Death of a Desert Tortoise

In March, desert tortoises come out of their burrows after their winter brumation (reptile hibernation). We were looking forward to having our two tortoises come up, so we could spend a bit more time with them before we move and have to give them up.

Instead, our old tortoise, who we call Grandpa, came up in mid-February. And stayed up. He wouldn't go back down in the burrow.

In the picture above (taken last September), Grandpa is the big one on the left.

It was too early for Grandpa to be up, but we couldn't get him to go back down in the burrow. He didn't seem to have the tortoise virus again (no runny nose). So we asked for advice and were told to put him in a box in the garage for a few weeks. We did so, but on warm days we let him sit in the pen. He didn't want water or food, which is normal for a still-brumating tortoise. He seemed very out of it, but I put that down to his not quite woken up state.

Sunday evening I went out to get him, to put him in his box in the garage for the night, and he was dead.

The odd thing was that at first I couldn't tell for sure. There's so little difference between a live tortoise and a dead tortoise. What told me he was dead were three things:
1. He was lying in the middle of the pen with his legs sticking out. Not a normal tortoise position, especially since the sun was going down.
2. When I picked him up, he did not pull his legs in. When I touched them, they were stiff.
3. His eyes were weird. Sunken.


I carried him inside and called for Rocket Boy. We put him back in his box and rushed down the street to ask our very knowledgeable neighbor what to do, but he was out of town. He emailed me when he got home. I was struck by a line in his message: "X tells me that your tortoise may have died." It's really so hard to tell.

We wondered whether the tortoise might need an autopsy, but no. Lots of CTTC members have had tortoises die this year, mainly because so many tortoises are sick when they're turned in to the club. And this particular tortoise was known to be very old and to have had the tortoise virus several times. His death was probably due to organ failure and he had probably been dying for a while. All we could do was bury him. So we chose a spot in a corner of the yard, and tonight Rocket Boy and I dug a grave.

I didn't want to put him in a box. Desert tortoises spend much of their lives underground, in their burrows, and it seemed fitting that he should go back to the earth. So we just set him in the grave. I hope this photo doesn't offend anyone.

I said a few words and then we covered the body with dirt. I hope he can stay there for a long time. No one's likely to dig up this yard any time soon. Maybe the ants will find him and all that will be left will be the shell.