It's been a while!

[Jelly'sMom]

I hope you all can help me. My Russian tortoise, Jelly, has been pacing his enclosure (40 ft. long aquarium) back and forth, for several weeks. I've tried everything! covering the side walls so he can't see outside, soaking him (afterwards he still paces), I changed his substrate back to reptibark (enough so he could burrow). I've read there are three reasons a tortoise paces but even checking that doesn't help. I'm at my wits end. I'm about to take him to the vet to see if he has any ideas but I thought I'd try to get help from the great people on this forum first. Thanks for any and all help you can provide. Lisa and Jelly

 

[Maro2Bear]

Greetings. Sounds like a classic case of your enclosure being far too small. A 40 gal “long” aquarium isn’t close to being large enough. Most folks would say the absolute minimum/yes minimum, is along the lines of 4 feet x 8 feet. (Think a full size sheet of plywood).

Tort is pacing because it needs more room - they walk & forage miles in a day. Not sure what your temps are (inside the 40 gal), if you have it inside or outside? Does it have any outside crawl time?

Id spend money on making a larger enclosure & skip the vet.

Good luck

 

[Jelly'sMom]

Thanks Mark for your suggestions, very helpful. No he doesn't have any outdoor time cos' I live in an apartment and they spray pesticides all around the grassy areas.

 

[wellington]

Maro2Bear is dead on. Bigger enclosure is needed asap.

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome!

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Hello and welcome to the forum.
Russian tortoises are small. But very active and need room to roam.