Hello,
We adopted a senior Sonoran Desert Tortoise from AZ Game and Fish in April 2018. He has 2 burrows and has an enclosure 40' x 30' with plenty of room to roam and tortoise friendly plants to graze on. He eats a balanced diet including the Grasslands Tortoise pellets (rehydrated). The veterinarian checked him out before we adopted him and he is healthy. His skin/eyes/shell all look fine. Our concern is that he's taken to scratching his chinplate and undershell against an 11' long accordian windows and as he does this he defecates and smears his feces along and between the pavers and along the glass. He is scratching the glass. I put up a barrier so he could not reach the glass and he's now moved to the double front door (wood) and yesterday he scratched along it and defecated 8 poops and smeared those along the welcome mat and door, as well as scratching the wood. This is very destructive and we cannot keep putting fences and baby gates as barriers to our windows and doors. It is unsightly and not functional. I believe he will just move to the next set of floor to ceiling windows if I block off the front door.
We reached out the the Desert Botanical Garden tortoise expert who manages their tortoises and who I took a class on care of and gardening for desert tortoises. They are at a loss and don't know why he's doing this. They referred me and I reached out to the Nevada tortoise group whose moderator told me it was probably a 60yo guy trying to get used to his new surroundings and suggested I wait through brumation and see if his behavior changes in the spring when he wakes up.
I'm reaching out for guidance and assistance to see if we can change his behavior or he cannot stay.
Thank you in advance.
We adopted a senior Sonoran Desert Tortoise from AZ Game and Fish in April 2018. He has 2 burrows and has an enclosure 40' x 30' with plenty of room to roam and tortoise friendly plants to graze on. He eats a balanced diet including the Grasslands Tortoise pellets (rehydrated). The veterinarian checked him out before we adopted him and he is healthy. His skin/eyes/shell all look fine. Our concern is that he's taken to scratching his chinplate and undershell against an 11' long accordian windows and as he does this he defecates and smears his feces along and between the pavers and along the glass. He is scratching the glass. I put up a barrier so he could not reach the glass and he's now moved to the double front door (wood) and yesterday he scratched along it and defecated 8 poops and smeared those along the welcome mat and door, as well as scratching the wood. This is very destructive and we cannot keep putting fences and baby gates as barriers to our windows and doors. It is unsightly and not functional. I believe he will just move to the next set of floor to ceiling windows if I block off the front door.
We reached out the the Desert Botanical Garden tortoise expert who manages their tortoises and who I took a class on care of and gardening for desert tortoises. They are at a loss and don't know why he's doing this. They referred me and I reached out to the Nevada tortoise group whose moderator told me it was probably a 60yo guy trying to get used to his new surroundings and suggested I wait through brumation and see if his behavior changes in the spring when he wakes up.
I'm reaching out for guidance and assistance to see if we can change his behavior or he cannot stay.
Thank you in advance.