Burrow question

[fgately]

When RTs burrow down into the ground, do they leave an obvious entrance? Is it easy to figure out where they dug in?

I went out to my enclosure this morning to put my three back in hibernation, and only two are there. It has been so warm they wouldn't settle down when I put them down a couple of weeks ago, so I put them back outside. I believe it would be impossible for one to escape my enclosure. She would would have to climb up over two feet of wire fencing, up and over the 2 by 4 beams and the lift the hinged lid that weighs about ten pounds. She is a climber and a great hider but I just can't believe she could escape. I lifted up all of the concrete hides and dug around but she is nowhere to be found.

The only other possibility is that someone came in my backyard and stole her.

 

[dmmj]

Mine for some reason dig straight down like little land mines. Walter's female russian dig some extensive burrows and she disappears during hibernation, It is most likely your's has dug down a nice deep hole, and you may not be able to find it,I do know that a good rain usually brings them out.

 

[Yvonne G]

Russian tortoises don't make a burrow. They push the dirt behind them, effectively covering up the hole they're making. Once they're finished and are as deep as they intend to go, you have a very hard time finding where they have buried themselves.

 

[fgately]

How the hell do they breathe if they are in a completely covered up hole? Why haven't the other two done the same?

Remember that last year this same female absolutely dissappeared for three months, until we got a major rain storm just before New Years Eve. If she has dug down and is still in the enclosure, I will be further amazed. The other two RTs are pretty restless and I will probably hibernate them as soon as we get another cold spell. I really hope she is still in there, but I just don't see how.

 

[dmmj]

How the hell do they breathe if they are in a completely covered up hole? Why haven't the other two done the same?

Remember that last year this same female absolutely dissappeared for three months, until we got a major rain storm just before New Years Eve. If she has dug down and is still in the enclosure, I will be further amazed. The other two RTs are pretty restless and I will probably hibernate them as soon as we get another cold spell. I really hope she is still in there, but I just don't see how.

Believe it or not but walter ( tortugs terreste) says the exact same thing and every year she appears nice and healthy.

 

[Kailey]

How the hell do they breathe if they are in a completely covered up hole?

I am also curious about this. Very strange!

 

[fbsmith3]

You need a tortoise tracking dog.

 

[ascott]

There is oxygen in the dirt. While you and I are not able to survive under the ground, we are not designed to do this, but burrowing tortoise absolutely are. Your tortoise is likely dug in due to the night temps dropping and the day light hours shorter....

Also, the time they run into problems is when their burrow/hole becomes compacted due to rain making mud adding weight and snuffing out the oxygen, however, once underground they have a tendency to make a few turns to adjust for weight....

If a heavy constant rain occurs that is when you may find them come up due to the water and mud shifting...the lucky ones wake up enough to notice this and others, well simply do not.

In the wild tortoise do find themselves in bad spots when their burrow collapse or flood when they are not as alert as in other months of the year....fatalities do occur.

I had to dig my CDT out the last two winters in a row. The last time I thought for certain he was a goner....it was so wet and so cold that I had to sit with a hand shovel and literally search for him and when I did locate him I had to dig a spot for my fingers on each side of his shell to simply be able to get a grasp on him to then wiggle and twist and jiggle him loose from the dirt that was formed around him....when I pulled him out he took this huge breath...and not the startled puff of air...he was pulling in tons of air as though he had been barely surviving on the compacted mud that had molded then began to dry around him...

Starting this year, all of my burrowing tortoise will brumate indoors where it is cool, dark, quiet and dry.

La Nina returned in August so this year it is a 50/50 chance of the same type of winter....personally, "I" can not handle the stress of them being bombarded with the identical weather this winter...LOL

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Angela, that's exactly why I don't hibernate any of my animals......

 

[ascott]

Maggie, I completely understand. I will run their brumation this year from start to finish indoors and I believe they will do fine. I can then have access to them to take a peek see and make sure all going aok and easily bring them out of brumation if all does not go as should.....

 

[GBtortoises]

If available, my Russian tortoises usually start a burrow entrance under a large clump of grass or under a rock. Also with mine the entrance also always faces south, with the burrow being dug northward.

