# Just a couple of ideas to keep your tortoise entertained



## erinlyndon (Oct 23, 2016)

My first idea is getting an old multicolour pen (no ink inside) and using the the colour selection levers to hold the food, if that makes sense. Pebble loves this, she spends a lot of time trying to eat the food. If you have a bigger tortoise you could use one of those jumbo pens. Make sure there is nothing on it that they can ingest.


My second idea is just getting a stone with holes in it like this, I got mine from a beach. Not only does it entertain them but it will help with beak growth

Hope you like my ideas.


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## GingerLove (Oct 23, 2016)

Neato! Cutie little Russian, too!


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## erinlyndon (Oct 23, 2016)

thank you @GingerLove


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## wellington (Oct 23, 2016)

Love your ideals. Thanks for sharing


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## Yvonne G (Oct 23, 2016)

Good on you for thinking of your tortoises mental well-being!!!

Another way to hold the greens is to get some sort of clip (stationery stores or bird clip) and clip the greens up high on a wall of the habitat.


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## RosemaryDW (Oct 23, 2016)

Your tortoise is adorable!


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## Big Charlie (Oct 23, 2016)

Great ideas!


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## Lemonade (Oct 31, 2016)

Especially good for those indoor enclosures. Give them a chance to be hunter gatherers.


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## TammyJ (Oct 31, 2016)

Good ideas! And cute tortoise. What are the leaves in the first and second pictures?


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## TerrapinStation (Nov 2, 2016)

We have our Leo in a surfing school... totally RADdichio, man........


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## Beasty_Artemis (Nov 3, 2016)

Wow! What amazing ideas! I am totally on a mission to find the right pen to use!
And that rock is coral! I cannot believe I left big pieces of coral just like that behind last time I was over on the beach. I'm really wishing I had a piece now.


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## erinlyndon (Nov 4, 2016)

Thank you everyone, @TammyJ there she is eating chickweed, dandelion, different types of lettuce, and a bit of spinach, @TerrapinStation your tortoise is so cute


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## Beasty_Artemis (Nov 5, 2016)

I remember reading a post a while back about someone keeping a ping pong ball in there tortoise enclosure, and it supposedly liked to headbutt it around. Anyone have any thoughts on this?


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## GingerLove (Nov 5, 2016)

Some of them think it is an egg and it confuses them. However, I'm still tempted to try it.


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## Tidgy's Dad (Nov 5, 2016)

Beasty_Artemis said:


> I remember reading a post a while back about someone keeping a ping pong ball in there tortoise enclosure, and it supposedly liked to headbutt it around. Anyone have any thoughts on this?


Tidgy has a golf ball sometimes. 
She will bosh it about a bit occasionally at first, then just ignore it unless it's in her way. 
Otherwise she just has her Nintendo and chess set.


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## GingerLove (Nov 5, 2016)

Hey, @Tidgy's Dad , your profile picture is changing every day!! Is the pictures from a movie or something?


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## Tidgy's Dad (Nov 5, 2016)

GingerLove said:


> Hey, @Tidgy's Dad , your profile picture is changing every day!! Is the pictures from a movie or something?


hello!
Some of them have been from Doctor Who.
Today's avatar is a bonfire as it's Guy Fawkes night in the UK, when bonfires are lit and a figure is burned of the Guy who tried to blow up parliament and the King in the Gunpowder plot but was caught and executed.


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## GingerLove (Nov 5, 2016)

Wow, I never knew about Guy Fawkes night. I've watched a few of the old Doctor Who's (the fourth doctor, particularly), but not the new ones. However, those creatures looked very Doctor Who-ey to me.


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## Tidgy's Dad (Nov 5, 2016)

GingerLove said:


> Wow, I never knew about Guy Fawkes night. I've watched a few of the old Doctor Who's (the fourth doctor, particularly), but not the new ones. However, those creatures looked very Doctor Who-ey to me.


These were 3rd Doctor,1971.
Tidgy seems to like the title music sequence swirls, but her attention span doesn't last for a whole episode. 
That's something else to keep a tortoise entertained. 
Telly.


