Rebs
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2015
- Messages
- 7
Hi. I need help. We have two desert tortoises, Lance and Gwennie, in Highland Park, Los Angeles. They came with our house and for the five years we've been here they have successfully brumated in a burrow they dug - it even worked through El Nino - the tortoises placed it at the top of a slight slope and even created a berm around it.
But, there is construction going on near the burrow now and it's not safe this year so we need to brumate them inside. Since construction began, one has been living in a dogloo in my friend's yard and one has been living in a dogloo in my other friend's yard. Meanwhile, I just had a baby! (my first) Amdist pregnancy/birth we totally over looked getting a pre-brumation vet check-up which we should have done since they've had the stress of being in unfamiliar territory for the last couple of months. Now they are apparently ready for brumation, have been mostly inactive for around two weeks and I need to figure this out ASAP, hopefully before the rain starts tomorrow.
I feel totally overwhelmed with the responsibility of all these lives depending on me and I need to figure this out ASAP, hopefully before the rain starts tomorrow. Do we do bins in the garage? Will the garage be cool enough? Refrigerator? Closet? Can we block off heat to an area of our house? I have no idea if these spaces will stay cool enough. I'm finding so many different methods for boxing, I just want someone to give me an exact shopping list. I also would PAY someone very well who has experience with this to come over and figure out what would be the best place to put them. Anyone?
The tortoises's shells are approximately 10" wide by 16". I have a babysitter for the next few hours but I'm overwhelmed even looking through all the tortoise forum previous posts to figure out what would work for us.
If anyone has any advice or words of encouragement or is available for hire please let me know. I live near a home depot and could get supplies there.
- Rebecca
P.S. Edited to add - is it too late to get a vet check-up now that they're this close to brumation?
But, there is construction going on near the burrow now and it's not safe this year so we need to brumate them inside. Since construction began, one has been living in a dogloo in my friend's yard and one has been living in a dogloo in my other friend's yard. Meanwhile, I just had a baby! (my first) Amdist pregnancy/birth we totally over looked getting a pre-brumation vet check-up which we should have done since they've had the stress of being in unfamiliar territory for the last couple of months. Now they are apparently ready for brumation, have been mostly inactive for around two weeks and I need to figure this out ASAP, hopefully before the rain starts tomorrow.
I feel totally overwhelmed with the responsibility of all these lives depending on me and I need to figure this out ASAP, hopefully before the rain starts tomorrow. Do we do bins in the garage? Will the garage be cool enough? Refrigerator? Closet? Can we block off heat to an area of our house? I have no idea if these spaces will stay cool enough. I'm finding so many different methods for boxing, I just want someone to give me an exact shopping list. I also would PAY someone very well who has experience with this to come over and figure out what would be the best place to put them. Anyone?
The tortoises's shells are approximately 10" wide by 16". I have a babysitter for the next few hours but I'm overwhelmed even looking through all the tortoise forum previous posts to figure out what would work for us.
If anyone has any advice or words of encouragement or is available for hire please let me know. I live near a home depot and could get supplies there.
- Rebecca
P.S. Edited to add - is it too late to get a vet check-up now that they're this close to brumation?