Head Banger!

SarahTucker06

New Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2020
Messages
3
Location (City and/or State)
London England
Good morning all,

Apologies in advance for the long post - trying to give as much info as possible!

I rescued a 6 year old Horsefield Tort from a school last year. He was living in a tiny table with, eating mainly blueberries and lettuce, he had the wrong kind of substrate, no natural light and basically hid all day. He had also received a head injury having been trodden on. We got him in July and had him vet checked and thankfully he is fine! I made sure I did all the reading beforehand and bought the biggest ready made table that I could (4ft x 2ft), filled it with a mixture of soil type substrate, wood chippings and stones etc. He has his basking light, a large hide, water bowl and a few nick nacks in there for entertainment. He seems to love his table and bombs up and down it. I feed him on a mixture of weeds, salad leaves, dried tortoise nuggets and dried tortoise flowers etc.

The only problem I have is that he constantly headbutts, bangs and claws at the glass sides! These have a pattern on the lower half so he can't see out but he still does it! Sometimes for hours!! He insists on climbing up the side of his house in a bid for freedom and generally falls off... At the school, the lady who used to have him used to let him out to run in one of the classrooms from time to time and I had been doing the same until I read on here that its a bad idea. I used to let him run around my kitchen (supervised) after the floors had been hoovered. I had set up a basking light for him in the corner and popped bits of food around for him to find. We have no other pets to bother him and my children are tortoise savvy... He seemed pretty chilled out whilst out of his table and as soon as he was worn out, i'd pop him back. He would sleep for an hour or so, then go back to head banging! I read on another post that they shouldn't be allowed to roam the house so gradually stopped this but the head banging has gotten so much worse when he isn't allowed out!

We live in London UK so the weather is generally damp which means I can't really build something permanent in the garden for him (as i'm told Horsefields and damp weather aren't friends), and we have a large number of cats and foxes in the area...

Can anyone suggest what i'm doing wrong please? Or anything I can try? I absolutely adore the little pickle and want him to be happy and content, not constantly trying to give himself brain damage!

Thank you in advance :)
 

Blackdog1714

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2018
Messages
4,666
Location (City and/or State)
Richmond, VA
Have you taken him out to stretch his legs or walk in the yard? It sounds like he know there is more beyond those walls and wants the room to move. Honestly a 4’x8’ should be minimum for best exercise please include photos
 

SarahTucker06

New Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2020
Messages
3
Location (City and/or State)
London England
Have you taken him out to stretch his legs or walk in the yard? It sounds like he know there is more beyond those walls and wants the room to move. Honestly a 4’x8’ should be minimum for best exercise please include photos

Hello there,

Thank you for your response, please see below pic as requested...

Bodee House.jpg

Yes - he goes out for a play in the garden when the weather is good enough. Being in London that's quite a limited space of time and a definite no go over the colder months.

Do you think its just a case that his house is to small? His previous table before I rescued him was half the size bless him...

Many thanks,
Sarah
 

RosemaryDW

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5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2016
Messages
4,144
Location (City and/or State)
Newport Coast, CA
Welcome and thank you for rescuing your little one; you’re giving him a much better home.

I’m sorry to say so but it’s much too small. He got a taste of the bigger world and he wants more.

I imagine your house/flat must have limited space. If you can’t manage 4 x 8, stick your head into the enclosures thread and poke around for folks who have built two level spaces with a (safe) ramp.
 

SarahTucker06

New Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2020
Messages
3
Location (City and/or State)
London England
Welcome and thank you for rescuing your little one; you’re giving him a much better home.

I’m sorry to say so but it’s much too small. He got a taste of the bigger world and he wants more.

I imagine your house/flat must have limited space. If you can’t manage 4 x 8, stick your head into the enclosures thread and poke around for folks who have built two level spaces with a (safe) ramp.

I will do exactly that! Thank you very much :)
 

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