60yo Sonoran Desert Tortoise Smearing Feces and Scratching Glass and Wood

[Tammy P]

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.

 

[TammyJ]

If you can't make his enclosure secure away from your house/windows etc., I think you may indeed have to re-home him. He has had five months with you already and is still exhibiting this behaviour. An effective barricade and enclosure seems to me to be the answer here. Can you post some pictures of him and the space he is in? This may give us some ideas to help.

 

[goldie kay]

Hi,
Mine is doing something similar. Her eyes and fecal pellets appear normal. For weeks now, she has been pacing along my slider and side of the house back and forth for hours walking over and smearing her feces. I sweep them out of the way. I have let her in the house a few times and she just roams about constantly. It's like she is looking for something. In fact, I let her in about 30 minutes ago and she finally settled down under a shelving unit. She can't stay there, so I'll eventually but her back outside.

It's the end of monsoon season. The wild tortoises in the area are also very active.

I asked the folks at the Desert Museum and they said that males will try to look for females this time of year. This might explain your tortoise's behavior. Mine is a female and females store sperm for years and she may be looking for a place to lay eggs. I cleared out a sandy part of the yard so that she could dig but she seems intent on coming in the house. I'm wondering if she is simply looking to dig a clean new burrow even though she has two burrows in different parts of the backyard! I'm going to scrape out her existing burrows with a hoe to freshen them up. Going to do that tonight!

I have temperature and humidity monitors in each of her burrows and they have been no higher than 85 degrees since June. In dry hot June, when the burros get above 85 I dampen the entrance and/or set up a mister outside the entrance and it cools it down several degrees.

Background on my tortoise: I adopted a sonoran desert tortoise, female, estimated age about 25 over a year ago. The first summer, she was reclusive. This summer much more active. She has the full range of my 40x60ft back yard full of native grasses (I let the "weeds" go wild and pull only datura and tobacco as they are poisonous). I don't feed her supplements or add any greens she doesnt already get in the yard. I've tried giving her kale, chard and parsley but she is not interested. Occasionally I give her a fig which she loves. She even has prickly pear fruit that falls into the yard.

Hope this was helpful.
Carolyn

 

[goldie kay]

Oh, another thought. Perhaps recently rehomed tortoises are simply trying to get back to their old territory. My tortoise lost her home to a construction site along with many others who were likely her social network. She may be trying to go back to see them.

 

[Yvonne G]

It might very well be that your new tortoise was allowed in the house to hibernate. This is the time of year when they are starting to think about where they are going to hibernate (actually called 'brumate' in tortoises). He might be used to being allowed in through the sliding door.

 

[goldie kay]

Update on my tortoise. She has been sleeping under my extra bed for the past couple of days. I guess she was sick of the heat and ready to slow down. Good thing I have tile through out the house and her poops don't smell. She has only pooped once.
I leave food out but she is not eating. They say they can slow down for weeks at a time especially after monsoon season.