This time of year they will always "plug" the entrance in order to keep cold air and rain out. It can be difficult to find that entrance sometimes if the enclosure is overgrown.

I have to disagree with the notion that Russian tortoises don't dig true burrows. Field research and observation states otherwise. It's been recorded that they not only dig burrows in the wild but often times several animals can be found in a single burrow. My own will dig burrows as long as 24", sometimes longer with the ceilings of the burrow being as deep as 8" below ground level. Other times the burrow is only about 8" long, but almost straight down. The structure of the burrow may have much to do with the location that they choose to build it in. Mine that go straight down seem to have little protection around them while the ones that are dug more horizontal have adequate cover at the entrance.

 

[fgately]

Great responses. I am going on a job interview this morning, but will dig around a bit to find her when I get back. I will keep all of you up to date.

 

[Tom]

I wonder if you could "simulate" a good rain, to get her to come out.

 

[Utah Lynn]

OK. I'm not trying to be funny here. I don't know, so I will ask. I do not let mine hibernate.
For those that have their Torts in an outdoor enclosure, but bring them in for winter, would it be feasible, at this time of the year, to attach a metal disc on them and use a metal detector to find them if they have dug in?
Just one of my many weird thoughts.

 

[ascott]

Lynn...absolutely a procedure you can use for shallow burrowers.....heck during studies they use the box with antennas epoxied to tortoise shell to track their where abouts above/below earth level...

However knowing "about" where they are at is part of the task...last two years here I had idea of where they were but had to move cautiously to make sure my human size did not cause cave in and had to literally move dirt with hand shovel size dirt scoops out and away while not allowing a water path leading right into the burrow filling it before being able to physically get to the brumating (of no help LOL) tortoise to safely remove it....

P

 

[fgately]

Final chapter in the burrowing/missing RT saga.

I went out to start digging a few hours ago. To my absolute shock, my male Boris was also missing! I picked up both of the hides and yes he was nowhere to be found. It would be easy to get in my backyard and steal my torts so I figured someone now has two of my RTs! BASTARD! Stealing a horse woud get you hanged in the old west! The same thing should happen to the low down scum who would steal a guys beloved tortoises. (Hey, I was pissed!)

I then decided to start digging anyway just to put my mind at ease. I dug around for several minutes, and there was Boris! He had dug down about eight inches and packed himself in for the winter. I actually jumped when I found him. I was really happy I found him. "Could Daisy still be in here?" I thought to myself. So, I started digging again. I was careful to do the hard digging with a hand trowel and them move the loose dirt out of the way with the large two handed shovel. Just in case she was still in the enclosure I didn't want to injure her.

Flash forward two hours later...

I am almost ready to give up because there is no flippin way that tort is in this enclosure. No way! I have moved a couple hundred pounds of dirt and dug down almost a foot deep in almost half of the enclosure. About 14 inches down, and about 12 inches past the end of where the hide was, I stab the trowel into the dirt for the last time. Out of nowhere there appears that familiar tort shell pattern. I said "Holy @##%! There you are!" I stood there and just looked at the top of her shell for several minutes. I am thinking, how could she breathe? How would she dig herself out in the spring? How did she pack that dirt so firmly behind her? She was down deep and really tightly packed in. Imagine digging a hole, shoving a tortoise in, filling the hole back up with dirt, and then stomping on it to pack the dirt back in. That is how tightly she was dug in.

I am so happy to have found all of them, but I am mostly humbled and amazed by these tough little survivors. I was actually standing on her as I was looking for her.

Truly amazing animals.

 

[ascott]

*butterflies in my stomach* I totally pictured the whole adventure....and I totally know the feeling you felt when you reach familiar shell in the dirt....and it is absolutely an amazing silent moment one has....totally a display of their tenacious will to survive....

 

[Tom]

So glad you found them and didn't have to hang anybody...

 

[DolanKoops]

Aww lol that's the best story but yeah how do they breathe

 

[fbsmith3]

An absolutley amazing story, they have been around well before human walked the earth and they keep some of that instict no matter how we try to make their life better.

Again great story.