The desert tortoise is commonly found in the Mojave, Colorado and Sonoran deserts of California, southern Nevada, Arizona, southwestern Utah, and Mexico. Wherever they live, they need to have adequate annual or perennial plants to graze on during the months that they're not hibernating in their self-constructed burrows.
In the Mojave and Colorado deserts, tortoises are found in several habitats, including those containing Joshua trees and Mojave yucca or cresote and saltbush scrub. They aren't too discriminating about the land in which they dig their burrows, living in sandy dunes, on rocky hillsides or in washes. While these tortoises live in a variety of habitats in the Mojave and Colorado deserts, the Desert Tortoise Preserve Committee notes that the same species is found primarily on steep slopes in Arizona's Sonoran Desert. These rocky habitats include granite or volcanic boulders. The palo verde-saguaro cactus is their most frequently occupied habitat.
A desert tortoise's diet depends largely where it lives and when it's eating. Nevertheless, their choice of foodstuffs in what many humans would consider a rather hostile environment is quite selective. Generally speaking, the committee's Kristin H. Berry writes, tortoises graze on herbaceous perennials, annual wildflowers, annual and perennial grasses and parts of some cactus species. If they have an ample supply of water, they will also consume plants after their flowering is over. They don't munch on desert shrubs such as the creosote.
Since water is in limited supply in the desert, this tortoise species is able to store water in its bladder for reabsorption later. Tortoises drink water from where it collects naturally in the desert environment, primarily in rocky pools or depressions. The slow-moving landlubbers will also dig holes of their own to collect the drops that fall during the seasonal rains. As they drink the water, the Desert Tortoise Preserve Committee explains, they "freshen" the water stored in their bladder.
Some people keep desert tortoises as pets. Those captive tortoises can graze on--or be fed--greenery such as native grasses, wildflowers, weeds, grape leaves and mallows. Rose petals and hibiscus flowers are ideal treats. Those without room to grow native greens can supplement the tortoise diet with dark-green leafy vegetables, squashes, ground rabbit pellets or hay.
