A few questions.

Agent007

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Hi, I was here a few years back with my tort called Ziggy, she's much bigger now. I used to keep her at my parents house but then moved her to my grandpa's as he had a very big plot of land filled with grass so she could graze all day. Now, I remember reading somewhere that sulcata's are burrowers, when I first got her, she tried to dig in her enclosure multiple times (at that time idk what was happening) so I left her be. Now she's about 5-7 years old, and I have not seen her once try to burrow herself. When I first moved her to my grandpa's she was relatively small. About 8cm width, I was worried at first about rats and feral cats so I made him a enclosure that was about 1 Meter by 70 cm. Never meant it to be her permanent home, thought she would just burrow herself. Fast forward a few years while her width is about 30cm, she still sleeps in her old enclosure I made. She climbs back on her own at night. I never saw her try to make a burrow for herself. I am wondering if this is normal behavior or no? It seems like she is not aware that she should be able to make a burrow for herself at this age. Another question is, since I leave her free to roam around then whole day, she's been exploring my grandpa's plot of land, we had to gate some areas as it was dangerous for her to go to but she has tried to force herself to the dangerous area for years. Fast forward a few damaged gates her shell looks scratched. Badly. We try to tell her that its dangerous but she never listens. Still forces her way every single day. To the point once at night she got a chair stuck to her shell and scared the crap out of everyone living in my grandpa's as they see with horror a chair moving on it's own before seeing her. I am wondering is this is normal behavior, for her to be VERY VERY curious to the point she's very stubborn. And will her shell heal itself from all those scratches?
 

Chubbs the tegu

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What do u have for gates? Chain link? If he can see through the barrier then he will continuously try to get through it
 

Agent007

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Yes that’s normal. They are stubborn!
Can you show some pictures?
Hi, yes sure, please give me a few weeks or maybe a month lol, I'm not allowed to go out that often cuz of the virus going around. I have a few photos I took a few months back, a lot has changed but here we go. I have a video I took recently, I'll upload it to YouTube and send the link here.
 

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Agent007

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What do u have for gates? Chain link? If he can see through the barrier then he will continuously try to get through it
Yes. Unfortunately I can't do much, it's more of a moveable chain gate meant for me to park my car if I visit, or if someone wants to walk in or out from my grandpa's premises.
 

Agent007

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And while you are answering questions....where are you located? Pix!
I am located in Jakarta. Quite hot and humid so I guess he'll be fine, not too sure about air pollution though lol. Anyways can someone answer my burrowing question lol am a bit worried.
 

iAmCentrochelys sulcata

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Hi, yes sure, please give me a few weeks or maybe a month lol, I'm not allowed to go out that often cuz of the virus going around. I have a few photos I took a few months back, a lot has changed but here we go. I have a video I took recently, I'll upload it to YouTube and send the link here.
I’m not good at determining the gender of a tortoise but it looks like a male, it has pronounced Gular scutes.
 

Agent007

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I’m not good at determining the gender of a tortoise but it looks like a male, it has pronounced Gular scutes.
Yeah I just realised LOL I did remember seeing the tail and she looked liked, well a she. That was a few years back though, will check again once I see her. Or him.
 

Tom

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This is a male tortoise and you are housing it incorrectly.

They need a large enclosure with a visual barrier all around the bottom. Chain link fences and anything else that they can see through will cause them to injure themselves, as you are seeing. Make a proper enclosure for this tortoise.

They burrow to escape intense heat. If they have a suitable shelter, and shady cooler areas to escape the heat, then they don't need to burrow. Some of them burrow all the time, and some of them never try to burrow.
 

Agent007

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This is a male tortoise and you are housing it incorrectly.

They need a large enclosure with a visual barrier all around the bottom. Chain link fences and anything else that they can see through will cause them to injure themselves, as you are seeing. Make a proper enclosure for this tortoise.

They burrow to escape intense heat. If they have a suitable shelter, and shady cooler areas to escape the heat, then they don't need to burrow. Some of them burrow all the time, and some of them never try to burrow.
Ah okok, I've shielded off some areas using wood, but other areas like chain linked fences I cannot do anything about. Those fences is meant to be moved around lol for ppl to go in and out and cars too. Will try to build something out of plastic later on. Anyways thanks for answering!
 

Tom

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Ah okok, I've shielded off some areas using wood, but other areas like chain linked fences I cannot do anything about. Those fences is meant to be moved around lol for ppl to go in and out and cars too. Will try to build something out of plastic later on. Anyways thanks for answering!
You can attach strips of plywood fairly easily by screwing through the plywood on one side and into a 2x4 on the other. This will still allow the gates to move freely.

Better still, the tortoise should be contained inits own area where people aren't coming and going. One day someone is going to leave a gate open, and the tortoise is going to disappear. Seems impossible to lose such a giant beast, but believe me, its not only possible, its probable.
 

Agent007

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You can attach strips of plywood fairly easily by screwing through the plywood on one side and into a 2x4 on the other. This will still allow the gates to move freely.

Better still, the tortoise should be contained inits own area where people aren't coming and going. One day someone is going to leave a gate open, and the tortoise is going to disappear. Seems impossible to lose such a giant beast, but believe me, its not only possible, its probable.
I keep my tort in a place where ppl rarely come and go, apart from my grandpa that is, but yeah. The land is quite big so I dont think thats an issue? My grandpa as rarely see the tort as it usually hides or roams around somewhere. There is also another fence that keeps the tort from going to the main road, I have a entrance gate, followed with a fence. So if my tort somehow bypass the fence which it never did, only damages it, itll have to go through a full metal gate.
 

waretrop

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So here is what they can do.....

I used wire closet shelving..
wire5.jpg

wire4.jpg
used it upside down with the lip toward the chain link fence and then a piece of plywood so my sully could not see out the fence.

wire2.jpg
This is what she did at 60 pounds. She actually bent the stronger edges of the shelf. I am with my sully all the time she is outside but this year I will be reinforcing it with a second layer of shelving... Chain link fence just sitting on the ground will not keep these little tigers in...
 
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