Species for a Georgian Beginner

[Lolliemonster]

Hello! I am excited to write this post! My husband and I are looking in to getting our first tortoise together. My husband grew up with his parents' Desert Tortoise and loved it. We recently purchased a home and are planning on making a 7'x20' ish planter/retaining wall in part of the yard and would love to adapt it to a tortoise home. We are looking more exclusively at the red-footed and leopard species, but we are open to anything else that would be a better fit.

The questions we have are:
- The average low temp in the winter is 33F but it can dip down to the single digits for a handful of nights of the year. Is that too cold? I understand we would probably need additional heating for the winter months. Best systems you would suggest? We are also willing to consider hibernating species.
- The average rainfall is 4-5 inches. We also get some very big thunder and lightning storms. Is that okay? Since we're building up the area there will be ample drainage to make sure there will not be any standing water.
- We also have a Sheltie. While extremely well trained (he knows a couple dozen tricks and is about to get his therapy dog certification) I understand the nature of the dog/tortoise relationship. The planter will be taller than he can jump, but I probably need to engineer a top for the enclosure as well?

I'm looking forward to your help and many future posts!!

-Laura

 

[ascott]

Redfoot is what first popped into my mind considering where you live....you have good humidity and warmth for alot of the year...however, you folks do get some crazy downpours and surprise freezing weather from time to time.....so having a back up indoor area for your tort would be my suggestion---just for the times the weather goes whacky....and a Redfoot will remain a bit easier to handle bringing indoors than a full grown Leopard.....just my opinion

Also, Box Turtles are a manageable size and they can brumate in winter conditions and yet do well in humid warm climates....and some of the different species really have beautiful, striking gorgeous colors and patterns....
http://www.gpnc.org/ornate.htm

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Laura:

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

Did you say where you are and I missed it?

---

Oh, (hits self on forehead!!) silly me...its in the subject line. You're in Georgia!

 

[jason g.]

Redfoot is what first popped into my mind considering where you live....you have good humidity and warmth for alot of the year...however, you folks do get some crazy downpours and surprise freezing weather from time to time.....so having a back up indoor area for your tort would be my suggestion---just for the times the weather goes whacky....and a Redfoot will remain a bit easier to handle bringing indoors than a full grown Leopard.....just my opinion

Also, Box Turtles are a manageable size and they can brumate in winter conditions and yet do well in humid warm climates....and some of the different species really have beautiful, striking gorgeous colors and patterns....
http://www.gpnc.org/ornate.htm

.There are some wonderful box turtles.

 

[Redstrike]

Redfoot is what first popped into my mind considering where you live....you have good humidity and warmth for alot of the year...however, you folks do get some crazy downpours and surprise freezing weather from time to time.....so having a back up indoor area for your tort would be my suggestion---just for the times the weather goes whacky....and a Redfoot will remain a bit easier to handle bringing indoors than a full grown Leopard.....just my opinion

Also, Box Turtles are a manageable size and they can brumate in winter conditions and yet do well in humid warm climates....and some of the different species really have beautiful, striking gorgeous colors and patterns....
http://www.gpnc.org/ornate.htm

Strongly seconded

 

[Lolliemonster]

I haven't looked in to box turtles, but I know there is a rescue in my area so I'll have to pay them a visit. Would they require an indoor area as well? I'm assuming it's just bringing them in when the weather is below freezing/thunderstorms...

I also just realized that I failed to specify that Georgia get's 4-5inches of rain a MONTH, not just ever

Thank you all for the information. Sadly this will probably not happen until next Spring since there are about 164 things that we need to do to the house, but we are definitely keeping the possible inhabitants of our planter in mind when we start to build it up these next couple months!

 

[ascott]

there are about 164 things that we need to do to the house

,

LOL...uh, is this an exact count on a list somewhere?...LOL


I just found this to be funny, I had a boss that use to whip out "we have 37 things to get done right now" or "man there is like 37 people in line ahead of us" or "there was like 37 people walking across the road at once" I always funned him about why he would always pull 37.....