@Yvonne G
Hi Yvonne. Tom gave me some very good information regarding how he would set up heated night box for my torts. May I ask you what you would do different from what you do now, if anything, if you lived in or moved to Tehachapi at 4100' elevation? Would you do heated outside night...
So, are you saying, for my DT's, perhaps a 4x4, divided in half, with mini radiant oil heater and 2 basking lamps and a double door?? Do I need to worry about fire hazard??
Thanks Yvonne! I am anticipating a move to Tehachapi this summer. Elevatiion will be about 4100 feet, so certainly cooler than where I live now at 800 feet in the San Fernando Valley. So I am anticipating they will need a warm house for spring and fall. Does that seem reasonable?
HI all!
I hope someone can help me direct this question to Tom, as it is specifically about his single tort night box... Altho anyone else with experience with desert torts is more than welcome to chime in.
Can this 4x2 box be reduced in size to 3x2, or even smaller, and still...
Having a hard time with this site moving around so much today! His conditions in his room are exactly as you suggest. Exactly. As we speak. And they have been. He seems to wake up when it is cold and wants to sleep when it is warm. Make zero sense. Any thoughts besides the obvious? What...
Joxer, my problem child...Finally went into brumation in his outdoor hide, early this month. He had not eaten for close to a month. Put him in his insulated brumation box in garage. Last week, when I checked on him, he was wide awake. Temp in box 52 degrees. I mean he was wide awake. Ok...
Wow. Thanks very much. I will put a little more space between them for now, probably with a 2nd dividing wall. Inadequate for sure, but will at least be something. And old guy, is in the more downwind position. For next year, I will build another enclosure at opposite end of yard. I am...
So Yvonne, do you think it is possible that he is way stressed by new guy in adjacent pen?? Even tho he was used to a different male CDT there for years? New guy, who should be the stressed one, could care less. He is as happy as a clam. Should I put a little more space between them? Or...
It makes me sad to think that could be the case! But, if these torts are that easily stressed by a new tort just adjacent to them, not in their space, wouldn't that wreak havoc with tort rescues, that have a high turnover rate?
Exactly! It is kind of an unusual situation for sure, so I am entertaining all possibilities! My prior was also a male CDT, and I had the both for about 24 years. Never housed together, but in adjacent pens here for 10 of those years. No overt hostile behavior. They are sometimes on...
I put him in my spare room, carpet covered with cardboard. For his house in there I used his wooden brumation box garage. Then I put a space heater to warm the whole room, and a basking incandescent flood lamp. Hung overhead from ceiling fan and lowered until basking temp underneath was about...
I do not know the answer to that! How would I ask Yvonne and Tom what they think about that? They have so much CDT knowledge.
I thought I read on here that adjoining pens were ok as long as no contact and ni visual
Can you please advise me, when you have time, how you personally kept him from brumating?? Just in case I have to do the same for any reason. I have a spare room in my house. Thank you!
Hi fellow Valley Girl!
I do not know his age, but I have had him about 25 years, the last 11 of those right here in this house in SFV.
I did wonder about the long cloudy winter messing him up! I actually had to take him out of brumation before he fully "woke up", because it was just...