# Hyperactive climbing tortoise



## davidoff (Mar 11, 2012)

Hello everyone, 

I've had a Greek tortoise for a little over 2 months now.. After following your caring guidelines i managed to get him through the exceptionally cold winter and, while he was very sleepy at the beginning he now seems very healthy and active.

However, for the past 10 days or so he has been exhibiting very strange behaviour. First of all he is very "jittery" at night time. On a couple of occasions I woke up to find that he has "rearranged" items in his enclosure. He moved his hiding cave to a different location, and also moved his feeding tray and bath tray around. (I am assuming he pushes these around during the night).

I have also found him sleeping upright, leaning on his cave (picture enclosed),




and on two separate occasions I have found him walking sideways on the side of his enclosure (picture enclosed).




This morning I woke up and found out he created a mount out of his bedding, and he was climbing on it. A couple of minutes later i heard a very weird noise and went to check after him. I found him on his back, struggling! I turned him around and it took him a couple of minutes to come to his senses. He then retreated to his cave for more sleep.

Does anyone know what might be causing this behaviour and what I can do to stop it? He lives in a big enclosure with UVA/B lights, eats a healthy amount of greens every day. He also poops regularly (or at least I think he does, once every 5-7 days) and gets soaked every other day.


I am getting very worried about this behaviour - Thankfully I was at home when he turned on his back, but what would have happened if I wasn't here?


----------



## Yvonne G (Mar 11, 2012)

He probably would benefit from being outside for a while.


----------



## webskipper (Mar 11, 2012)

Turtles and tortoises will rearrange anything they can.

Everything in my pen is a foot off the walls so there are no obstacles in the fast lane.

Is your pen heated at night? Heat promotes activity in reptiles just as it does For us.

Is he hungry or disturbed by the cat?

Substrate deep enough in his hide?

Water dish getting flipped? Then use a ceramic dog dish.

You might just Have a hyper active Testudo. I have one and she does sleep eventually.


----------



## Tom (Mar 11, 2012)

Often activity and energy increases around spring time. He seems like he might be going a little stir crazy.

Is that light always on at night? They usually sit still when it's dark. Some different substrate might help too. Something he could burrow into.


----------



## davidoff (Mar 11, 2012)

Hello and thanks for the quick replies!

I did a complete change of his substrate last weekend (same substance, but i took it all out and gave him clean layers) and it may be a bit more "shallow" than it was before - I will add a few more inches and see if it helps. 

He went on another run that lasted well over one hour after posting my original message - he climbed over EVERYTHING in his enclosure, and was trying to climb vertically up the walls, scratching away and falling. I am worried he will flip over again and I will not be here to see :/

I think he must have gotten tired eventually because he has been sleeping ever since. 

By the way his lights are only on about 10-12 hours a day - I turn them off at night


----------



## JoesMum (Mar 11, 2012)

Joe completely trashed his table yesterday. I was out and couldn't put him in the garden. He climbed and rampaged all day and took forever to calmndown after lights out. He went in the sunshine in the garden and is much better behaved this evening.

I'm afraid this is normal. If you can get him outside, even for a couple of hours, it will make a huge difference.


----------



## webskipper (Mar 11, 2012)

davidoff said:


> I did a complete change of his substrate last weekend



Not necessary. Just remove the poop and some substrate around it. Add enough to keep 3 inches.

Stuff his hide with substrate. Mixing in some Sphagnum moss in his hide will retain moisture which is one key to a smooth shell. What you are mimicking for the first 2 years is the moist burrow in the ground where he would be residing, in the wild. They will sleep a lot.

One way to give the tike a chance to flip back is to keep small rocks about a shells distance from the walls and randomly about the cage until his legs get longer and stronger.


----------



## wildak (Mar 14, 2012)

My male Sri Lankan Star is an insane paser when I take him away from his ladies. I tried different temps and lights at either end and it made no difference. Maybe he just needs a lady friend.


----------

