Tortoise fascination in Ball! ⚽️

[CaggyQ]

Hi everyone,


Bit of a fun observation! My beautiful Russian Tort, Yoshi, has become fascinated in a new ball I put into their enclosure. We have called the ball Wilson (Castaway vibes) because of this new found friendship! Would anyone have any ideas of why my tort likes to hang out with the ball? I do wonder if they’d be interested in a playmate, but Yoshi hasn’t officially been sexed yet so I don’t want to introduce a new tortoise unless I know how they may behave towards each other!

See photo of Yoshi and Wilson included 😉

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I have a ball in my outdoors Redfoot enclosure.
Sometimes a tortoise will blow off some steam pushing it around.
I'm not sure if it's helpful for a single tortoise. It's aggressive behavior. He thinks it's another tortoise.

 

[Tom]

It is most likely being territorial, and possibly breeding frustration. It is not friendship.

Tortoises should never be kept in pairs. Sexes don't matter. A new tortoise will most likely be outright attacked. If you want a second tortoise, (...and who doesn't?!?) get a second enclosure for it.

A few helpful observations:
1. The water bowl needs to be larger.
2. Both the food and water dishes need to be sunk down into the substrate for easier tortoise access.
3. The hay needs to be removed. Your substrate needs to be kept lightly damp to reduce dust and increase humidity, and this will make the hay mold. Russians are not grass eaters, so the hay serves no purpose and is a risk.
4. Your tortoise needs a much larger enclosure. 4x8 feet is the minimum. I see that your are using a vivarium, and contrary to what is said on the internet on a regular basis, those are best. You just need a much larger one than what is sold in stores.

I recently typed up this big thread. You might find some useful info in it in spite of the title:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

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