Russian tortoise not burrowing

Valerian

New Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2019
Messages
3
Location (City and/or State)
Florida
As I’ve said in a previous post, Hammy is a rehomed Russian tortoise who came from undesirable conditions. This time I’m questioning his behavior - he never tries to burrow. He has two enclosures, a planter and a bin I put him in for bad weather. The bin has roughly 5-7in of substrate and the planter has maybe double that at the bare minimum, but I’ve never seen him attempt to burrow. All he’ll do is find a corner or plant and tuck in, when he’s outside. Inside he’ll stretch out all over the place. His previous home was a 50~g tank with maybe an inch or two of sand and coco coir (which he was in for maybe 3-4 years) so I’m wondering if being in those conditions discouraged him from trying to burrow anywhere. Is it common for rescue/rehome tortoises to seem to forget to burrow? Is it something wrong on my end? Or, maybe a dumb question, is there a way I can teach him to burrow?
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,220
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
They don't all burrow. If conditions are to his liking above ground, there is no need to burrow. If conditions in the soil aren't to his liking, he won't want to burrow. Is it too wet?
 
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