Sudden hyperactivity in my horsefield

Hi
I wonder if anyone can help. I have a 15 yr old horsefield called Turbo! He is very well behaved usually & I don’t hibernate him. He is fed wild leaves & g
flowers in the growing season & what I can scrape together in the winter. His light is on for 11 hours daily. We live in Scotland so he has an outdoor enclosure for when the sun is out & warm & this year he was in it a lot! My problem is in the last 4-5 days he has become totally hyper. Racing around his box, upturning his bowls , climbing up the walls & just thumping & clattering around! He is driving us mad & to stop all the noise we have been just putting him on the floor & he tears around for hours!! I don’t want to do this all the time as it’s dangerous but it’s too cold to put him outside & I’m just not sure what to do?? Help!!

You putting him on the floor is probably part of the problem. Now that he knows there’s a bigger world out there, he’s going to try and get to it by racing around and climbing walls.

It could also be because his enclosure’s too small. What are the dimensions?

Oh yes I suddenly realised that one! He certainly isn’t daft!! Well it’s prob too small I think-94cms by 46! The problem is we haven’t got any room at mo to make it any bigger & up till 4 days ago he was absolutely fine with it! That’s why he has an enclosure outside but of course it has limited use!!

Ianthe Kinninmonth said:

Oh yes I suddenly realised that one! He certainly isn’t daft!! Well it’s prob too small I think-94cms by 46! The problem is we haven’t got any room at mo to make it any bigger & up till 4 days ago he was absolutely fine with it! That’s why he has an enclosure outside but of course it has limited use!!

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You’re right, that’s much too small. Your tortoise requires a minimum enclosure size of 8x4 feet, or 2.4x1.2 meters. Are you sure you don’t have room?

Horsfield tortoises are very active and, despite their small size, they need loads of floor space. Your enclosure is far too small and you are going to have to work something out.

An old bookcase with the shelves knocked out and lined with pond liner or heavy duty polythene to protect it from the damp substrate makes a great tortoise table.

The alternative, once your tortoise is big enough, is to spend summers outside and hibernate your tort for the winter

Thank you both for your posts. I agree his box is too small but up until now it really hasn’t been a problem! I don’t hibernate because I lost my last tort immed after hibernation -he got a respiratory infection & it broke my heart! I don’t want to go through all that again & yes I know all about the for & against!
I spoke with the exotic vet at the practice this evening & his conclusion is that he has matured & become hormonal being tricked into thinking its Spring by the warmer house! Certainly he does attack feet when he’s out like they are a mate or a competitor so it is something to consider! I do intend to give him more space but at mo that isn’t an option