Tort grinding his own nails down...

Nmcgowan

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Hello everyone. I haven’t posted in a while because well...we haven’t really had a any problems with Darwin until now. This might be long but I would appreciate anyone’s insight on this situation.

Some of you may remember some of my posts of when I first acquired my leopard tort. At that time we had named “her” Molly. Then I was flashed in the bath one day and the name was changed to Darwin.

But anyway, Darwin is 5 years old. He is around 10-11 inches now and very heavy! He has an outdoor enclosure that we try to get him into as often as we can. We live in upstate NY so it’s mainly spring/summer weather we have to wait for. This season has been especially rainy and cold so we haven’t been able to get him in there yet. The outdoor enclosure is 11ft x 7ft. The walls are 3 layered high stone blocks and he has a hide out there.

During the colder months Darwin stays in our home in his own room in a 5ft x 5ft wooden box that we made. This can be seen in one of the pics. It has two heat sources and we keep a humidifier in his room. His room never drops below 60% humidity and he knows how to acclimate his temps himself. When we first built the box, we just lined it in plastic and put eco earth in. We noticed that he would dig through the plastic making a mess and sometimes getting stuck. So this last time I cleaned out his enclosure I put tiles along the walls and in each of the 4 corners as these were his main digging spots. It was great, he can’t get into the plastic anymore.

The Problem: Darwin has been trying to climb the walls lately...A LOT. So much so that today we noticed he has ground down his toenails to an alarming shortness. As you can see from the one pic he has caused some chafing on his foot and ground a couple toenails down to the quick. You’d think the pain of doing this would make him stop but even as I’m typing this I can hear him trying to climb the walls.

Any ideas on how to curb this behavior would be appreciated.
 

ZEROPILOT

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The abrasive tiles are GREAT for keeping nails filled down as the tortoise walks across that area regularly.( I use cement pads.)
Can you turn the tiles along the wall over so that they are shiny side out?
 

dmmj

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Is your tortoise climbing walls or corners? Sometimes they climb for a reason something wrong in the enclosure and sometimes no reason at all. Only things that come to mind now is temps or enclosure size. Sight barriers inside so your tortoise can't see from one end to the other.
 

Nmcgowan

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The abrasive tiles are GREAT for keeping nails filled down as the tortoise walks across that area regularly.( I use cement pads.)
Can you turn the tiles along the wall over so that they are shiny side out?

They are shiny side out. I figured that the back sides would be way too abrasive.

I think it’s the corner tiles that are causing the problem as he uses his front feet to try to go up them. I might just have to remove them from the corner. Which means he’s going to rip through the plastic again but that’s better than him hurting himself.
 

Nmcgowan

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Is your tortoise climbing walls or corners? Sometimes they climb for a reason something wrong in the enclosure and sometimes no reason at all. Only things that come to mind now is temps or enclosure size. Sight barriers inside so your tortoise can't see from one end to the other.

It’s the corners mainly. Like I said it’s a 5x5 box. One foot tall all around. My vet thinks I spoil him. At his current size he should be happy with what he’s in.

I could try adding some dog toys. Ik other tort owners have claimed that their torts play with them so maybe that would distract him from climbing.

His temps are nominal. We keep the house between 72 degrees Fahrenheit his light basking spot hit around 96 degrees and his heat emitter basking spot hits around 85.

Maybe fake plants might help? But I’m afraid he would try to eat them? He goes after anything green.
 

dmmj

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Block the corners then with something he can not climb.
 

dmmj

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Yes something big and round. Try some pots and things like that. Use your imagination
 

Nmcgowan

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Update:

I went out and bought a rubber dog ball to try to see if he is interested in that and I also picked up some rolled sod from Home Depot. The sod takes up about half of the enclosure.

He booped the ball around a bit and was super interested in the sod. I noticed the sod is kind of preventing him from climbing up his favorite climbing corner because he can’t get good traction on the grass.

We will have to see if this is the end all answer. I may still end up removing the tiles from the corners if he tries to climb again. May also get more toys.
 

Tom

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Sod is grown with all sorts of toxic chemicals. It is meant to look pretty and be bug free for decorative purposes. Its not meant to be inside an enclosure and lived on by an animal.

5x5' is much too small for an 11" tortoise. That is probably your main problem.
 

dmmj

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Get rid of the sod ASAP like said above heavy chemical use.
 

Nmcgowan

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Another update (sorry for the lateness): for those concerned we checked with the sod company from which we purchased the strip from. It’s totally organic fescue grass (no chems, no fertilizer). I wouldn’t put any plant life near any of my pets without checking this kind of info. I called the supplier while at my local hardware store. This obv means that it will probably die on us much faster as it is inside where there isn’t much sun. But we will keep watering it so it can stay alive and a distraction for Darwin until I am able to get him into his 11x7 outdoor enclosure full time.

Speaking of enclosures, again I want to stress that our indoor habitat for Darwin is only used during the winter when he spends most of his days sleeping. It has been approved by our exotic vet who has over 30 years in treating our shelled friends. At 15-20 inches we will be upgrading, probably going to turn the room he is in into his whole habitat.

I have hard wood floors so if anyone has an ideas on how to protect my floors and walls when that day comes that would be great!

This climbing activity only started up with the warm weather and should be remedied when I can get him outside to his larger enclosure. In my area it hasn’t stopped raining and his outdoor habitat is currently flooded. I need to wait for that water to clear out before putting him in there.

Thank you all for your help!
 

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