christmas travel with torts?

[starjess81]

I will be visiting family next week for 5 days, it is about an 8 hour drive there and 8 hours back. I got my torts about a month ago and give the atleast 2 hours of my time a day with soaks, feeding and exercise. My neighbor is gonna take care of the rest of my animals...cats, kittens, ducks, chickens and such. I don't think she would give them the interaction I do and since I've been so hands on with them I don't want it to stop for 5 days. Does anyone think it would be bad to take then with me? My mom might freak but she will survive. Will traveling stress them out? Please let me know opinions!

 

[SulcataSquirt]

our sulcata has been traveling with us since we got him when he was about 30 grams. It is only about 3 hours, but after christmas we are heading to florida and he is gonna be traveling for 15 hours. We just take a concrete mixing tub from lowes, put in some damp coir, hide, slate, and hes spoiled and gets a heat lamp when traveling, I have a power inverter in my truck to run it off of. Over all after the inital 15 minute settle in time hes is back to doing his normal things for the car ride.. Others I have heard just put their tort in a dark box and make them sleep the whole time. my way is just as easy(for me) because he will need a home set up for him when we get where were going anyways.

 

[jaizei]

If I had someone that I trusted to look after all my other animals, I'd leave my tortoises as well.

 

[starjess81]

But cats are pretty independent and my torts are dependent on me....my neighbor is doing is for free so asking for her to be so hands on with my torts might be a little too much to ask

 

[jaizei]

Ideally, to me anyway would be: lights on timer. Heating on thermostat. They can go a few days without soaks. I'm not sure what you meant when you mentioned exercise above. All she would need to do would be to make sure they have water and feed them.

But if you think taking them is a better solution for you then you should. As long as you make a suitable travel enclosure, I don't think they will mind going with you.

 

[Jacqui]

Personally, I would go with leaving them home too. You have a neighbor who can look in on them and all she/he would do is make sure they are not on their backs, the lights are on (if they are suppose to be) and change food/water.

Them doing without your hands on care for a week, will be less stressful then them going with you, would be my thought. You have car travel stress and the busy hussle bussel of Christmas stress to deal with. ... and it sounds like the place your going to, may not be real happy to see them.

When traveling, plan for those bad unexpected things.... like your car breaks down. Have everything you need to keep them warm enough for that time. Hand warmers, towels to wrap around their travel box, and something small you can sneak them in with you to get inside a car repair shop, a restaurant, ect..,

Place them within your car in a warm spot, but not one too near to windows or heaters, as you don't want drafts or too much heat. Plan to check on them often. Make sure they are either seat belted in or can not be tossed around with a quick stop (or if in an accident). Take with you everything they need such as food, incase on the way, you end up having to stay at a motel or whatever.

 

[starjess81]

Very true....ill talk with her and see if she can take care of them...

 

[starjess81]

After finally surviving the holidays I got to spend some quality time with my torts and turtles! I soaked them like usual and gave them a salad with butternut squash, mixed greens and a little mazuri. They love the squash!!! They were super happy to see me and I took some cute pictures! I'll post them tomorrow!

 

[Jacqui]

So you ended up leaving them at home?

 

[starjess81]

Yes, I didn't want to cause more stress and my neighbor said she would go down there 2 times a day for lights and such....I have some cute pitcures to post...

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Here are some pictures of my Happy babies!!

http://s1084.photobucket.com/albums/j417/starjess811/Happy Herps/