stress or adventure?

[dreadyA]

Howdy,

Ive been wondering about the stress levels of some tortoises and how moving their habitat around causes stress. Have you ever thought maybe it could bring out the "nomad" in some of our shelled ones? By that, I mean, wouldnt it be similar to them being in the wild?
"Hmmmm, this here...never checked this hide out. " Or, "hey, that's a new spot for food!", "....what a neat new hill to climb!".
To me, I would think that a tortoise would also be liable to become stress from all the new surroundings,but isn't that what they encounter in "real life"?
Thoughts and opinions are very welcomed.

 

[dmmj]

From all of my expierences torts like predictability so moving to a new enclosure is usually not to their liking. Now of course we meet the odd tort who does not seem to mind moving and I think personally adding new stuff to the enclosure does not stress them out. My 2 cents.

 

[Candy]

I think Dale loves moving to new enclosures. This is his 4th one and they just keep getting bigger and bigger with more plants and now he has a couple of rocks in there. I think he's loving it, but who really knows.

 

[Yvonne G]

I've always been of the opinion that they DO NOT like you to rearrange their furniture. After all, in the wild, how often do their land marks get moved? He comes out of his den in the a.m. to forage and goes past the same bush, rock or tree, finds the same patch of delicious weeds or moves on to find another patch, but uses his land marks to find his way home.

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Howdy,

Ive been wondering about the stress levels of some tortoises and how moving their habitat around causes stress. Have you ever thought maybe it could bring out the "nomad" in some of our shelled ones? By that, I mean, wouldnt it be similar to them being in the wild?
"Hmmmm, this here...never checked this hide out. " Or, "hey, that's a new spot for food!", "....what a neat new hill to climb!".
To me, I would think that a tortoise would also be liable to become stress from all the new surroundings,but isn't that what they encounter in "real life"?
Thoughts and opinions are very welcomed.

Tortoise life could be more like a T.V. reality show! Survivor: Shifting Forest Floor.

 

[sammi]

Tortoise life could be more like a T.V. reality show! Survivor: Shifting Forest Floor.

OMG I love it!! Thats hilarious! =P

 

[Madkins007]

As a general rule, animals use their knowledge of their surroundings to find food, defend territory, find shelter, etc. Changes cause at least some stress.

In my herd of 5 Red-foots, the big guy will immediately bee-line away, less exploring, more escaping. Another one will look in every nook and cranny, the middle female will hide, the 4th will look around cautiously, and the youngest will freeze up in its shell.

 

[reptylefreek]

I think maybe moving the food dish around would be interesting. But dont be surprised if your tort was confused for a day. But I agree that moving the hide would be weird. I dont think that they dig a new hole every night. I think I'll move Marlins food dish and see how he reacts

 

[Isa]

Hermy hates it when I add or change something in his enclosure. He can be stressed out and hide for a day or 2.

 

[terryo]

When I brought Pio in for the winter, he stayed in his hide for two days and didn't even come out to eat.

 

[sammi]

Ernie will stay under his light, or right by his light for a couple hours, and then venture out to explore. If I put him back into his enclosure anywhere away from his light, he runs straight for his light and hangs out there until I think he feels "confident" to see his new arrangement.

 

[dreadyA]

Awesome.
Well that's interesting. When I had my redfooty, he too did not like changes. Except when I added a big dark humid hide tote.
I can understand how they would feel insecure about their surroundings, especially if they wake up one morning and they're in a new environment.
And of course they wouldn't dig a hole every day...they would be digging half the day! I would imagine them awaking from their den and setting off to a new patch of goodies and crashing the night under some leaves or something.

Oooorrrr. ...it could be them throwing their tantrums considering they're all spoiled!!

 

[dmmj]

honestly I think most of our torts are spoiled, but I would not have it any other way.

 

[ChiKat]

I'm torn on this issue because I can understand both sides.

