Hello All,
My name is Kirstin. I live in Oakland, CA with Milton, a 5 year old CA Desert Tortoise (who is actually a female, but by the time we figured that out, the name had already stuck; we continue to refer to him as "he" and "Milton" figuring that tortoises are not too hung up on words), Jasper the brindle ex-racing greyhound, Sadie and Lily the crazy tortoise-shell kittens and Waddi the cockatiel (Yes, except for Waddi, our pets are all color-coordinated and it looks like we planned that, which of course we didn't - they are all rescues! I am not on my own computer right now, so will have to post pics later.)
Milton was found by walking down a residential street in Chatsworth, CA. He was an inch long, probably just hatched. His rescuer mistook him for a Salcata, of which she already one (who was also found walking down a street many years before in a different part of So Cal), and raised him as such for a year before we adopted him. Shortly thereafter, his true identity was learned.
Up until now, Milton has lived mostly inside, with partial days spent outside in our enclosed backyard when we are home, but we have not yet created a tortoise area/enclosure. We want to create a safe outdoor enclosure/area for Milton so he can spend most of his days outside.
I would love to connect with other CA Desert Tortoise owners in the Oakland/Berkeley area, in hopes of seeing what others around here have created (I have looked at some pictures on this forum, but I do better seeing things in person
. I am especially interested in the predator-proofing issue - we plan to bring him in at night, but we do have street-tough urban raccoons around here; I know in theory they should not be an issue if the Milton is brought in before dark, but it would be great to talk with other locals about this and/or get anyone's input on the question of does his day-time outdoor enclosure need to be predator proof?
Thanks - looking forward to connecting with other tortoise-types!
Kirstin
My name is Kirstin. I live in Oakland, CA with Milton, a 5 year old CA Desert Tortoise (who is actually a female, but by the time we figured that out, the name had already stuck; we continue to refer to him as "he" and "Milton" figuring that tortoises are not too hung up on words), Jasper the brindle ex-racing greyhound, Sadie and Lily the crazy tortoise-shell kittens and Waddi the cockatiel (Yes, except for Waddi, our pets are all color-coordinated and it looks like we planned that, which of course we didn't - they are all rescues! I am not on my own computer right now, so will have to post pics later.)
Milton was found by walking down a residential street in Chatsworth, CA. He was an inch long, probably just hatched. His rescuer mistook him for a Salcata, of which she already one (who was also found walking down a street many years before in a different part of So Cal), and raised him as such for a year before we adopted him. Shortly thereafter, his true identity was learned.
Up until now, Milton has lived mostly inside, with partial days spent outside in our enclosed backyard when we are home, but we have not yet created a tortoise area/enclosure. We want to create a safe outdoor enclosure/area for Milton so he can spend most of his days outside.
I would love to connect with other CA Desert Tortoise owners in the Oakland/Berkeley area, in hopes of seeing what others around here have created (I have looked at some pictures on this forum, but I do better seeing things in person
. I am especially interested in the predator-proofing issue - we plan to bring him in at night, but we do have street-tough urban raccoons around here; I know in theory they should not be an issue if the Milton is brought in before dark, but it would be great to talk with other locals about this and/or get anyone's input on the question of does his day-time outdoor enclosure need to be predator proof?Thanks - looking forward to connecting with other tortoise-types!
Kirstin
