I must admit that the animals take up a larger amount of my time than is probably socially healthy. I'm the weird animal freak down the street. "There he is folks, the nut who has the zoo in his backyard! He's like Michael Jackson!" You should have seen my list of animals before I got rid of a LOT or birds. I used to raise lots of exotic finches, but it just got to be too much work. I am even considering selling off some of my lizards so I will have more free time.
Yes, I do live in Southern California. Huntington Beach, to be exact. The weather is great for some tortoises, but a bit too humid for the Greeks, of which I have quite a few. They get the sniffles a lot. Anyway, I got the Westerns from a guy in Irvine, CA., who claims to have got them from the famous tortoise guy who runs Casa Tortuga in nearby Fountain Valley. (I can't remember his name at the moment.) The Western Hermann's, as far as I have seen, is just as hardy as the Eastern, but they seem a bit less active and are not as friendly. My Easterns are as tame as can be and follow me around the yard like puppies.
I hibernate all the tortoises in a large refrigeration unit that I bought from a restaraunt. It works wonderfully. I just box them up with newspaper under them which I occasionally moisten for humidity during the hibernation. I just open the door to the fridge every day to give them air. If I am going to be away, I have an aquarium pump I run a hose from into the fridge for air. I was already getting it ready a few weeks ago, but it has suddenly decided to be summer here for a while longer, I guess. It was near 90 degrees here today.
