Hi guys!

[Bijan]

Hey there,

My name is Bijan Parandeh. I recently moved to San Jose, CA from Chicago for undergrad. Originally I'm Canadian, born in Vancouver, but I'm half Persian.

Although I've always loved tortoises, I don't have any experience with them. I've had a couple of reptiles, my beardy is still living. The closest experience to owning a tortoise would be the snapping turtles I'd occasionally take home from the neighborhood park and keep in a big Rubber-maid for a few days and then return (I know it sounds cruel but it was always ended up being a great observation)

I love large birds as well and have had a of them in my life. If anyone else is really into toos, macaws, etc. I love to talk about them. I volunteered and fostered birds from a rescue (www.rescuethebirds.org) and eventually adopted a goffins too from them. Like tortoises, there are a lot of large birds in rescues because they live so long.

I'm interested in adopting a tortoise down the road (and by down the road I mean probably in at least a year). Is anyone here affiliated with or has had experience with the California Turtle & Tortoise Club's adoptions? I'm in the process of deciding which species, etc. it's very exciting!

Thank you all for creating this community!

 

[coreyc]

Hi Bijan Welcome to the forum

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome. Glad you are going about it the right way. We all have our favorites for various reasons. I'm sure you'll find the right one for you.

I've been working with psittacines for 24 years. I was around back in the old days when they were still wild caught.

Looking forward to hearing which tort you choose and why...

 

[terryo]

Hi...welcome to the forum.

 

[Torty Mom]

Welcome to TFO! I am a member of the Kern County chapter, and just got 3 CDT hatchlings that no one was going to take home! I also have a Blue and Gold McCaw, Penelope. She is large and in charge!! LOL! Mary Anne

 

[Kristina]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[JohnathanO]

Welcome to the forum!!

 

[Bijan]

Thanks guys!

To Torty Mom, is there anyway to know if they have any tortoises looking for homes apart from e-mailing them?
Thought it would save me some time.

 

[jensgotfaith]

Welcome! I adopted my big Sulcata through the Merced Chapter of the California Turtle and Tortoise Club. Great organization. I wish I heard more from them or from a Sacramento chapter at least.

 

[Torty Mom]

Well, at our meetings the adoption chairperson states what is available and then during open chat, anyone who has some either to adopt out or sell they get up and talk about it. One guy is selling baby greeks for $55.00. So your best bet is to email, or attend a meeting, they are informative and it's a hoot to talk to people face to face that have the same interests! Easy for me because.....I am talker....who knew.....

http://www.tortoise.org/siliconvalley/

Here is a link, the next meeting is coming up December 6th.

Good luck! Let me know if you go and what you thought of it! Mary Anne

 

[Isa]

Welcome to the forum

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome.

 

[tortoisenerd]

Welcome to the group! Sounds like you have some great plans. Kuddos on waiting to get a tort and doing the research. They are a really long-term commitment. Feel free to start a thread about species so we can help too! You can list some requirements such as size of tort and how much land you have, weather, personality, etc.

 

[Bijan]

Oooh that's nice, I'll definetely have to go to the next meeting. Do you RSVP?

@tortoisenerd Currently I live in a place that has a balcony that gets a lot of sun. But the rent is overpriced so I might end up movin in the next months, and I will keep the tortoise requirements in mind.
I would be able to keep have the outdoor enclosure set up in summer, it gets too cold the rest of the year. Luckily it never really gets humid in the summer.
Do any of you have any good experience from keeping a tortoise in an apartment? On the balcony? I think I'm pushing it. Is it really possible to mimic the tortoise's heat and light needs year round indoors? I'm going to guess some species do better than others. And I know aquariums are out of the question. I've seen some of the beautiful indoor setups you guys have. But I'm guessing those are only for part of the year.

On a side note, I don't have any interest in adopting a hatchling. I'm going to assume that's pretty risky when it comes to a newbie like me.

 

[RV's mom]

Welcome to TFO


teri

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Bijan:

Welcome to the forum!!

The adoption chairperson for the Silicon Valley chapter of CTTC is Gilbert Castro. His email address is: [email protected]

When fellow forum member, Mongo, used to be the adoption person, they had quite a few tortoises up for adoption. I don't know how it is now, but you can send Gilbert an email and find out.

I don't know what their restrictions are.

 

[egyptiandan]

Welcome to the forum Bijan

Danny