Behavior

["W" Family]

My four year old Russian tortoise is going crazy in his cage. He is walking all over in circles, trying to climb the walls, climbing on a rock and pushing g it all over his cage. My only thought is he is looking for a mate. Any thoughts? This has been going on for two weeks. Will he calm down and when? He normal does not get up till 8am but this behavior he is up scratching and circling his cage at 6am. Nothing has changed in his cage or no food changes so that is not the issue. Is this normal behavior? He has not done this before.

 

[Tom]

My four year old Russian tortoise is going crazy in his cage. He is walking all over in circles, trying to climb the walls, climbing on a rock and pushing g it all over his cage. My only thought is he is looking for a mate. Any thoughts? This has been going on for two weeks. Will he calm down and when? He normal does not get up till 8am but this behavior he is up scratching and circling his cage at 6am. Nothing has changed in his cage or no food changes so that is not the issue. Is this normal behavior? He has not done this before.

-What size is his cage?
-What heating and lighting?
-What are the four temperatures? Warm side, cool side, basking area, and over night low?
-What substrate?

 

[wellington]

Need answers to Toms question in order to help.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

How long have you had him?

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

If you could try answering these questions that would be great! It’s the only way we can help

What are your temperatures like? Ie basking temp(directly under the bulb), overall day temps, night temps?
What kind of basking bulb is being used specifically? Packaging photos are good if you have any
What’s his indoor uv type?
How’s humidity reading?
What kind of monitoring do you have?
What is his substrate?
What kind of things do you offer diet wise?

A photo of the full enclosure would be great! Along with one of your tortoise, Welcome to the forum

 

["W" Family]

We got him when he was approximately 6 weeks old from the breeder. He is now 4 years old. My husband custom made his cage which is 5 feet by 3 feet. After talking with y'all I got LED lights for light for daylight hours, a coil heat lamp that is on a thermostat, a ballast light that has a Arcadia D3+ T-5 34 Inch 39 Watt *12% Desert UVB and a daylight plant bulb, a basking light that is incandescent flood light. In his hide it gets down to 70 at night, the basking light that is on a timer for 10 hours gets to 100, the thermostat comes on 85 to warm the cage. As I am writing this and he is going crazy the temperature is 83.1 and 86.9 at the different locations of the thermostat. The humidity is 68%. I keep the coco husk the wetter side of the cage and keep that moist. The other side with the coco bark is the drier side with the basking light. However that side has his bath in it. His food is always a mix of different greens such as romaine, green leaf lettuce, endive, kale or whatever greens are in the garden at the time. He also gets zoomed pellets and dried flower topper or fresh hibiscus flowers. He does not like dandelions which we have tried. He gets calcium and vitamins on his food several times a week.

 

["W" Family]

Working on the video upload

 

["W" Family]

Well it is not letting me upload the video. Basically he has been walking in circles around his cage, walking back and forth on the back wall. He tried climbing the log hide the wrong direction and flipped himself over yesterday. The log hide has been in there for years and he knows how to go on top and get down. He likes to go up there and bask under the light. The rock you see in the picture of him on top of humping is the one he has pushed around his cage humping it. This is all new behavior.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Working on the video upload

You will have to post the video somewhere else first and then send us a link.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

a coil heat lamp that is on a thermostat

Just making sure, by coil bulb you don't mean something like this:

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

We got him when he was approximately 6 weeks old from the breeder. He is now 4 years old. My husband custom made his cage which is 5 feet by 3 feet. After talking with y'all I got LED lights for light for daylight hours, a coil heat lamp that is on a thermostat, a ballast light that has a Arcadia D3+ T-5 34 Inch 39 Watt *12% Desert UVB and a daylight plant bulb, a basking light that is incandescent flood light. In his hide it gets down to 70 at night, the basking light that is on a timer for 10 hours gets to 100, the thermostat comes on 85 to warm the cage. As I am writing this and he is going crazy the temperature is 83.1 and 86.9 at the different locations of the thermostat. The humidity is 68%. I keep the coco husk the wetter side of the cage and keep that moist. The other side with the coco bark is the drier side with the basking light. However that side has his bath in it. His food is always a mix of different greens such as romaine, green leaf lettuce, endive, kale or whatever greens are in the garden at the time. He also gets zoomed pellets and dried flower topper or fresh hibiscus flowers. He does not like dandelions which we have tried. He gets calcium and vitamins on his food several times a week.

Thanks for the reply! Virtually everything sounds correct but there are a few things of note, your lighting sounds great! That ‘coil’ you’re referring to is actually a ceramic bulb to save confusion, the actual coil bulbs you can get are dangerous but you don’t have that.

Directly under your basking bulb, does it reach 95f? He needs that basking temp to warm up properly, the rest ranging 80-85 is fine this time of year if you’re wanting to keep him up and not brumate, however I’d suggest getting both your basking and ambient light on for 12 hours instead of 10.

