


0.0.1 Redfoot (Spike)
0.0.1 Cherryhead Redfoot (Bruce Wayne)
1.0 Sulcata (Hal Jordan)
 

ascott

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Yes. Have two acres.

Awesome....oh yeah, plenty....sometimes folks have a back yard type situation and suddenly realize when the torts are required to be set up in their own space that they don't have ample room is all......:D
 

TigsMom

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Great to see they've loosened up their adoption rules at least a little bit! If you already had a Desert Tortoise in your care, you could not adopt another regardless if they were the same sex and had a separate enclosure. And really nice to see that they are adopting more than 1 out to those that have the space and know how to properly care for them. Very best wishes for huge successes littleginsu! Yep, there I go wishing I had a ranch again. LOL If I had acreage it would be filled with tort enclosures. And a huge barn for hubby to hide in and have all his joy's parked in toom that way both our dreams would be fullfilled.
 

littleginsu

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They had some baby babies and I was scared to take those. My next option was some juveniles. I would have taken 3 but only two were about the same size. So, I only got 2 but going to stay in touch to see if they have any more at a different location.
 

TigsMom

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Please post pics and progress as you can! I'm very excited for you and your new adoptions!
 

tglazie

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They should allow Texans to adopt them. In point of fact, Texas should loosen the insane laws in this state so that more folks can keep and maintain Texas tortoises, but that isn't going to happen. I've already resigned myself to the fact that I will probably never keep one of these awesome tortoises. Not that I'm complaining. My margies keep me busy enough.

T.G.
 

tglazie

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But still, the law doesn't make sense. This crisis, I'm sad to say, is a self inflicted one.

T.G.
 

ascott

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This crisis, I'm sad to say, is a self inflicted one.

You are sadly misinformed on this statement...people all too often adopt "for now" and not "forever"--people change their life situations and readily discard torts all to frequently, with the statement "oh life is changing for me" instead of orchestrating their life to revolve around the responsibility that they take on with various aspects of life....they will release torts that have been captive and this can and does result in damage to the wild populations.....I hope that Texas does not ever allow adoptions to the run of the mill collectors....
 

AZTorts

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hibiscus.JPG
Here they are soaking! Mojave (top), Sahara (bottom).

View attachment 95545

They're beautiful! Their shells are so nice and smooth unlike my babies were when I got them. Well I guess mine will always be lumpy but hopefully they won't get worse since I've been soaking and misting them and they've been getting sunlight and a variety of food with water always available. All things they apparently didn't have for their first 9 months of life. :(
 

Abdulla6169

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View attachment 95613

They're beautiful! Their shells are so nice and smooth unlike my babies were when I got them. Well I guess mine will always be lumpy but hopefully they won't get worse since I've been soaking and misting them and they've been getting sunlight and a variety of food with water always available. All things they apparently didn't have for their first 9 months of life. :(
Your torts are beautiful. Trust me, they sparkle :)
 

littleginsu

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AZTorts, mine are a bit older I believe.. but your baby is adorable!!! One of mine has indented scutes, hopefully that isn't a sign of illness.
 

AZTorts

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AZTorts, mine are a bit older I believe.. but your baby is adorable!!! One of mine has indented scutes, hopefully that isn't a sign of illness.

Thank you! Mine turned a year old this month. The biggest of the 4 isn't even 3" long yet. I don't know how big they should be at this age.
 

Jacqui

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Im from the u.k but from an outside perspective perhaps they are worried about them being released in other states?

I really do not think is in their reasoning at all.
 

Abdulla6169

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I really do not think is in their reasoning at all.
I *think* its because they want to have a better perspective of how many are in each state. Still illogical, since with organized records they can still have perfect records... Am I right?
 
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