Criscar
New Member
Someone I know has apparently been keeping a 4 year old 50 lb sulcata on their apartment patio and is being threatened with eviction if they don’t rehome the tortoise by this weekend. I don’t want a sulcata, but am empathetic to the situation. I have a a number of animals in my care over the years, including ball pythons (for 30 years and counting) and a green iguana that I raised from a small hatching to full adult male living in 6x4x4 enclosure, so not unfamiliar with reptile care and larger herbivorous or long lived reptiles, just the particulars of tortoises.
If I agreed to foster the tortoise, I assume since I live in coastal Southern California that I don’t need to do much with regard to climate control, if anything with the marine layer in May and June it might be a tad cool but the sun usually comes out mid day. My yard has two sections I could theoretically easily fence off from one another. One is DG with 2 ft high wood raised beds for a vegetable garden (don’t care if he samples and eats the weeds, will try to keep nightshades out of reach if tortoises can’t eat those either), a couple trees and a blackberry trailing on the ground around the trees, and some patio furniture. The fencing is wrought iron on one side, some exposed areas of the side of the house, and a wooden plank fence plus I’d have to add a dog gate or something. I assume all of these would be at risk of damage? There is always some shade, parts get full sun from morning until about 2 pm then it’s all in shade. This area is about 300 sq ft but not much wide open space, more winding paths.
The other option is a larger open area with artificial turf, ringed by a low 12-18” stucco wall with narrow planter beds and then a wooden plank fence behind those, patio furniture a trampoline and also our house and the sliding door. At the this time of year the grass doesn’t get too hot but by July that could become an issue in the sunnier parts, but a large part is almost always in shade. I am very leery of the idea of potential holes in the middle of the artificial turf as this would cost at least hundreds of dollars to fix. This area is about 450 sq ft with a lot of open space.
Also, I have a 47 lb standard poodle who is curious but not aggressive toward prey animals (based on observed behavior toward our rabbits, birds and snakes). I would never leave them together unsupervised but the dog is going to need to go outside to use the bathroom and usually does this in the artificial turf area.
I assume it would be better to put it in the DG area and cross fingers he waits a bit before trying to burrow so I can try to figure something out in that regard? Or would the artificial turf be better? Or does the whole set up sound so unsuitable that I’d be better off just saying no, especially since I’m not interested in the very long term commitment?
If I agreed to foster the tortoise, I assume since I live in coastal Southern California that I don’t need to do much with regard to climate control, if anything with the marine layer in May and June it might be a tad cool but the sun usually comes out mid day. My yard has two sections I could theoretically easily fence off from one another. One is DG with 2 ft high wood raised beds for a vegetable garden (don’t care if he samples and eats the weeds, will try to keep nightshades out of reach if tortoises can’t eat those either), a couple trees and a blackberry trailing on the ground around the trees, and some patio furniture. The fencing is wrought iron on one side, some exposed areas of the side of the house, and a wooden plank fence plus I’d have to add a dog gate or something. I assume all of these would be at risk of damage? There is always some shade, parts get full sun from morning until about 2 pm then it’s all in shade. This area is about 300 sq ft but not much wide open space, more winding paths.
The other option is a larger open area with artificial turf, ringed by a low 12-18” stucco wall with narrow planter beds and then a wooden plank fence behind those, patio furniture a trampoline and also our house and the sliding door. At the this time of year the grass doesn’t get too hot but by July that could become an issue in the sunnier parts, but a large part is almost always in shade. I am very leery of the idea of potential holes in the middle of the artificial turf as this would cost at least hundreds of dollars to fix. This area is about 450 sq ft with a lot of open space.
Also, I have a 47 lb standard poodle who is curious but not aggressive toward prey animals (based on observed behavior toward our rabbits, birds and snakes). I would never leave them together unsupervised but the dog is going to need to go outside to use the bathroom and usually does this in the artificial turf area.
I assume it would be better to put it in the DG area and cross fingers he waits a bit before trying to burrow so I can try to figure something out in that regard? Or would the artificial turf be better? Or does the whole set up sound so unsuitable that I’d be better off just saying no, especially since I’m not interested in the very long term commitment?
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