Scurrying to burrow (scared)

Blakem

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In the past week and a half, my 2.5 year old sulcata has been working on a burrow. I have been letting her dog it and she now sleeps in there and digs most of the day it seems.

Lately, in the morning when I go to the enclosure to feed her, she will see me and scurry to the burrow as quick as possible, which is actually pretty quickly. I will then tap on her house and she will eventually come back up, but it takes about 5-10 minutes. She never used to get as scared an seems to be familiar with me. It used to be that she would hear me an come out of her house to eat, almost right away. She's not shy and I've had her since She was 3 months old.

I'm sure the answer could simply be she just gets startled but it's a behavior I've never seen until recently!

Sure


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Here's some great plant identification websites I use.

http://www.tlady.clara.net/TortGuide/diet.htm#plantlist

http://africantortoise.com/edible_landscaping.htm

http://m.thetortoisetable.org.uk/m/plants_19.asp
 

Tom

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Hi Blake. What you are seeing there is totally normal, natural sulcata behavior. The defensive behavior you are seeing is more typical of how they behave in the wild. Walking around out in the open exposed and unafraid in our enclosures is what should seem weird to us...

All of mine of any age tend to behave that way with a burrow. Even the older adults who had never been underground immediately started behaving that way as soon as they made a burrow. They were teenagers that I raised from hatchlings. They often sit at the mouth of the burrow and as I approach they exhale forcefully and shoot backwards down the burrow into the the abyss. What's funny to me is if I bring a tub of soaked Mazuri over, they suddenly forget to be a fierce wild animal and come popping out of their burrow acting "normal".

When Fall comes and you start keeping her above ground again, she will go back to "normal" almost immediately. Then when late Spring hits and you give her back the burrow, this will start again. They tend to desensitize a bit as summer progresses. Hand feeding helps with this too.

Also, most sulcatas really "come out of their shell", so to speak, once they hit three. In the next 6-12 months you will start to see a level of boldness that you haven't seen before.
 

Blakem

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bouaboua

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May I ask for a photo of her and her burrow??

Thanks.
 

Blakem

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Yellow Turtle01

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Wow, he's been busy.
My tort did that at first with her new burrow, but now when I come out she just lingers there instead, and doesn't hide quickly :D
 

Blakem

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Wow, he's been busy.
My tort did that at first with her new burrow, but now when I come out she just lingers there instead, and doesn't hide quickly :D

Thanks for the heads up! It's strange that it seems to be a phase.


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(This is my signature)
Here's some great plant identification websites I use.

http://www.tlady.clara.net/TortGuide/diet.htm#plantlist

http://africantortoise.com/edible_landscaping.htm

http://m.thetortoisetable.org.uk/m/plants_19.asp
 

Yellow Turtle01

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