Now he’s 4 he really does ideally need a bigger set up, unless this is a winter set up and he has a bigger outdoor space during summer months? If not, he needs as close to an 8x4ft space as possible, too small a set up might explain the excessive pacing, though usually it’s because something inside the enclosure is bothering them. How long do you leave your uv on for?

Also when you say ‘coco husk’ do you mean ‘coco coir’? Because husk is a bit too fibrous which can pose an impaction risk.

Hopefully this thread might help provide some ideas for a future indoor set up if it’s where he spends most the year

Housing adult Russian and Hermans indoors

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information an example of an appropriate indoor set up for an older Herman/russian. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure, I understand being from the uk myself, that some climates make it difficult to...

tortoiseforum.org

If you’re somewhere where temps are harder to control outside a closed set up, feel free to browse through here for some topper ideas

Visual inspiration

Hi guys! I’ve had some lovely messages complimenting me on my care sheets I made for all the visuals they include! That makes me so happy because as a visual learner myself, that was my goal🥰 I’ve recently had some requests for some more visual inspiration for set ups that can house babies/...

tortoiseforum.org

This one includes some inspiration for both indoor and out, plus some indoor ideas to tackle space if it’s an issue

Enclosure inspiration

Howdy folks! Hope everyone is well! As you all know, I’m a big fan of making threads that cater more towards visual learners like myself, I’ve really been wanting to create a thread full of adult enclosure inspiration for a while now, I’ve managed to find some great references over time! I do...

tortoiseforum.org

Lastly, this one can be good to have on hand, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing etc, I always encourage double checking purchases on the forum too before buying

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Well it is not letting me upload the video. Basically he has been walking in circles around his cage, walking back and forth on the back wall. He tried climbing the log hide the wrong direction and flipped himself over yesterday. The log hide has been in there for years and he knows how to go on top and get down. He likes to go up there and bask under the light. The rock you see in the picture of him on top of humping is the one he has pushed around his cage humping it. This is all new behavior.

The humping could be him starting to show typical male traits, would you say you notice him under his basking light a lot? As in excessively?

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Just making sure, by coil bulb you don't mean something like this:
View attachment 383887

I was confused too don’t worry, she was referring to the ceramic bulb

 

[Maggie3fan]

Just making sure, by coil bulb you don't mean something like this:
View attachment 383887

those bulbs can cause eye blindness in torts...I had one do that...get rid of it asap

 

[Maggie3fan]

I was confused too don’t worry, she was referring to the ceramic bulb

you mean a CHE...call it right

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

you mean a CHE...call it right

CHE(ceramic heat emitter) is the abbreviation for it yes, still a ceramic bulb..

 

[Maggie3fan]

CHE(ceramic heat emitter) is the abbreviation for it yes, still a ceramic bulb..

Guess I'm just too old...it's not a bulb to me...

 

["W" Family]

Sorry for the confusion. Yes, it is a ceramic heater bulb. I was afraid to call the things wrong so I added the pictures but I guess that did not help with the confusion. His cage and lights were changed after getting him and having the wrong bulbs and in a 20gal tank at the beginning. I know that it is all correct after talking with y'all and all the forms that were sent years ago. The substrate is coco coir on one side where he has a house and plants as long as he does not eat/destroy them and the other side is a fine premium reptibark where is basking light, bath and food is. Under his basking light it gets 95-100 depending if he is down on the substrate or the log.

Last year or even the year before we learned he was a boy for sure after showing us his parts but this behavior has been something new. What I am gathering is that something is bothering him in his cage. Nothing has changed but what I will do is clean his cage and put in all new substrate to see if that helps. This 5x3 cage is his permanent cage however during the summer he goes outside and during the winter he walks around the house for extra exercise and new adventures. Thank you for everyone's help!

 

[TammyJ]

It's not a good idea to have him walking around the house at all, for many very good reasons, the main one being that it can kill him. Try to extend the enclosure.

 

[zovick]

Sorry for the confusion. Yes, it is a ceramic heater bulb. I was afraid to call the things wrong so I added the pictures but I guess that did not help with the confusion. His cage and lights were changed after getting him and having the wrong bulbs and in a 20gal tank at the beginning. I know that it is all correct after talking with y'all and all the forms that were sent years ago. The substrate is coco coir on one side where he has a house and plants as long as he does not eat/destroy them and the other side is a fine premium reptibark where is basking light, bath and food is. Under his basking light it gets 95-100 depending if he is down on the substrate or the log.

Last year or even the year before we learned he was a boy for sure after showing us his parts but this behavior has been something new. What I am gathering is that something is bothering him in his cage. Nothing has changed but what I will do is clean his cage and put in all new substrate to see if that helps. This 5x3 cage is his permanent cage however during the summer he goes outside and during the winter he walks around the house for extra exercise and new adventures. Thank you for everyone's help!

He is probably just answering the call of nature and looking for a mate. The behavior will quite likely subside over time, but may recur at varying intervals.