Constantly trying to escape?

[Chelsea]

I have a 2 and a half year old male Hermanns and he is constantly pacing the edges of his enclosure and literally trying to climb up the walls, weather he's indoors or out. He has plenty of stimulation in his enclosure, with lots of different textures and things for him to explore. His enclosure is 5ft by 2.5ft and the outdoor enclosure is around 40sq. ft. I am completley at a loss as to why he's doing this. He's healthy, eats well, seems happy. He's just always been like this. The noise of his claws constantly scratching at the walls of his enclosure is awful! He lives in my bedroom so it's getting a bit annoying now! I do have 2 females that I keep in a table that is above his. Almost like bunk beds. May this be why? Can he smell them or something?! I have no idea!

Any suggestions or solutions would be very welcome!

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Hermann's are fairly active, but the proximity of the females may well be part of the equation, too, as he can definitely smell them...how old/large are they?

The advice to allow him to get out and burn off some of his energy is excellent, as 5 X 2.5' is not very large, particularily if he's used to 40sq' outside (my torts have similar-sized indoor and outside enclosures, so they, too, get bored during the winter..every nice day we have, they get to go out on my approx. 35sq' porch for sun and to move around).

 

[Tom]

Some torts just have the wanderlust, but I bet those savory females above him have something to do with it. I had to move my lone male sulcata to the other side of my ranch as he was going crazy trying to get into the pen with the other females. Now that he's 100 yards away from them he's much calmer.

 

[keanser]

My 3 year old hermann is exactly the same. Constantly looking to climb and is always scratching at the glass and the side walls. To be fair his enclosure is now too small for him so he needs more stimulation. I will have a new enclosure for him in the next week so hopefully he can burn off his energy and this will quieten down. I dont think the females are driving him to this its just in their nature. It can be quite annoying but sure what can ye do.

 

[Kristina]

Honestly, it will probably make him worse if you have to remove her ever. On top of that but it can be very rough on the poor female.

 

[GBtortoises]

Some tortoises are pacers, no matter what. Male Eastern and Dalmatian Hermann's are some of the most notorious pacers. When outdoors mine will often roam their territory (enclosure) for hours at time, even with the females present. The same is often true indoors too. I have one male Eastern that is in an enclosure with two females. He pays no attention to them this time of year but paces the enclosure constantly.

As far as adding a female to "calm" your male, I doubt that will have much of a desired result. He will likely aggressively pursue any new females for quite some time until he has successfully bred with them or his environmental conditions change (light and heat decrease). The problem with adding one female is that she will be subject to all of his aggression which may cause her to become reclusive and worse yet, physically injured. Adding the two females may only heighten his aggression even more but it would at least take some of the burden from each individual female.

He may be smelling the females, but more likely he is very active due to temperatures and light duration. While it is probably frustrating to you, he isn't causing any harm to himself as long as he is kept well fed and well hydrated and there is nothing within his enclosure that can physically harm him.

 

[Tracy Gould]

my 2 year old paces around the table too, she use to try climbing and scratching the glass in her old table but since moving her to a new table made of wood she just walks around and climbs her hill in the centre of the table, have u tried making a hill for your tort, mines a humdity hide that i covered and she loves it when ever she gets the urge to climb she heads for that and plays Queen of the castle lol

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Some tortoises are pacers, no matter what. Male Eastern and Dalmatian Hermann's are some of the most notorious pacers. When outdoors mine will often roam their territory (enclosure) for hours at time, even with the females present. The same is often true indoors too. I have one male Eastern that is in an enclosure with two females. He pays no attention to them this time of year but paces the enclosure constantly.

As far as adding a female to "calm" your male, I doubt that will have much of a desired result. He will likely aggressively pursue any new females for quite some time until he has successfully bred with them or his environmental conditions change (light and heat decrease). The problem with adding one female is that she will be subject to all of his aggression which may cause her to become reclusive and worse yet, physically injured. Adding the two females may only heighten his aggression even more but it would at least take some of the burden from each individual female.

He may be smelling the females, but more likely he is very active due to temperatures and light duration. While it is probably frustrating to you, he isn't causing any harm to himself as long as he is kept well fed and well hydrated and there is nothing within his enclosure that can physically harm him.

GB, what do you consider the optimal minimum male-to-female ratio? 1-4? More? Less?

Thanks!

 

[Tom]

Some torts just have the wanderlust, but I bet those savory females above him have something to do with it. I had to move my lone male sulcata to the other side of my ranch as he was going crazy trying to get into the pen with the other females. Now that he's 100 yards away from them he's much calmer.

I don't have any tortoise breeding experience, but would it '' calm him down'' if a female was in the same enclosure so he could have...well...some stimulation?

Hi Ben. GB is definitely the authority here. He knows this species, and tortoise behavior in general, much more than I do. His answer was worded perfectly and there is nothing I could add.

 

[xLilliax]

My RF paces her cage, but I put paper around the edges so she couldn't see out, and now she's more relaxed and intrigued with her surroundings IN the cage rather than outside of.

 

[Jessicap]

What if you had inside walls / partitions / hills that he can climb, walk over and around that you could change the location of. It reminds me of my birds, I have to keep changing things up so they do not get bored. The cage can be huge but if they don't have new toys now and then they find ways to escape or start doing self harm.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

You need to wrap paper around the outside so he can't see out. He will be more satisfied to stay in then...he is trying to escape into that room he can see in

 

[GBtortoises]

"what do you consider the optimal minimum male-to-female ratio? 1-4? More? Less?"

With Hermann's tortoises I think the minimum male to female ratio is 1:2. I really don't think there is an optimum or maximum ratio since one male will actively and constantly attempt to mate with any and all mature females during peak breeding periods. In captivity I think it all depends upon space available to house the number of animals. I keep my Easterns and Dalmatians in groups of 1:2 and 1:3 based on the size of their outdoor enclosures (8' x 16'). If I used larger enclosures per group the number of individuals within the enclosures would be greater. For me anyway, I am more comfortable with fewer tortoises per enclosure, giving each individual more space. This is especially true for most Testudo species whose males tend to be very aggressive and territorial.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

"what do you consider the optimal minimum male-to-female ratio? 1-4? More? Less?"

With Hermann's tortoises I think the minimum male to female ratio is 1:2. I really don't think there is an optimum or maximum ratio since one male will actively and constantly attempt to mate with any and all mature females during peak breeding periods. In captivity I think it all depends upon space available to house the number of animals. I keep my Easterns and Dalmatians in groups of 1:2 and 1:3 based on the size of their outdoor enclosures (8' x 16'). If I used larger enclosures per group the number of individuals within the enclosures would be greater. For me anyway, I am more comfortable with fewer tortoises per enclosure, giving each individual more space. This is especially true for most Testudo species whose males tend to be very aggressive and territorial.

OK, that's good to know.

I'm planning to add 2 female E. Hermann's before I buy a male (already have a male offered to me for stud, but, unless I find a couple adult females, the breedings are likely not going to start until at least the spring after this one, if not the following, as Jennifer is still a bit too young.