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## Lyn W (Nov 6, 2016)

Tidgy's Dad said:


> Tidgy has a golf ball sometimes.
> She will bosh it about a bit occasionally at first, then just ignore it unless it's in her way.
> Otherwise she just has her Nintendo and chess set.


Lola used to push a tennis ball about but then started to walk over it and it would get stuck under him.. I tried a bigger ball but then I read somewhere here that because balls are tort shaped (to a tortoise) they are actually a bit stressed by them so barge them as they would another tort.
Lola tends to ignore them now.
I have a play tunnel from Ikea that Lola likes to walk through and lie in the middle of.
I started off with this cat play tunnel (with all attached cat toys etc removed) and he liked that so got him a bigger version.


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## Tidgy's Dad (Nov 6, 2016)

Lyn W said:


> Lola used to push a tennis ball about but then started to walk over it and it would get stuck under him.. I tried a bigger ball but then I read somewhere here that because balls are tort shaped (to a tortoise) they are actually a bit stressed by them so barge them as they would another tort.
> Lola tends to ignore them now.
> I have a play tunnel from Ikea that Lola likes to walk through and lie in the middle of.
> I started off with this cat play tunnel (with all attached cat toys etc removed) and he liked that so got him a bigger version.


I think that you are right and the ball barging is aggressive territorial behaviour. 
But I don't think that's necessarily bad for your tortoise, keeps it active and behaving normally, without risk of injury. 
Don't think they get too stressed as they tend to win! 
And then realize it's no threat and ignore it.


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## Beasty_Artemis (Nov 6, 2016)

Hmmm mabey I will give it a try then...


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## erinlyndon (Nov 8, 2016)

Pebble doesn't really like playing with anything, I've tried a lot of things, she either tries to bite them or she gets scared. She prefers her food to be presented in different ways


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## Beasty_Artemis (Nov 8, 2016)

I just finished making my "tortoise toy" out of two of those art clamp things. (clips?) I thought that was a great idea to keep Artemis mentally stimulated.


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## Beasty_Artemis (Nov 8, 2016)

Whoops! My dogs puzzle toy ended up in the pic as well.


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## GingerLove (Nov 8, 2016)

Has your tort tried to eat the clip-thingy? Creative idea!


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## Maro2Bear (Nov 8, 2016)

Tidgy's Dad said:


> hello!
> Some of them have been from Doctor Who.
> Today's avatar is a bonfire as it's Guy Fawkes night in the UK, when bonfires are lit and a figure is burned of the Guy who tried to blow up parliament and the King in the Gunpowder plot but was caught and executed.



Remember remember the 5th of November; Gunpowder, Treason and Plot.
I fail to see, how the 5th of November, could EVER be Forgot!


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## kathykit (Nov 12, 2016)

erinlyndon said:


> My first idea is getting an old multicolour pen (no ink inside) and using the the colour selection levers to hold the food, if that makes sense. Pebble loves this, she spends a lot of time trying to eat the food. If you have a bigger tortoise you could use one of those jumbo pens. Make sure there is nothing on it that they can ingest.
> My second idea is just getting a stone with holes in it like this, I got mine from a beach. Not only does it entertain them but it will help with beak growth
> 
> Hope you like my ideas.



Love your ideas! simple and easy to get it!
How lovely!


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## Janelle Green (Nov 12, 2016)

Love the ideas ! I am going to try them thank you


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## Maggie Cummings (Nov 12, 2016)

Tidgy's Dad said:


> hello!
> Some of them have been from Doctor Who.
> Today's avatar is a bonfire as it's Guy Fawkes night in the UK, when bonfires are lit and a figure is burned of the Guy who tried to blow up parliament and the King in the Gunpowder plot but was caught and executed.



All I can see in your Avatar is in the lower right corner, it looks like a tiny guitar (?) the rest is blank. Am I misunderstanding something?


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## Tidgy's Dad (Nov 12, 2016)

maggie3fan said:


> All I can see in your Avatar is in the lower right corner, it looks like a tiny guitar (?) the rest is blank. Am I misunderstanding something?


