YARD PREPARATION


Figure 19. Aboveground burrow. (left) front view of completed structure shows
opening. (right) Rear view shows one foot of soil covering structure for adequate insulation

BURROW PROBLEMS

Check Inside the Burrow

To see inside the burrow during the day, use a mirror to reflect sunlight into the burrow. At night, use a flashlight.

Damp Burrow

Damp or caked soil on your tortoise indicates a damp burrow. Check for flooding during heavy rains, summer and winter. If the burrow is flooded or muddy, remove the tortoise and expose the interior of the burrow to dry, winter or summer.

If the tortoise has dug beyond the plywood roof, the soil may have become saturated with rain and collapsed of its own weight covering, trapping, and smothering the tortoise. Make sure you can see the tortoise.

If you can't see the tortoise, call us to locate your tortoise with the Snooper, our Burrow Probe video camera that uses infrared light.

Flooding

If flooding occurs in winter the tortoise, being asleep, may drown. If the burrow floods or collapses in winter, see Substitutes for an outdoor burrow under Hibernation, Page 26.

Rarely is flooding caused by water running into the burrow opening but rather from rain-saturated soil around the burrow draining into the space occupied by the tortoise.

If flooding occurs when the days are hot, make sure there is a cool place for the tortoise during the heat of the day until the burrow is dry or you build another.

The Mojave Tortoise has been here
over 2,000,000 years,
originally living in moist woodland.
The Mojave Desert did not form
until about 4,500 years ago.

PROVIDE WATER

How Tortoises Drink

You never know when a tortoise needs a drink, so keep fresh water in a shallow, shaded dish at all times. A tortoise drinks by immersing its mouth and nose and swallowing repeatedly for as long as 15 minutes. Don’t be alarmed.

Tortoises often urinate during or after drinking or eating. Along with watery urine, they may pass a white-to-lavender sub­stance. See Figure 20. It may look gritty or like curdled milk. This is normal. Flush the urine from the water dish immediately. If on grass, hose it well into the lawn.


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