We recently adopted a 20-year old desert tortoise, we were told he was rescued as a hatchling.
I dug him a deep burrow, reinforced roof with a metal trash barrel cut in half +20 inches of soil on top, north-northwest facing.
However he keeps coming under our patio and nestling at the back corner under the couch. It's concrete lined and fully shaded shaded, so I'm not exactly surprised. If I take him out and put him in the yard he will wander back to the patio; if I put him close to the burrow in the evening he will go in and spend the night there.
I don't really have a problem with him being under the patio, it just doesn't seem very natural. Should I continue to encourage him back to the burrow every evening, and how can I make it more appealing for him? He spends 95% of his time not moving, which I'm not too worried about as it's been 100+ since we adopted him.
I dug him a deep burrow, reinforced roof with a metal trash barrel cut in half +20 inches of soil on top, north-northwest facing.
However he keeps coming under our patio and nestling at the back corner under the couch. It's concrete lined and fully shaded shaded, so I'm not exactly surprised. If I take him out and put him in the yard he will wander back to the patio; if I put him close to the burrow in the evening he will go in and spend the night there.
I don't really have a problem with him being under the patio, it just doesn't seem very natural. Should I continue to encourage him back to the burrow every evening, and how can I make it more appealing for him? He spends 95% of his time not moving, which I'm not too worried about as it's been 100+ since we adopted him.