Tanly is scratching her walls

[tuckerrl]

I moved Tanly into a new home in Oct. It is all wood sides, but I cut out the front and put plexiglass so I can see her (before she was in a glass aquarium and didn’t seem to mind the glass). Recently she has been scratching the sides of her home (the wood and plexiglass) and I don’t know what to do. It is so loud that it wakes me up in the middle of the night. I thought maybe she needed more digging room so I added more bedding but she is still doing it. Any suggestions? thanks!

 

[moswen]

i feel like i've been reading a lot about specifically the species of greek tortoises doing this lately.

3 questions come to mind: is her new home larger i'm assuming? is it too hot in there, and she's trying to escape the heat? and, i know you're saying you kept her in an all glass container before and it didn't bother her, but is she scratching mainly trying to get through the plexiglass? for some reason her new environment may have triggerd her to notice that there is a section of her home that she can see out of and she's trying to get out... but that's a pretty big "maybe." i'd like to know her temps first.

 

[tuckerrl]

yeah her new home is bigger. Her last home was 2 ft by 1 ft and the new one is 3 ft by 2 ft. I keep her around 90 with direct heat and 75 is her sleeper hole. She doesn’t just scratch at the plexiglass though, she scratches at the wood too. She has also been a lot more active with re-arranging her items in her home and tries to climb on top of half log thing.

 

[coreyc]

Can you post a pic of her new home ? how many hides do you have for her?

 

[moswen]

hum.... your temps sound right to me. maybe she's just getting used to her new home, how long have you had her in there?

do you think she will just calm down after a week or so of being used to her new home?

maybe, in the evening you could let her out and walk around the house for a little while (keeping an eye on her obviously!) just to let her stretch her legs? might tire her out and get her to sleep for a little while at night.

 

[tortoisenerd]

I disagree with letting the tort out and think that would make it worse...as then she'll feel cramped in the enclosure...and also very dangerous. Give her time to settle down, but my tort actually does this every evening for an hour or so...his way of getting settled down in his bed. Most torts do. Double check the temps regularly (you are looking more for a day gradient from 70 to 95, with night temps between 60 and 70), but you may think about moving the tort out of your bedroom, or adjusting the light schedule so the tort goes to asleep well before you do. Make sure you have an accurate thermometer like a temp gun (you point and click so you can get temps all around the enclosure very quickly). If you were seeing pacing with the scratching and it was during the day, that would mean maybe too small of an enclosure or stress (I think your enclosure size is ok), but scratching a bit at night is pretty normal unfortunately (I know--its very annoying--my tort does this and he's in the living room--we're usually trying to watch tv while he settles down for the night). If you give it more time it may stop once she settles in, but if everything care wish is ok, you probably just have to deal with it as they would do it in the wild too. Yes, enclosure pics could help.

 

[moswen]

well, i've never had any of my torts scratching at their enclosures so i don't know if it would make it worse to let her out, i was just making a suggestion.

however, a lot of people suggest letting your tort out to walk around your house or back yard is good excersize for your tort, and i've never heard of anyone pairing that with your tortoise being more unmanageable in it's enclosure. remember, until a few years ago it was a general belief that good excersize was considered one of the cures for pyramiding, and everyone had their tort out daily letting it get some new sights in. i doubt at that time that there were millions of scratching torts in their homes due to this practice.

but, like i said, i've never had this problem! so i don't know if out-of-the-enclosure excersize will help or not. i let my sullies and spiders out to walk around my living room once a week at least, and that doesn't seem to trigger a restlessness in them when they get put back in their homes, but they don't have a scratching habit either, so i don't know!

 

[onarock]

How old is she? Has she been with a male?

 

[tuckerrl]

Sorry it took me so long to reply. I am not sure how to post a picture on here, but if you search petco or petsmarts, its the only rectangle wooden tort home (only with the plexiglass put in the front and a half log in the main part for more coverage if she wants it). She has been in the new home since Oct and has seem to be doing fine. I normally do let her out at least once a week but with it being winter right now I haven't. I would like to let her wonder around my condo but I live in a rental and me landlord has told me no already (I dont pay a pet deposit and I dont want to). Her light schedule has been the same since I got her (meaning I dont change it when the time changes). Right now her light goes off around 9 and I go to sleep after 10, but she is doing this at any time in the day or night. She is in my living room, but again I live in a one bedroom condo so it just the next room over. She is ten years old but I have only had her since March 2010. I got her from an animal rescue in the Dallas area. Sadly I was not given much information on her life before or during her stay at the rescue. I can say she has not been with a male since I have had her.

 

[Tracy Gould]

Hi Have u tried changing the Table layout slightly not too much so it does not stress her but slightly to get her to explore the areas away from the walls, Shelby use to scratch a lot, i moved her plants and stuff around and place a hill Hide in the centre and she loves it she marches around the table climbs the hill and the only noise i get now is when she bangs her shell on the wood if she is checking her boundaries out

 

[Robert]

Are you sure that this is a new behavior? Is it possible that she did it all along but you just couldn't hear it because of the smooth nature of the glass aquarium? Just a thought.

 

[tuckerrl]

She has always been in my sight and I have never seen her do this. I have moved her half log to the middle and she changes around things if she doesnt like it. For now she climbs on top of her log and scratches at her walls.

 

[Robert]

Hmm that is interesting. I'm interested to hear how this plays out. I am new to this, and hence have nothing positive to add. But again, I am interested to hear what becomes of this. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Tracy Gould]

It sounds like she is trying to escape all i can suggest is adding more to explore and keep her busy

 

[Beastley]

My greek does this daily. He spends most days trying to escape his large cage. Makes a huge racket, and he flips and unflips himself constantly. I don't worry about it at all. he's been going strong for over a year in there now

 

[Yvonne G]

If she's waking you up at night, then she's just doing what tortoises do. Your little Tanly is trying to improve her "tunnel." What kind of hiding place does she have, and is the substrate deep enough for her to dig down into it at night?

 

[bikerchicspain]

My greeks are always scratching there wooden huts,
But the worst one is Pumpkin a Russian,
She makes a really annoying scratching noise most of the time. She was scratching at another tort yesterday because she decide she wanted to dig where the other tort was..