The Texas Tortoise is considered one of the smallest out 4 Native Tortoises. Since the Texas Tortoise is a cold blooded animal they hibernate until their is a warm spell in the air that allows the tortoise to come out in venture around. The Texas Tortoise is unique compared to other tortoise's because they make pallets in the ground that are usually next to a cactus or scrub. Since this is where the plants is where they get their water source from they tend to pallet down until it warms down.

Since male tortoise are very territorial the males tend to battle until one dies. If one of the males gets the other one flipped over and on it's back then the tortoise flipped on it's back can die from over heating and getting hyperthermia.

The way you can tell if a tortoise is a male or not is by looking to see which tortoise is bigger. Also the male will have a concave plastron found on the lower shell that is easier for the male during mating season whereas the female is just flat. Females lay their eggs during April to September. It takes a tortoise up to 3 to 5 years until finally maturing.


Reference:
http://www.gctts.org/node/45

Texas Tortoise

The Texas Tortoise is native to Texas in found in the South- Central part of the state and extends south into Mexico. Even though the Texas Tortoise is considered a low threat according to the IUCN Red List, the state of Texas considers the Texas Tortoise of being threatened and unharmed. The Texas Tortoise has unique yellowish-orange feet and yellowish-orange cylinder plates on its shell. His distinct coloring identifies his unique characters as a Texas Tortoise. Over the life span of the tortoise's life it is accepted to grow 1 1/2 inches wide and normally grow 8 1/2 inches in length. Just like all other Tortoise the Texas Tortoise likes to hang around on land where the grassland is dry. The Texas Tortoise is known of eating meat and fruits such as prickly pears. The Texas Tortoise also likes to eat off the Succulent plant where they can get there source of water from. Since the tortoise is an animal its Kingdom is under found under Animalia. Animalia is where all of the animals are classified under the same kingdom. For example, Lions, Mice, Turtles, and Dogs are all classified under Animalia kingdom. The Phylum for the Texas Tortoise is falls under Chordata because the Tortoise has a vertebrate. Animals that have vertebrates mean that they all have a backbone. The tortoise Class would fall under Reptila because the Tortoise is a reptile. The Order that the tortoise falls under is called Testudines which means that the animal's body is mostly shelled that shields the body in use for protection. The Family that the tortoise falls under is called Testudinidae which means that they are land-dwelling reptile that has both an endoskelton and exoskelton. This Taxonomy makes up the Texas Tortoise. The Texas Tortoise scientific name of the is Gopherus berlandieri. Even though the tortoise lifespan is unknown they can reproduce anywhere from 15 to 60 years.