Thoughts?

[Skip K]

I have noticed sometimes my little Sulcatas have dirt on their backs. Finally saw one using his front legs to flip substrate on his carapace. I wonder why they occasionally do this. I’ve seen videos of adult Galops and Aldabras flipping mud on their backs because of mosquitoes. Could this be because of the occasional fungus gnats?

 

[zovick]

I have noticed sometimes my little Sulcatas have dirt on their backs. Finally saw one using his front legs to flip substrate on his carapace. I wonder why they occasionally do this. I’ve seen videos of adult Galops and Aldabras flipping mud on their backs because of mosquitoes. Could this be because of the occasional fungus gnats?

Just wait till those sulcatas get big and can flip dirt and substrate 15 to 20 feet with their front feet. I don't know if they do it to prepare a burrow or just to scrape grass off the surface to make a pallet on the surface of the ground, but they seem to like doing it.

When I kept 4 adult sulcatas indoors in CT during the winter, it was not unusual for me to come home and find substrate from their pens flung all over the room. I don't think that sulcatas do it for the gnats. There were no gnats in my tortoise room.

 

[AgataP]

My baby sulcata does it sometimes. Spins around and kicks and wiggles his little butt. Almost seems like he is making himself a cozy spot.

 

[KarenSoCal]

I always thought my DT did that to take a dust bath. In any case, I think he did it for his own body, not to prepare the ground in some way.