Always worried! (can he breathe?)

[TuluhlaTheTortoise]

My Russian tortoise always looks to be stuck or wedged in places, I guess I'm alittle paranoid something terrible will happen, do i need to worry about this, she digs in her hut completely sealing the entrance off, she digs in the Conner with her face on the side, I would just like some thing to ease my worry, do they not get stuck? Help

 

[Michael Twohy]

if you're worried that they cant breathe when they're they're burrowed, they can. mine does the same, he loves to just dig himself in the substrate.....

 

[Michael Twohy]

not sure about the other stuff though

 

[WillTort2]

They dig, they climb, sometimes they even escape. They are experts at digging and very good at climbing upward. Going down seems to be more of a problems for tortoises.

Make sure that your walls are capped at the top to discourage climbing.

Getting wedged in is the tortoise's objective, if he's "wedged in" then nothing can pull him out. Unless your tort flips over or remains wedged for more than 12 hours, I think your tort will be fine. If he crawls under something very heavy than you may want to make sure he's got a little clearance so that the weight of the object is not restricting his breathing. But generally they can get out of whatever they get into.

One danger is the steep sided water bowls that can cause flipping into the water and then drowning.

Good luck.

 

[ascott]

Russian tortoise dig down several feet into the earth during extreme weather..completely out of sight down strait into the earth.....as advised, unless the tort is involved in a roll over and stuck wrong side up or plopped head first into water...the tort will be fine....breath

 

[bouaboua]

Hahahahahaha.......LOL! ! !

 

[TuluhlaTheTortoise]

Thaks a ton , this is my first tortoise so thanks for the ease

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

Yep, them russians LOVE to dig! I don't think they could get stuck unless there was something 'unsafe'. They can breathe

 

[TuluhlaTheTortoise]

Ok thanks