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Hi
I rescued this Texas Tortoise on the job site that was going to be killed by a dozer. I decided to take the tortoise home. I have a little problem with the tortoise, my children have attatched to it as pet. She is very well taken care of. She has a good diet and is healthy. I know that they are illigal to keep as pets. What can I do to keep the tortoise legally? Thanks for your time.
We asked out Herp Dept head and this was his answer:
The keeping of Texas tortoises has long been a problem for the TPWD. The general rule of thumb is that although they are illegal to collect and keep, if you have one to just go ahead and keep it, and not try to sell or give it away. Because there is a chance of them picking up an exotic disease in captivity, TPWD does not want them released back into the wild. There are also currently no rehabilitation facilities to keep confiscated tortoises. My recommendation is to just keep the animal and not to collect any more. If any are found on a job site, contact the local TPWD game warden and let them relocate the animal.
Hi
I rescued this Texas Tortoise on the job site that was going to be killed by a dozer. I decided to take the tortoise home. I have a little problem with the tortoise, my children have attatched to it as pet. She is very well taken care of. She has a good diet and is healthy. I know that they are illigal to keep as pets. What can I do to keep the tortoise legally? Thanks for your time.
Hi Juan,
We’re checking on this.
Hi flying1man,
We asked out Herp Dept head and this was his answer:
The keeping of Texas tortoises has long been a problem for the TPWD. The general rule of thumb is that although they are illegal to collect and keep, if you have one to just go ahead and keep it, and not try to sell or give it away. Because there is a chance of them picking up an exotic disease in captivity, TPWD does not want them released back into the wild. There are also currently no rehabilitation facilities to keep confiscated tortoises. My recommendation is to just keep the animal and not to collect any more. If any are found on a job site, contact the local TPWD game warden and let them relocate the animal.
Hope that helps!