Very New Mom to an Older Outdoor Tortoise

Cathie G

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5 Year Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Aug 9, 2018
Messages
14,908
Location (City and/or State)
Lancaster
I'm glad I don't have dogs, one thing I don't have to worry about my tort. I have indoor cats and strays that visit my yard and ALL of them are very curious about Ariza but are also afraid of her and move away if she heads toward them. It's funny! Your tort will probably want to sleep under your shed unless you make it a burrow. I made mine two burrows, one facing north and one facing south. They're made with cinder blocks and a plywood on top and topped with dirt and dry weeds. I thought she was brumating in her north burrow, and just saw her today browsing and had come out of south burrow. She has the whole yard to herself and does whatever she wants, and I hope she's happy. Good luck with your Toruga, glad you found this forum with lots of info and helpful tort guardians.
Hello and it is hilariously funny. I used to have a cat that would actually let my Russian cozy up to him. But you could see the cat's skin crawling under his fur.
 

Trishyha

New Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2019
Messages
26
Location (City and/or State)
San Diego
It’s spring!! I finally got an enclosure together for my tortoise. What are the signs of the tortoise being awake?? Is anyone’s tortoise awake in Southern California, more specifically San Diego?
 
Joined
Mar 18, 2019
Messages
42
Location (City and/or State)
Alberton, South Africa
Will do....
It’s funny seeing him case the perimeter of his pen looking for a way out.

From what I’ve read on this forum it seems that that is normal behavior for the first few days of a new space as he figures out the boundaries of the new home :)

Have you figured out the gender? I noticed that you referred to it as a she in the beginning of the thread, if I’m not mistaken... :)
 

Trishyha

New Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2019
Messages
26
Location (City and/or State)
San Diego
From what I’ve read on this forum it seems that that is normal behavior for the first few days of a new space as he figures out the boundaries of the new home :)

Have you figured out the gender? I noticed that you referred to it as a she in the beginning of the thread, if I’m not mistaken... :)

Well, when my dad and sister had him they referred to him as her but in my research I learned that males have gulars, which he has and his belly is concaved.
 
Joined
Mar 18, 2019
Messages
42
Location (City and/or State)
Alberton, South Africa
Well, when my dad and sister had him they referred to him as her but in my research I learned that males have gulars, which he has and his belly is concaved.

Ooh great! It’s nice to know for sure... My little one is about a month old and I can’t tell the gender yet, so for now it’s called “hy-sy-dit” which translates to ‘he-she-it’ [emoji16]
 

MeeshCo

New Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2018
Messages
2
Location (City and/or State)
California
What a great looking tortoise! I noticed that you have chicken wire over his pen. My tortoise has his own section of the yard, but it is not covered. He's been in the family for around 50 years now, 12 or 13 with us, but he's always been out in the open, with shelter for sleeping (his favorite spot is under the top of a dog house, behind our shed). I'm just wondering if that is something I should think about doing? I live in Northern California (SF Bay Area).
 

Trishyha

New Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2019
Messages
26
Location (City and/or State)
San Diego
What a great looking tortoise! I noticed that you have chicken wire over his pen. My tortoise has his own section of the yard, but it is not covered. He's been in the family for around 50 years now, 12 or 13 with us, but he's always been out in the open, with shelter for sleeping (his favorite spot is under the top of a dog house, behind our shed). I'm just wondering if that is something I should think about doing? I live in Northern California (SF Bay Area).

I’m in San Diego and even though I’m in the city, there are a lot of critters like raccoons, possums, stay cats and crows. I don’t want to risks. Since the original pics I’ve added plants. However, he’s eating them faster then they can set and grow. Lol.
 
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