Desert Tortoise

_{Photograph by Utah Division of Wildlife Resources}

Utah’s desert tortoise will grow to be six inches tall, but should they ever choose to show off their full height, the mature adult – standing proudly, head held high – could reach two feet were it ever to arise on its back legs.

They don’t, so six inches is about as lanky as they get hauling their high-domed shell. But they’ll weigh 15 pounds or more, with huge, clawed front legs for digging and longer elephantine back legs for locomotion.

With their skill at burrowing, they can elude and endure temperatures up to 140 degrees. Such underground engineering feats, in the wild, they’re known to share with fellow tortoises and other species, even birds, seeking to beat the heat of the Utah summer.

They can be quite vocal, have been known to almost sprint at the sight of a strawberry, and predate humans, having lived on the earth for 15 to 20 million years.

And they make great pets. Which is something the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources points out once or twice a year in reminding the public of the existence and ongoing success of the Utah Desert Tortoise Adoption Program. They’ll eat the weeds in your yard, are low maintenance as long as they have shade and food, plus they hibernate five – even six – months of the year.

But they might just outlive you. They can reach a lusty age of 80, even 100 years old, especially in captivity.

Captivity in their case can be something of a variable. “They’re escape artists,” said Alyssa Hoekstra, the DWR’s state herpetologist, one of the administrators of the adoption program.

The division typically has up to 20 available for adoption, she said. They become available after people take them from the wild, which is illegal, or they’re found ailing or injured. And then there is the aforementioned longevity issue, as their owners “expire.” “That’s another reason they recirculate through our program,” Hoekstra said.

“My kids know he’s going to outlive me,” said Crystal Ross of Kaysville, who with husband Chris adopted Shelldon from the DWR seven years ago.

Ages 6 and 10, their two children have grown up with Shelldon, now 13 years old.

“He is just the coolest,” Crystal said. “An absolute delight. It’s like having a pet dinosaur.”

And he’s very popular – always a celebrity of show-and-tell at school and take-your-tortoise-to-work day. “He’s the superstar of the cul-de-sac,” she said. “The neighbors’ kids bring him dandelions all the time.”

Her children are attuned to the finer points of herpetology. “My kids will get a little snobby when someone calls him a turtle. They’ll explain tortoises live on land; turtles live in water.”

Dandelions are Shelldon’s major staple with the backyard allowed to grow a little unkempt, untrimmed, with weed duty left to the voracious Shelldon.

The local homeowners’ association regulations mean the Rosses have to patrol the dandelions in the front yard and not wait for Shelldon. “First he eats the flower, then the leaves and the rest of it,” Crystal said.”

His favorite snack by far is strawberries. “When we show him a strawberry, he comes running. Or what passes for running for a tortoise,” she said.

_{Photograph by Utah Division of Wildlife Resources}

Utah shares one of the largest desert tortoise habitats in the country, officials say. Their stronghold range of Washington County in Utah’s southwest corner (plus the southern tips of Nevada and California, and northwest Arizona) holds roughly 2,000 of the scaly bulldogs. But they’re not contiguous, instead spread out over the four states, including California’s Mohave Desert.

The adoption process is involved, with fees, permits and inspections. The DWR has a 47-page booklet, a desert tortoise owner’s manual of sorts.

The program includes the issuance of something new to solve the runaway problem: a PIT tag (passive integrative transponder), which can be scanned for the tortoise owner’s info. It’s much like a microchip for a cat or dog, except instead of implanted in the body, it’s epoxied to the shell.

“If we don’t know where they came from, or they’ve been around humans too long, we can’t risk returning them to their native habitat because of the possibility of disease,” Hoekstra said, “especially respiratory ailments they are susceptible to.” For the same reason, she said, a zoo is often not an option.

The Utah Desert Tortoise Adoption Program began in the 1990s, after the tortoises were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. They are also covered by state law as protected wildlife, the same as the California condor and June sucker.

To inquire about adopting a desert tortoise, prospective candidates can email tortoise@utah.gov to be placed on the waitlist.

An adoption application carries a $10 fee. A safe outdoor and indoor environment is required following the DWR guidelines, which must be escape-proof and pass inspection. Approval for adoption results in a Certificate of Registration with a $75 fee.

Shelldon’s Long Nap

_{Photograph by Crystal Ross}

Shelldon, hibernating since last fall in the Ross basement, began scratching at the inside of his box at the end of April. Coming out after the long winter’s nap can take a few weeks.

“He went to sleep in October,” said Crystal Ross. “He’s awake for the year now, eating and drinking again by mid-May.” They need nothing in the suspended state, no food or water, but she worries. And can’t help but check in, as she usually wakes him up briefly around December. “In case he needs a drink. I’ll touch his leg and he’ll retract it. And hiss. So I know he’s all right.”

Other than that, nothing really perturbs him, she said. “He’ll show what I think of as affection.

“He’ll rest his head on your foot. But if I have my toenails painted red, he’ll try to bite them, thinking they’re strawberries.”

After they give Shelldon an occasional “soak” per DWR guidelines – setting him in water where he’ll briefly submerge and drink heavily to replenish – he’ll linger on laps.

Usually always on the move, “he’ll sit still as we towel him off, let us snuggle him,” Ross said.

“Just like my six-year-old.”

Tortoise Trivia

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, even the U.S. Geologic Survey, offer a plethora of desert tortoise trivia:

They have been clocked at an average speed of 0.2 mph.
Each desert tortoise in the wild uses about 5 to 25 burrows per year.
They can be quite vocal, chatty even, with a vocabulary consisting of “hisses, grunts, pops, whoops, huhs, echs, bips, etc.”
In the wild, up to 20 or more of the creatures will share a burrow.
They’ll frequent the same summer and winter burrow sites for years, typically spending their entire life within a few miles of their birthplace.
They have been known to scrape a depression in the ground when it rains to collect the water for a sip.
The desert tortoise is the designated state reptile of Nevada and California. Utah chose the gila monster.
The collective noun for a tortoise includes a bale, turn, creep, nest or dole.