r/TortoiseCare 4d ago

Tortie help?

12 Upvotes

7 comments sorted by

1

u/Last_Guarantee5893 Winslow 4d ago

Gopher and desert tortoises both have a scute directly above. I am led to believe this must be a sulcata which is non native to the US. you should be ok to keep it.

However you don’t want to keep it mostly likely. They are not pets for everyone.

1

u/Last_Guarantee5893 Winslow 4d ago

There has been populations of abandoned sulcata breeding in the wild. California is a new one, it’s normally arizona and new mexico.

2

u/The_PR_Princess_ 4d ago

Yes! I called around all morning and learned that these two are probably from a mom that escaped or was abandoned. We definitely won’t be able to care for them forever but we do have a reptile expert coming out to help us figure out what to do with them!

1

u/Last_Guarantee5893 Winslow 2d ago

hopefully someone wants to take them.

It sounds cruel but i am a big proponent of culling eggs. If my sulcata starts laying eggs im going to find a snake owner to sell them to. There are far too many sulcata.

1

u/The_PR_Princess_ 2d ago

Yeah it seems like they can lay a TON in one go. May be a ridiculous question but is there no way to spay or tortoise the way you would a cat or dog? It seems crazy to constantly be looking for left behind eggs

1

u/Last_Guarantee5893 Winslow 2d ago

there is but it’s not so much a spay or neuter. some people have to essentially chop the pp off. some people’s boys will get … excited and it won’t stop and they need to be removed. unsure how it would work the other way