kanalomele said:Hello! Apologies for not posting myself earlier. I missed your thread before now. Quite often it will take awhile before someone with your species specific knowledge will catch a thread. You appear to have California Desert Tortoises. You may see them referred to as CDTs on here. They are generally an inland rather than coastal tortoise. I encourage you to do your very best to keep them very healthy as they are a species that is prone to respiratory trouble and can become quite fragile if they have a history of illness. There should be a basic set of care guidelines in the species specific pages. It is important for you to keep them warm in your coastal dampness. I also encourage you to NOT brumate them for a couple of years so that they can havd a good long time to adapt to your climate. I hope this is a help to you along your path to knowing more about your great species.
emysemys said:Welcome to the Forum, 65!
The tortoises should be fine if you keep them warm and hydrated.
emysemys said:Yes, I do. I have one male and five females who live outside year round, and I have two babies...well they're now about 5 years old, that live outside and winter inside. When the young ones are indoors, I keep them on moistened orchid bark. My "indoor" habitat is actually outside on the car port. Its an 8'x4' cinder block structure about 3 block high with a plywood roof that I prop open if the sun is shining. I bring the hose in the carport and squirt the substrate until its quite wet. The lights soon dry out the top layer of substrate, leaving it nice and moist underneath.