Wedging and Climbing Behaviour! So Adorable!!!

[Mantissa3]

Lovely little Gibby's recent "climbing phase"...

He loves to get almost vertical, then try to stick like that with his head tucked in.

In the first photo he's trying to find his balance, then he pulls his back feet up and braces his feet against the leg of the table and the back of his shell against the board, and then he just "sticks" like that for a while- sometimes more than 1/2 hour.





In the bottom picture, one of our little rescue babies, Pumpkin, loves wedging into tight spaces where he feels the pressure all around his shell. Still can't figure out how he managed to get into this "parking spot" LOL and it was difficult getting him out for his soak too.

 

[wellington]

Cute pics, but I'm guessing they are doing this because they don't feel safe. They should not be roaming a room, but in an enclosure with lots of plants so they can have a safe feeling.

 

[Mantissa3]

Agreed about Pumpkin, the little freaked-out rescue, wedging to feel safe- he did this while I was cleaning, soaking his sib, and cutting up his meal to give him with his medication. Gibby is just climbing because he's been in that phase recently... He climbs stuff in his outdoor enclosure, in his indoor environment, and climbs up me when I carry him in to soak him or in from the yard.


Karen and little red foot baby Gibby

 

[Mantissa3]

Cute pics, but I'm guessing they are doing this because they don't feel safe. They should not be roaming a room, but in an enclosure with lots of plants so they can have a safe feeling.

By the way- I didn't mean to just ignore the good comment you made. I don't just let them roam around a room with no plants, feeling unsafe or threatened. Sometimes I do put them down on the living room carpet where they can get into their heavy brown paper shopping bag, or their box tipped on its side-

Gibby grew up doing that while I prepared his evening soak and cut up food and spot-cleaned his 5 foot x 6 foot tortie enclosure and "got the baby ready for bed" so he already has favorite hides around the living room that we keep clean, contained, and tortie proof, with plastic plugs in the floor outlet in case he does feel like taking a little stroll around the perimeter of the living room, while I'm prepping his stuff in the kitchen.

I'm attaching a picture of his tortoise table so you can see that he's got a good lifestyle and right now is just in a climbing phase that started up about a month ago, just after a huge growth spurt- maybe he's just feeling strong from being outdoors this summer and growing so much.

Last month I was reading a book in the yard while Gib wandered. I saw him checking out an old concrete pedestal from a planter by the wood fence. He spent about 20 minutes wedging and climbing just like I pictured here, with his claws against the porous concrete pedestal, and his little shell against the slick wood fence. Finally, when he was about 3 inches off the ground, he pulled his head in and his hind feet in and just "stuck" like that for about 20 minutes. Finally, I saw his hind legs come out again and he reversed the motion and pretty soon came over and just sat down on my foot like he does when he wants me to feed him.... He's truly just in a new climbing phase - probably tortie terrible two's. (only, with Gibby, it's wonderfl and amazing two's...)


LOL

 

[ZEROPILOT]

My baby R/F have always acted like they are half mountain goat. That behavior will eventually lead to them flipping over, so keep a good eye out. It's not as dangerous indoors as outside in the sun. (The flipping over) I lost a baby a couple of years ago that flipped over trying to climb a wall.

 

[AmRoKo]

My baby R/F have always acted like they are half mountain goat. That behavior will eventually lead to them flipping over, so keep a good eye out. It's not as dangerous indoors as outside in the sun. (The flipping over) I lost a baby a couple of years ago that flipped over trying to climb a wall.

Wow, sorry to hear that.

 

[AmRoKo]

I have reds that like to wedge themselves into places it's kinda funny but difficult when I need to get them out Lol. Mine mostly like to burrow and hide or usually just have their cute little faces sticking out of the ground looking around.

 

[Mantissa3]

I'm so sorry for the loss of the baby. Gib's flipped three times and each time I caught it, and righted him and hopefully comforted him a bit, within 5 minutes.

We spend nearly every waking minute watching out for him, supervising his choices of paths to wander in the yard, and just enjoying his company when he's not sleeping in his warm moist hide or brush pile in his tortie table.

I know what you mean about the exploration and trying to get him out- Gib went behind one of our huge cacti this summer and just stopped! Ouch!

They can flip so fast it's unbelievable!


Karen and little red foot baby Gibby

 

[Mantissa3]

By the way, while we are talking about wedging and hiding, one of the little rescues we got- Bump- went right into a patch of low growing succulents the very first time I let him wander (supervised of course) in our border garden. This is one of the most adorable pictures I've ever taken...