Trying to escape his enclosure

tobeeornottobee

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Hello there. So, this will be my first general post on here, so please bear with me. I have a Russian tortoise named Ben who I have had for almost three years now (he is around eight years old now, though). Recently, he has developed a habit of (for lack of a better word) ‘grinding’ against the sides of his enclosure. I’ve had him in an enclosure with a hollow, plastic base about six or seven inches high, with a cage like part on top, as can be seen below.

IMG_1559848329.674882.jpg

I’ve had him in it since I got him, and he’s only started this habit over the last few months. He does the same with his hide, which is a large terra cotta pot. Naturally, his ‘grinding’ is really, really loud, and often wakes me up in the morning. It’s summer, so I’ve been trying to sleep in — he has other ideas.

So I was just wondering if someone would know what this behaviour is all about and if it can/should be stopped.

I have attached below a photo I recently took of him doing this.

IMG_1559848677.974924.jpg

Thank you!
 

xMario

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Jan 23, 2019
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Germany
Hello there. So, this will be my first general post on here, so please bear with me. I have a Russian tortoise named Ben who I have had for almost three years now (he is around eight years old now, though). Recently, he has developed a habit of (for lack of a better word) ‘grinding’ against the sides of his enclosure. I’ve had him in an enclosure with a hollow, plastic base about six or seven inches high, with a cage like part on top, as can be seen below.

View attachment 274001

I’ve had him in it since I got him, and he’s only started this habit over the last few months. He does the same with his hide, which is a large terra cotta pot. Naturally, his ‘grinding’ is really, really loud, and often wakes me up in the morning. It’s summer, so I’ve been trying to sleep in — he has other ideas.

So I was just wondering if someone would know what this behaviour is all about and if it can/should be stopped.

I have attached below a photo I recently took of him doing this.

View attachment 274002

Thank you!
Hello[emoji1]
I Think He wants more space and some hides u should definitely give him more space this is way too small tortoises love to walk [emoji217] [emoji217] [emoji217]
 

Yvonne G

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It's not big enough. Russian tortoises are hard wired to wander great distances looking for food (doesn't matter that he has plenty of food within reach). Also, lots of walking is good for their digestion.
 

tobeeornottobee

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It's not big enough. Russian tortoises are hard wired to wander great distances looking for food (doesn't matter that he has plenty of food within reach). Also, lots of walking is good for their digestion.

Where should I look for a larger enclosure?
 

Gillian M

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Hi, @tobeeornottobee , and welcome to the forum.

Even I think that your cute tort needs more space. These cute little animals are used to roaming around in the wild freely.

Let alone that, torts do not like change. Therefore they need a lot of time to get use to a new place, a new enclosure and so on.
 

TortillaTheTortioise

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Hello there. So, this will be my first general post on here, so please bear with me. I have a Russian tortoise named Ben who I have had for almost three years now (he is around eight years old now, though). Recently, he has developed a habit of (for lack of a better word) ‘grinding’ against the sides of his enclosure. I’ve had him in an enclosure with a hollow, plastic base about six or seven inches high, with a cage like part on top, as can be seen below.

View attachment 274001

I’ve had him in it since I got him, and he’s only started this habit over the last few months. He does the same with his hide, which is a large terra cotta pot. Naturally, his ‘grinding’ is really, really loud, and often wakes me up in the morning. It’s summer, so I’ve been trying to sleep in — he has other ideas.

So I was just wondering if someone would know what this behaviour is all about and if it can/should be stopped.

I have attached below a photo I recently took of him doing this.

View attachment 274002

Thank you!
Just wondering where did u get that cage from?
 

TechnoCheese

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dmmj

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These little guys territory in the wild are often several square miles so you can see how virtually everything in captivity. Bigger think bigger. Include sight barriers (so he can't see from one end to the other) to make him think it is bigger then it is
 

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