Hi; Maggie. 
It's a poppy, symbol of Remembrance Day in the UK, what you call Veteran's Day in the US. 
Lest we forget...............


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## Maggie Cummings (Nov 12, 2016)

Tidgy's Dad said:


> Hi; Maggie.
> It's a poppy, symbol of Remembrance Day in the UK, what you call Veteran's Day in the US.
> Lest we forget...............



We give out poppy's too. Now that you've told me, of course I can tell. Sometimes I'm just a goofball, plus I can't see very well. Thanks


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## Beasty_Artemis (Nov 12, 2016)

GingerLove said:


> Has your tort tried to eat the clip-thingy? Creative idea!


Actually snobby girl hasn't even noticed it yet! She just walks around without stopping to check it out. But I HAVE been putting yellow bell pepper pieces in it. Mabey she is trying to train her pet human to find something green and leafy instead...!


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## Moozillion (Nov 13, 2016)

The most successful entertainment I had for my Hermann's was a small head of live romaine. One of my friends grows greens in her garden to feed her rabbit, and almost always has romaine growing. She dug up one of the heads of romaine, roots, dirt and all, and we planted it in Elsa's enclosure. It towered over her like a tree but she went for it! She chewed on it, pushed on it and worked on it for 3 whole days. 
She was victorious!!!!


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## Beasty_Artemis (Nov 18, 2016)

So I have been thinking about giving the ball idea a try for a while. But I continuously procrastinate on the idea because I can always see something wrong with the toys I'm inspecting: Too big, she could get scared. Too textured, she might flip herself with that one. Too brightly colored, Too soft, Too squeeky, etc.
Well my one superficial human weakness was for a mini soccer ball...
Well, when I was at Petsmart, my Mom discovered these!

They are supposed to be 1.5 inches. My cat would not leave the baseball alone, and my dog got her own mini basketball! Oh yeah, they are KONG toys. Probably the smallest balls they make.


I will have to update if Artemis plays with her ball or not!


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## Beasty_Artemis (Nov 18, 2016)

So next time I'm out and about, I'll have to go get another 3-pack of these tiny KONGs, since my other girls insisted I share.
I was thinking at first about giving them all to Artemis once I'm finished with my Red Foot table.
I'm wondering...is the tiny basketball too orange for a tortoise ball? Would she just see it as a fruit? 
There is also an 8-ball mixed into the assortmented balls I passed on, but I was thinking she might see it as a big eyeball, and get scared. No?


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## Big Charlie (Nov 18, 2016)

Beasty_Artemis said:


> So next time I'm out and about, I'll have to go get another 3-pack of these tiny KONGs, since my other girls insisted I share.
> I was thinking at first about giving them all to Artemis once I'm finished with my Red Foot table.
> I'm wondering...is the tiny basketball too orange for a tortoise ball? Would she just see it as a fruit?
> There is also an 8-ball mixed into the assortmented balls I passed on, but I was thinking she might see it as a big eyeball, and get scared. No?


I think you are overthinking it. Just try one to see what happens. We had a soccer ball in our yard for a long time. I don't think Charlie ever played with it. He might have tried to mount it.


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## erinlyndon (Nov 24, 2016)

I've tried pebble with balls she either trys to eat them or is scared, if you want to try your tort with a ball just make sure it won't fall appart and its got to be big enough so it won't get ingested by your tort


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## erinlyndon (Nov 24, 2016)

hol-ee rollers are meant to be good too, i think their a dogs toy so they are very strong, and you can put food in them as well


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## leigti (Nov 24, 2016)

My Russian has made a toy out of many of the potted plants I put in her enclosure. So I finally just said heck with it and put it in a plastic plant pot. She'll knock that thing around and dig at it and flip it around all the day long.


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## Beasty_Artemis (Nov 25, 2016)

So I noticed my tortoise chewing on a dried piece of watermelon stuck to a rock in her enclosure. When I removed it, and gave her some greens, she kept searching for the missing watermelon rock and ignored her food.
Would some dehydrated fruit on the surface of a rock be a good tortoise treat, since they can grind their beaks?
I thought it seemed easy enough to make a bunch of them.


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