My RT hatchling Nelson doesn't seem to get stressed easily- he is very adventurous! When I add new things to his enclosure he has to investigate immediately.
I recently moved some things around in his enclosure to make it better and more interesting for him.
I think he gets bored easily, as he often climbs at the sides of his enclosure to come out! When I rearranged his enclosure recently, it kept him entertained for a day

I'm interested to hear what other people think about this. I could see why it would be stressful to the tortoise to have their habitat rearranged...but in my case I think my tortoise enjoys it!

eta: One of the ways I changed his enclosure was by adding more substrate to the warm side. It slopes down slightly to the cold side now. He only burrows and sleeps on the warm side so I figured he could use a little extra depth to burrow in!
So where did he sleep the first night after I rearranged? In the 2-inch substrate on the cold side. Sigh.

 

[tortoisenerd]

My tortoise does well with some slight rearranging. I will keep familiar areas, and then switch up some other things. For a couple days after that he is especially active, exploring the new areas. I think constantly placing them in a brand new enclosure would be bad, but mixing things up is a good thing. For example, we will have fun and build Trevor some hills to climb, and then tear them down after a few days. I have cage furnishings like fake plants, rocks, driftwood, that I will rotate in and out. It gives me an excuse to buy him more! This also depends on the tort. You need to know how yours will react.

 

[Meg90]

Anouk was outgrowing her second enclosure for weeks. The bins I wanted finally came back in stores, so tonight I put together her new BIG GIRL enclosure. I had to ditch most of her baby furniture. She got to the point that she couldn't fit in her log hide any more, and when she tried, she just knocked it over. I think she was upset by this, but I was stuck waiting for the bins.

So tomorrow morning she will go in her new bin which is about 2.5-3 sq feet larger, with a new bigger log hide and different plants as well because she could bulldoze the old ones. The only things that are the same are some wall mounted plants, her waterdish and her feeding tile.

I think she will love it. I'm SUPER excited to put her in there (you can bet there will be pics and video). She's never been afraid of change before. I think if your tortoise is accustomed to it at a young age, just like any other stimuli, like noise or activity in the room they are housed it, the animal is not phased.

Both my girls are in the living room, the busiest room in my apt, and both were shy at first. Now they are outgoing, friendly and respond to being talked too. But if I kept them in the bedroom, which is hardly visited, I doubt they would be this way.

I think it all comes down to conditioning.

 

[dreadyA]

Anouk was outgrowing her second enclosure for weeks. The bins I wanted finally came back in stores, so tonight I put together her new BIG GIRL enclosure. I had to ditch most of her baby furniture. She got to the point that she couldn't fit in her log hide any more, and when she tried, she just knocked it over. I think she was upset by this, but I was stuck waiting for the bins.

So tomorrow morning she will go in her new bin which is about 2.5-3 sq feet larger, with a new bigger log hide and different plants as well because she could bulldoze the old ones. The only things that are the same are some wall mounted plants, her waterdish and her feeding tile.

I think she will love it. I'm SUPER excited to put her in there (you can bet there will be pics and video). She's never been afraid of change before. I think if your tortoise is accustomed to it at a young age, just like any other stimuli, like noise or activity in the room they are housed it, the animal is not phased.

Both my girls are in the living room, the busiest room in my apt, and both were shy at first. Now they are outgoing, friendly and respond to being talked too. But if I kept them in the bedroom, which is hardly visited, I doubt they would be this way.

I think it all comes down to conditioning.

Awesome, I bet you cant wait till the A.M.! I'll ne on the lookout for a thread on pics.I'm still waiting for my w a l m a r t to get them in. I want to be ready for a boxie before January.

Glad to hear Anouk will enjoy her big change

 

[Meg90]

Keep calling and checking. MAN I called today and some lady shouts to someone else "hey we get tree storage bins in yet?" and the other person mumbled something and then she tells me "Nope, and we're not going to". And I'm like, no, I have been waiting for weeks! So I say, "I want to talk to the person who just told you that" and she put me on the phone with another lady, and that lady went and checked in the back, and they had a fresh palette, not even opened yet!

Don't take no for an answer!

 

[ChiKat]

I need to get a bigger bin for Nelson! Where did you buy yours? What size is it?
He's so much more active now that he's 7-months old!
I can't wait to buy (or make) him a bigger enclosure, and decorate it, and watch him explore! You must be so excited! I can't wait to see pics
How old is Anouk?