I am thinking primarily of the Desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizzii). I do not have much experience with other members of that genus but I suspect that with few exceptions they are vegetarian and I believe that the big island forms as well as others like african spur thighed are obligate vegetarians which is to say that little or no animal matter is eaten.

We did witness many Mojave desert tortoises eating sphinx moth catapillars one spring when because of heavy winter rains there was an explosion of these guys with densities of 5-10 larvae per square meter! For several weeks almost all the tortoise we encountered on our study had staining on their beaks from eating catapillars!

Two years ago I got my first redfoots and I was really amazed to see them activiely seek live animal prey. It was funny because at first I noticed one of the males was always nibbling on a partially crushed deer skull. I figured he was trying to up his calcium and after doing some research discovered that they eat carrion as well as live animal matter in the wild.

They came to me via petsmart. It seems that they had developed some fungal lesions on their plastons that had since been treated and healed but the store owner did not feel comfortable selling them and gave them to me. I was keeping them as I did other tortoises in the collection for 3/4 of a year and finally did the wise thing and studied up on the species.

They have MCL lengths of about 6 inches, very red faces and limb scutes, and have just begun to show the marbling in the carapace. I guess this makes them Brazilian, right?

Neat tortoises for sure. I have seen this species several times in the wild and we even talked some village folks into giving us their captives (headed for the cook pot) which we released back to the forest down river. I guess maybe it was good charma and I ended up with the three little rescues that reside in the back yard!

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