I help a couple with their two adult desert tortoises. They have 8 cats and they couldn't be bothered with the tortoises. I certainly would not allow my cats near my juveniles and might never let them around adults unsupervised. Seems like it's just easier to avoid needing to treat a tortoise...
Tom lives in the Central Valley, we get colder winters than SoCal. While The Fresno area is not what you think of when you hear SoCal, it is technically considered such when you draw a line through the states center. Near Fresno we get this weird lead up to winter where it's 45-55 at night but...
I have 3, 2 year old desert tortoises. I've been following the guides here and slowly cooling them down. When I saw their appetites really taper off a few weeks ago I removed food, kept heat, and started trying to clear their guts with daily soaking. I removed heat about a week ago, my garage is...
Well if it's any help I've seen an 82 year old out on a multi night trip before! I don't even blink twice when I see people in their 70's up there.
I'd say we are closer to lightweight than ultralight. We just don't have the money for truly ultralight gear right now. I also bring luxuries like...
While animal keeping is one of my great loves, so is backpacking. The High Sierra in Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks has a very special place in my heart. They're not only in my backyard (I live east of Fresno), but backpacking in these mountains has been in my family for a long time...
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Awesome! For the winter I'm going to keep them in the garage, Fresno CA has temp ranges that allow for that. I'll be using the winter time to build their new enclosure. I'd love to keep them up as it gives me more peace of mind, but given that I can't properly keep them indoors this winter I...
Well that works perfect. I plan on building my own enclosure now out of PVC and following some of the models I've found on here. At what age do the desert tortoises no longer need a vivarium? I'm trying to plan long term for moving them outside permanently.
Oh awesome, I'm just going to make a single enclosure then and copy that design. Helps so much on space.
How does having three in one enclosure work but two doesn't? I'm guessing any aggression gets spread around. I've noticed two instances of aggression with these guys in two years, but as...
Thanks for the replies! I appreciate the info about hibernation.
I guess my main question is if there is a way to heat an enclosure while keeping it low profile. I'd like to make a large shelf with 3 enclosures, 1 for each, but I don't want it to be massive. Are there any low profile bulbs you...
I’ve been raising these three torts I got from an old couple that are friends with my parents who didn’t know you should not house DT’s together. I’ve since helped them create a barrier to split their enclosure, but I ended up with three hatchlings because they couldn’t handle taking care of...