Russian Tortoise burrows

[Anthony Hill]

I have 2 adult male Russian tortoise that have been living outdoors since mid June in their 12x 5 ft pen. Ive been wondering why they have not been burrowing at all, it seems like everyone talks about their Russians making deep burrows and I think that would be awesome. The soil is normal top soil and its pretty easy to dig in. Otherwise they have been eating well and having fun in there outdoor setup.

 

[wellington]

They don't want too and you can't make them either Are they sleeping in a hide or are you bringing them in at night? What's the temps been, maybe not cold enough or hot enough? Just guessing. But I just think the don't feel the need too.

 

[Anthony Hill]

They have 3 pvc tube hides they have been sleeping in every night and the enclosure has a chicken wire roof to keep out predators.

 

[wellington]

I'm guessing if you want them to burrow, take out the pipes and start a burrow for them. However, I would give them each their own. If they don't use it, I would give their pipes back.

 

[Hix2008]

Can you take a picture of the enclosure

 

[68merc]

Russians don't burrow! When they dig they cover them selves and have to dig out in the morning. Unlike sulcatas and deserts who dig a burrow that they use daily to escape the sun and to feel protected at night. The fact that yours don't dig says you have them setup so they are comfortable. Come fall, when the nights get cold you will see a change.

 

[Tom]

Murray beat me to it...

 

[lynnedit]

Yep, they are happy. Let them keep doing what they are doing!

 

[ascott]

They are hiders and not burrowers in the sense of the word....no tunnel builders...(but more like a sting ray whole wiggles and digs down) more wiggle into the earth vs burrowing...does that make sense?

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

My russian doesn't like digging outdoors for some reason, and I mean, I was all prepared for him to go rabbity on me! He does dig indoors though... I guess it's personal preference!
Get a sulcata, and then you'll have a burrow!

 

[Tom]

They are hiders and not burrowers in the sense of the word....no tunnel builders...(but more like a sting ray whole wiggles and digs down) more wiggle into the earth vs burrowing...does that make sense?

VERY good way to describe it!

 

[Votty]

I find that my Russian tort loves to climb but does not burrow at all. He can climb with the best of them though. In regards to sleep, he literally just lols anywhere he feels like it to nod off. On his rocks, half on and off his rocks, half way up the side of his enclosure, on a lovely apple mint plant he has decided to use as a sofa instead of food, especially the big rocks though, sort of just anywhere. He has a wooden half log house but he doesn't sleep in it often, Ive dug down underneath it in the hope that him having to walk down a slope to the bottom might encourage him to dig further in but no luck. He prefers to reach for the stars and climb, Ive watched him spent hours eyeing up the edge of his enclosure from the top of his wooden log house, as if at any moment he is going to make a leap of faith to the edge.

 

[RosemaryDW]

This is a zombie thread but since it is up I'm gonna post too!

We have a link here in the forum to a study on Russians in the wild that do burrow into high slopes where they can: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/ecology-of-the-steppe-tortoise-in-the-wild.46804/#post-450661

We don't have much of a slope but our wild caught Russian hibernated there when she first showed up and regularly attempted to burrow there last year in the spring. She kept digging under plants and collapsing the area so my husband removed the large rocks that retain the slope, dug it out further, stabilized the area with some cement blocks so she couldn't dig too far down, and finally returned the rocks. (What a trooper!)

She does spend a lot of time in partial shade but this is where she was in the hottest part of every day and she slept there every night. She's on the way in for a nap in my avatar. Come fall, she found a way to dig sideways around a block and was on her way down further; that's when she went into the fridge!

She has an awesome night box now so we'll see if she goes back to the burrow; we opened it up last week and she's checked it out but not stayed.

Perhaps it is a habitat issue as much as temperatures and preference.