Rocky loves his rock… too much

Hi I’m a new tort mum located in the north east of England. I adopted my male russain tort from a friend who no longer had the time for him. She has had him since a hatching bought from a reptile store and I am told he is 5 years old.

He’s active but does sleep a lot his temps are set at 35degree C between 6am-8pm dropping to 30 for during the night (essential to maintain warmth in his Viv as he is in my conservatory) his cool end sits at around 23-25 degrees and drops during the night to around 15-18 degrees.

He has a UVB strip light in his vivarium and a black heat emitting bulb in his basking area with a slate rock under that.

He has a cave to hide in which he seems to really like a half log and THE ROCK of which this post is referring to.

He is obsessed! He will circle and circle it for hours, chomping at it and mounting it - when he gets going he really goes for it, sound effects and all! He has also ended up on his back a few times during his antics.

Do I need to be worried or remove the rock?

Rockysmum said:

Hi I’m a new tort mum located in the north east of England. I adopted my male russain tort from a friend who no longer had the time for him. She has had him since a hatching bought from a reptile store and I am told he is 5 years old.

He’s active but does sleep a lot his temps are set at 35degree C between 6am-8pm dropping to 30 for during the night (essential to maintain warmth in his Viv as he is in my conservatory) his cool end sits at around 23-25 degrees and drops during the night to around 15-18 degrees.

He has a UVB strip light in his vivarium and a black heat emitting bulb in his basking area with a slate rock under that.

He has a cave to hide in which he seems to really like a half log and THE ROCK of which this post is referring to.

He is obsessed! He will circle and circle it for hours, chomping at it and mounting it - when he gets going he really goes for it, sound effects and all! He has also ended up on his back a few times during his antics.

Do I need to be worried or remove the rock?

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Hello and welcome from Devon. My Hermanns tortoise ismale( ,23years old) and he does the same thing with my shoes, if I am sitting with him, and with other objects if my feet are not available. It is perfectly normal in male tortoises - don't be worried about what he is doing, but perhaps you could get a flatter rock which might stop him flipping on to his back !
Angie

zolasmum said:

Hello and welcome from Devon. My Hermanns tortoise ismale( ,23years old) and he does the same thing with my shoes, if I am sitting with him, and with other objects if my feet are not available. It is perfectly normal in male tortoises - don't be worried about what he is doing, but perhaps you could get a flatter rock which might stop him flipping on to his back !
Angie

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Thanks for your response Angie! And hello from up North!
Do the temperatures I have mentioned sound adequate? Keen to make sure I’m making his environment as good as can be?

Welcome to the forum.

Rockysmum said:

Thanks for your response Angie! And hello from up North!
Do the temperatures I have mentioned sound adequate? Keen to make sure I’m making his environment as good as can be?

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I'm not very knowledgable about temperatures , but I'm sure someone else will be along who can help you
I love your mention of "Sound effects" when Rocky gets going- when Zola first started doing this - he was about 5, and he was on his dad's desk investigating the computer. His dad had his hand over the computer mouse, and Zola climbed onto his hand and started bouncing up and down, and making tiny squeaks -the first sounds he had ever made. His dad was quite worried, and called me - I couldn't help laughing - even now, I laugh thinking about it ! His sounds are still the same- little squeaks !
Anyway, Rocky will probably treat you to this intermittently, especially in spring-time, for years to come.
One thing I should mention -do you know that Russian tortoises are notorious escapologists ? Be prepared - they can climb walls and do all sorts of clever athletic tricks that you wouldn't have thought possible !
Angie

Rockysmum said:

Hi I’m a new tort mum located in the north east of England. I adopted my male russain tort from a friend who no longer had the time for him. She has had him since a hatching bought from a reptile store and I am told he is 5 years old.

He’s active but does sleep a lot his temps are set at 35degree C between 6am-8pm dropping to 30 for during the night (essential to maintain warmth in his Viv as he is in my conservatory) his cool end sits at around 23-25 degrees and drops during the night to around 15-18 degrees.

He has a UVB strip light in his vivarium and a black heat emitting bulb in his basking area with a slate rock under that.

He has a cave to hide in which he seems to really like a half log and THE ROCK of which this post is referring to.

He is obsessed! He will circle and circle it for hours, chomping at it and mounting it - when he gets going he really goes for it, sound effects and all! He has also ended up on his back a few times during his antics.

Do I need to be worried or remove the rock?

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LOL these torts!!! 😂
Welcome to the forum!

Welcome to you and your Rock and Roller.

Rockysmum said:

Hi I’m a new tort mum located in the north east of England. I adopted my male russain tort from a friend who no longer had the time for him. She has had him since a hatching bought from a reptile store and I am told he is 5 years old.

He’s active but does sleep a lot his temps are set at 35degree C between 6am-8pm dropping to 30 for during the night (essential to maintain warmth in his Viv as he is in my conservatory) his cool end sits at around 23-25 degrees and drops during the night to around 15-18 degrees.

He has a UVB strip light in his vivarium and a black heat emitting bulb in his basking area with a slate rock under that.

He has a cave to hide in which he seems to really like a half log and THE ROCK of which this post is referring to.

He is obsessed! He will circle and circle it for hours, chomping at it and mounting it - when he gets going he really goes for it, sound effects and all! He has also ended up on his back a few times during his antics.

Do I need to be worried or remove the rock?

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You should remove it. He’s stressed out by it and isn’t going to stop as long as it’s in his enclosure. Russians are territorial and he thinks it’s another tortoise. had a rock looking hide in my boys table and he did the same thing until he rubbed his tail raw and it bled.

Our Gaby does the same thing, intermittently. The squeaks give us the message that he needs privacy - and maybe a good long walk.

zolasmum said:

I'm not very knowledgable about temperatures , but I'm sure someone else will be along who can help you
I love your mention of "Sound effects" when Rocky gets going- when Zola first started doing this - he was about 5, and he was on his dad's desk investigating the computer. His dad had his hand over the computer mouse, and Zola climbed onto his hand and started bouncing up and down, and making tiny squeaks -the first sounds he had ever made. His dad was quite worried, and called me - I couldn't help laughing - even now, I laugh thinking about it ! His sounds are still the same- little squeaks !
Anyway, Rocky will probably treat you to this intermittently, especially in spring-time, for years to come.
One thing I should mention -do you know that Russian tortoises are notorious escapologists ? Be prepared - they can climb walls and do all sorts of clever athletic tricks that you wouldn't have thought possible !
Angie

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Yes, and Zola is a rock climber hard hat and all, I've seen the pictures.

MenagerieGrl said:

Yes, and Zola is a rock climber hard hat and all, I've seen the pictures.

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True, MenagerieGrl, but not all tortoises are quite as intrepid as him !
Angie