Crazy Russian Tortoise

[jane_goblin]

Hi everyone

So my Russian tortoise- Chompy- who had been very sleepy for a week has now gone a bit insane. He nonstop, literally nonstop, runs around his tank, tries to climb the walls.... more than he ever has before. And he is super fast and never seems to run out of energy. He only stopped to eat. I always feel bad for him so I take him out to walk around my house (I would take him outside but it is ridiculously hot here in California). When he walks around the floor he is still very energetic but calms down a bit. When I can't watch him anymore, I put him back in his tank and he starts getting very crazy again. I tried many things to make it stop, like turning off the lights/heat lamp, giving him a bath, feeding him different foods, etc. I don't know if Chompy is a girl or boy yet. This all has been going on everyday for about a week now.

Any help is appreciated.

Thank you so much

 

[Yvonne G]

Letting him out of his habitat is what is causing the problem. You are supposed to provide the tortoise with a very large habitat, and leave him in it. Once you've allowed him to 'see' that there's a great big world out there on the other side of his walls, he wants it.

Tortoises are territorial. It usually takes a couple of weeks for a new tortoise to settle down and be comfortable in his new territory. So the longer you allow him outside his boundaries, the longer its going to be before he settles into a routine in his own territory.

 

[russian/sulcata/tortoise]

jane how big is his enclosure? does he share it with any other torts? also i live in California and my torts live outside and they seem to be fine.