Floomby
New Member
Dear Tortoise Forum,
Hello! My screen name is Floomby and I've been thinking of getting a tortoise.
This is my story. I've owned plenty of dogs and cats. I've always loved herps: when I lived in upstate NY, I had an informal frog and toad breeding program going on, and I'm proud to say that with the help of a friend, we re-populated a Baltimore neighborhood with bufo americanus, so now you hear them singing every spring, and every summer, they go on pest patrol in local gardens.
After we moved to Los Angeles, I started collecting tarantulas. The landlady in my current building put the kibosh on that, so my 8-legged babies and my hissers are with friends at the moment. I do get to have pets, fortunately; it's just that spiders weird everybody out, go figure.
Last winter, my neice had me babysit her hibernating Eastern Box hatchling, since when I've fallen in love with turtles and tortoises. I've been informing myself, and I'm trying to figure out if it would be ethical for me to keep a box turtle or small tort. Here are my circumstances, and I would welcome the Tortoise Forum's wisdom on the matter.
I live just East of Los Angeles. The weather out here is pretty much in line with the weather in the city proper: in the summer, lows 60s - 70, highs 80s - 100; in the winter, everything is only about 10 degrees colder: lows from 50s-60s, highs 60s - 80s. It almost never rains.
Our apartment is not so big, but we do have a NE facing balcony that is 7' x 13' (2.1m x 4 m). It reliably gets sun for 2-3 hours every morning.
I'm taking action to improve my earnings so that we can buy a house with a yard, This could take up to a couple of years.
So my question is, given the constraints of my living space, would it be ethical for me to keep a hatchling of one of the smaller species in a properly constructed enclosure on my balcony? (I have the room to bring it in during the winter).
Meanwhile, please enjoy pictures of some torts and other adorable animals I have run into.
Hello! My screen name is Floomby and I've been thinking of getting a tortoise.
This is my story. I've owned plenty of dogs and cats. I've always loved herps: when I lived in upstate NY, I had an informal frog and toad breeding program going on, and I'm proud to say that with the help of a friend, we re-populated a Baltimore neighborhood with bufo americanus, so now you hear them singing every spring, and every summer, they go on pest patrol in local gardens.
After we moved to Los Angeles, I started collecting tarantulas. The landlady in my current building put the kibosh on that, so my 8-legged babies and my hissers are with friends at the moment. I do get to have pets, fortunately; it's just that spiders weird everybody out, go figure.
Last winter, my neice had me babysit her hibernating Eastern Box hatchling, since when I've fallen in love with turtles and tortoises. I've been informing myself, and I'm trying to figure out if it would be ethical for me to keep a box turtle or small tort. Here are my circumstances, and I would welcome the Tortoise Forum's wisdom on the matter.
I live just East of Los Angeles. The weather out here is pretty much in line with the weather in the city proper: in the summer, lows 60s - 70, highs 80s - 100; in the winter, everything is only about 10 degrees colder: lows from 50s-60s, highs 60s - 80s. It almost never rains.
Our apartment is not so big, but we do have a NE facing balcony that is 7' x 13' (2.1m x 4 m). It reliably gets sun for 2-3 hours every morning.
I'm taking action to improve my earnings so that we can buy a house with a yard, This could take up to a couple of years.
So my question is, given the constraints of my living space, would it be ethical for me to keep a hatchling of one of the smaller species in a properly constructed enclosure on my balcony? (I have the room to bring it in during the winter).
Meanwhile, please enjoy pictures of some torts and other adorable animals I have run into.
Attachments
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Chela the Eastern Box Hatchling--its all her fault.jpg111.8 KB · Views: 10
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Redfoot Juvie from Westside Pet Store.jpg157.8 KB · Views: 10
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Russian juvenile basking at chain pet store.jpg156.3 KB · Views: 11
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Colossal Aldabra LA Zoo.jpg154.4 KB · Views: 9
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Aldabra napping and smiling with rock for pillow LA Zoo.jpg166.1 KB · Views: 11
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Gratuitous Komodo Dragon LA Zoo.jpg196.2 KB · Views: 9
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Sulcata on the Rocks at Southland pet store yes those are aquarium rocks FAIL.jpg142.2 KB · Views: 11
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Achilles whom we found with a broken pelvis last year.jpg135.5 KB · Views: 9