I've spoken to a number of tortoise owners from around that time. It tends to happen at garden centres, when I'm buying an excessive amount of soil. The staff will strike up conversation 'So, what are you planting with all that?', and when I explain that it's for a tortoise enclosure I'm surprised by the amount that respond with 'We used to have one, when I was a child'.
Until I got Emrys, I wasn't aware just how common they'd been. Yet, when you're a tortoise owner, you do start to notice. A lot of people want to share their stories of tortoise ownership, and many I've spoken to here in the UK simply let their tortoises roam in the house and garden unrestricted. So, they got natural UV but still weren't in the best of conditions.
A few people I've spoken to said that they kept their tortoise 'like a cat/dog [delete as appropriate]', and that some simply kept theirs indoors. They'd then proudly say 'They live a long time, don't they? We had ours for at least 10 years!'.
Until I got Emrys, I wasn't aware just how common they'd been. Yet, when you're a tortoise owner, you do start to notice. A lot of people want to share their stories of tortoise ownership, and many I've spoken to here in the UK simply let their tortoises roam in the house and garden unrestricted. So, they got natural UV but still weren't in the best of conditions.
A few people I've spoken to said that they kept their tortoise 'like a cat/dog [delete as appropriate]', and that some simply kept theirs indoors. They'd then proudly say 'They live a long time, don't they? We had ours for at least 10 years!'.