Tort doesn't use hide

[jerm42991]

I just found this interesting with my red foot. He won't use his hide at all. Everything else is perfectly normal, he is growing well and smoothly, he eats every day, is active, everything you would look for is perfectly normal. But he would rather bury himself in his substrate then go in the hide (which also has a layer of his substrate that is deep enough to bury in).

So I had two questions about this.

1. Has anyone else ever witnessed this with any of their torts? Not necessarily just red foots, but any in general

2. Should I just keep it in there and see if one day he eventually decides to use it, or could I take it out(right now it is a terracotta pot) and I was actually thinking of cutting it and making it into something that he would maybe use to climb over or interact in a different way since he isn't using it as a hide.

 

[Madkins007]

Tortoises in general do not seek out big caves or openings in the wild. Most of them seek out hides they can dig into, snuggle into, wedge themselves into, etc. Red-foots do this quite a bit. Most wild hides are a rather snug fit to the tort, so your guy is acting perfectly naturally.

Sometimes, in my more paranoid moods, I think the idea of the clay pot, half-log, or box hide is just part of the 'sell them more unneeded junk' mentality of the typical pet shop. My guys are perfectly happy under chunks of found bark and under the leaves of a spreading fern.

 

[ewam]

I would watch where your redfoot sleeps most nights and put a hide that is a little bigger than him there I use a half log and my tort sleeps in it every night. You can also put some long fibered sphagnum moss in it because they like to get under that to hide.