How active should my RT be?

[morahstar]

I have a RT and i was wondering how active he should be. And if its okay to let him roam around the house, im afraid of spreading disease but i dont want him to not be active enough to the point that hes not healthy. Help?

 

[Yvonne G]

Once your Russian tortoise gets used to his new environment, he will be very active. Adult Russian tortoises are hard-wired to do lots of wandering, and so they need a pretty large habitat. They do much better outside than indoors, but if you provide a large habitat, indoors will work ok. How long have you had the tortoise and how big is his enclosure?

I don't believe in allowing tortoises out of their habitat. Once they realize there's a bigger world out there, they are never satisfied anymore to be left in the habitat...and its dangerous for a small tortoise on the floor. Its too cold, there are little things to eat and get choked on, he might find something that poisons him, he might get stepped on, etc.