Tortoise Scratching at the Walls??

[momofmaximus]

Hi, I recently adopted a 2 year old male russian tortoise. he’s been scratching at the walls since I got him a few weeksn ago so I looked up why and most people said it was because his enclosure was too small. I started out by putting him in a 40 gallon plastic container that i know was a little too small for him so I decided to build him a bigger one out of plywood. The new enclosure is way more spacious (2 feet by 4 feet) and he’s STILL scratching at the corners. Is this just part of his personality/ normal behavior or am I doing something wrong??

 

[SuIcata]

Hi, I recently adopted a 2 year old male russian tortoise. he’s been scratching at the walls since I got him a few weeksn ago so I looked up why and most people said it was because his enclosure was too small. I started out by putting him in a 40 gallon plastic container that i know was a little too small for him so I decided to build him a bigger one out of plywood. The new enclosure is way more spacious (2 feet by 4 feet) and he’s STILL scratching at the corners. Is this just part of his personality/ normal behavior or am I doing something wrong??

It's hard to give u the answer without pics if the enclosure
Maybe he's just trying to get to his old home but he should forget about it in a few weeks...
Or maybe he's just walking along the walls to check out his territory...

I got a big Male sulcata and every morning he's walking the fence line and as he does he scratches the fence... I think he's looking for a weak spot... tortoises are smarter than they may seem [emoji1]

 

[pguinpro]

You could also try putting more substrate in the corners and around the sides; your tort is probably trying to dig down to get comfortable.

 

[Tom]

Hi, I recently adopted a 2 year old male russian tortoise. he’s been scratching at the walls since I got him a few weeksn ago so I looked up why and most people said it was because his enclosure was too small. I started out by putting him in a 40 gallon plastic container that i know was a little too small for him so I decided to build him a bigger one out of plywood. The new enclosure is way more spacious (2 feet by 4 feet) and he’s STILL scratching at the corners. Is this just part of his personality/ normal behavior or am I doing something wrong??

What was the source of this tortoise and how do you know the age? I ask because many of them are still wild caught imports and the people selling them at pet stores have no idea what the age really is. If it is a wild caught one, some of them have a harder time settling in to their new life. They continually try to get back to their "home" territory. The smaller the enclosure, the worse this tends to be.

By two years old they typically need something around 4x8' with sight barriers and some "furniture" to keep it interesting.

Here is some care info for you:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/

 

[momofmaximus]

heres what it looks like!

i got him from a reptile convention and the animals were definitely not in the proper conditions they were supposed to be. Maximus (my tort) was in a 10 gallon tank with another tortoise. and no water bowl so i’m sure he’s probably confused.

 

[Yvonne G]

Yeah, I'm thinking that's a wild caught tortoise, so that means he's probably around 8 or 10 years of age. The captive bred ones, younger than 8 or 10, have a cleaner-looking, lighter in color shell. It's going to take him a while to settle in and realize he's in a safe place. Try adding more sight barriers (plants, big rocks, knick knacks, etc.)