What should i do for my desert tortoise?

Question

Okay, two years ago, I sneaked a desert tortoise from Mexico—His name is TACO and his doing great. BUT, I live in California so, its illegal to have a desert tortoise as a pet. I heard that you can get a license to own a desert tortoise. How do I do that? And should I tell them that I already have a tortoise? Would they take him away? Please, I need help I really feel like I should do more then feeding it and giving him a warm shelter and looking after him. I want to take him to a vet. So, they can check him out...but I’m scared that they might take him away from me...

Heres a link of a pic of him.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c30/ReynaZavala/Taco.jpg

Answer 1

Try http://www.tortoise.org for ideas- they can help with care, local laws, etc. since they are based in California and focus on the desert tortoises.

Answer 2

It's not illegal to have a desert tortoise as a pet, it's illegal to take tortoises from the wild. Many people have desert tortoises including me that have been obtained legally. If you wanted one you should have contacted an adoption group, not take one from the wild. Once they are taken from the wild they cannot be put back. Your tortoise deserves the best care you can give it. There are alot of good websites that talk about diet, housing and care. If he gets sick, take him to the vet. This is a long commitment, they live for a very long time. I hope you won't take anymore from their natural habitat

Answer 3

Cute little guy!
But in the future, please please do not take animals from the wild. There are reasons, big reasons, that it is illegal to smuggle animals and to posess certain animals.

Anyway, they probably won't take him away. Unless you have a smuggle ring, or a huge amount of big, dangerous and illegal animals, the police don't have probably cause to search your house. For the most part, animal-law enforcers are out there to crack down on the real criminals, not the little person who has owned a smuggled torty for a couple years. I wouldn't worry about it, nor would I tell everyone him, either. You could probably walk up to a cop and say 'I have a smuggled desert torty' and he wouldn't care, but it might fall on the ears of some tortoise-nazi :) So keep it to yourself, take good care of your torty and you should be fine.

If ever something did happen and you were 'caught', they would not return the torty to the wild - it is illegal to reintegrate them into their natural habitat. However, depending on the circumstances, they may give the tort to a rescue centre.

I don't live in your state so am not well-versed in the laws of your area. However, please read the link below, it should provide some decent info and guidelines about obtaining a license. These torties do get smuggled in on a regular basis, and they used to even more so, so there are many out and about, and because they can live 60+ years, a lot of them can end up in rescues. Inquire there about how to obtain a license.
http://www.gf.state.az.us/pdfs/w_c/tortoise/DTPacket%20Complete.pdf

Answer 4

I had a desert tortoise in Cal. years ago. Fish and game will not take the tortoise from you for return to the wild because they fear respiratory ailments affecting wild tortoises. What they do is give you a numbered sticker that you attach to the caprice thereby legalizing the possession. You will have to give them a plausible story how you came to possess the tortoise. Good luck.