Activity level for tortoises

Sticky Feets

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Dec 16, 2017
Messages
72
Location (City and/or State)
Fresno, CA
Hi all,

If anyone has followed my previous posts about my Hoppy a leopard tortoise, you’ll know he’s never been a great eater or grower. Anyways, he’s about 11 months old now and just at 96 grams. I read all the time that tortoises need exercise and should be provided with a large enclosure with lights and UV and heat. But Hop never does anything inside his enclosure except pick at his food and go hide under the sphagnum moss. He’s rarely out basking or exposed to the UV light. So recently when I moved back to my house with a safe chemical free yard, I’ve been taking him out at partial cloudiness to get some natural UV. Someone mentioned a long time ago just a few hours outside a week should be enough. Anyways, I noticed that he’s really active when outside walking around on my lawn or driveway, interested in his surroundings and picking at weeds he stumbles across...basically acting like how I thought a tortoise should, he’s been getting about 2-3 hours of sun per day for the past few weeks and already put on more than 10 grams, which is the most he’s ever gained in such a short period. And I always weight him after a massive poop too just to keep things consistent. So just wondering if anyone can explain why he doesn’t do anything in his enclosure but very active when outside. He’s in a 4 foot long sterility tub...I know that’s smaller than recommended but he literally stays in one corner of his enclosure so I never bothered upgrading. I did recently add some dichondra from his grazing garden outside cuz I know he likes munching on that but he doesn’t even bother with it . Here’s his current setup plus extra pics of him being active outside.

9DC55597-142B-40F5-B5B9-40240F5B1A1F.jpeg 0924856A-ED30-4B83-B859-1664C69D4602.jpeg C5D3845A-B885-4EF7-ACC7-0FE9A6591778.jpeg 547F6077-31A2-40FE-AB0B-EE7B05F9137D.jpeg C379B901-E291-4422-AE32-25D62CA3D365.jpeg FC042053-BEAC-4751-8483-9E7E99F4FF0E.jpeg
 

daniellenc

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2017
Messages
2,084
Location (City and/or State)
Maryland
I think he just wants more room and also double check your temps. Too hot or too cold will cause lethargy. Also, maybe take a fecal in to test for parasites. That is extremely small for an almost year old leopard. My yearling red foot was nearly 240 grams last month at 12 months. Maybe it's also time to invest in an outdoor enclosure for confined outdoor time with lots of safe room to roam about?
 

Sticky Feets

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Dec 16, 2017
Messages
72
Location (City and/or State)
Fresno, CA
Basking area is 100. Cool side is 87. Humidity 83%. Ambient temps mid 80s. He didn’t gain any weight the first 2 months I had him. Then I found out his breeder was just feeding him romaine and cactus. So I switched him to romaine as crappy as it can be, he started eating more and gaining weight. Been trying for months to get him to try more weeds. He’ll take cactus and lettuce nicely but only occasional weeds. Of course I have no idea how much he eats when he’s in his outdoor enclosure...but that’s only got dichondra and he’s only out for a few hours a day.
 
Top