Climbing

[Jude curran]

My 1 year old russian tortoise ive had him for 1 week and this afternoon he has started to climb his half log and all the plants and plant pot. Im worried he will flip himself when im not there what should i do ?

 

[JoesMum]

Welcome to the wonderful world of climbing Russians They are very good at it and love doing it.

Trying creating safer places for him to climb. Sink the flower pot into the substrate so there is a good depth of Substrate in it, but your tort can still get in then pile more substrate round the pot so that there is a more gentle slope.

Yes, tipping is a hazard and you just have to keep adjusting things to reduce the risk

 

[Jude curran]

Welcome to the wonderful world of climbing Russians They are very good at it and love doing it.

Trying creating safer places for him to climb. Sink the flower pot into the substrate so there is a good depth of Substrate in it, but your tort can still get in then pile more substrate round the pot so that there is a more gentle slope.

Yes, tipping is a hazard and you just have to keep adjusting things to reduce the risk

Thanks , is there anything i can build that is safe for him to climb ?

 

[JoesMum]

Gently sloping mounds are best. You can build these over a flower pot or log

 

[RosemaryDW]

Russians will climb and walk all day. It may just be that now he is comfortable in the enclosure he is ready to see what all is in there and perhaps on the “other” side of the walls.

Flipping can be a concern, particularly for hatchlings, but tortoises are quite good at righting themselves. I am not going to link to any here, as some people find them upsetting, but you can very easily find videos of tortoises getting back up.

You might try a rock that’s a good size; My Russian likes to climb large rocks and then slide down them. And I do mean large. Here she is next to or on a couple of her favorites. She skids right down the sides. Both of those rocks can be easily accessed from a lower/easier side, she’s not interested. It bothered me the first hundred times or so but it’s how they live in the wild. So maybe something that’s taller than your tortoise but with a more or less flat top and some edges he can get a grip on.

Did I read you have access to slate? Maybe you could pile two or three pieces up for him to scramble over.

 

[Jude curran]

Russians will climb and walk all day. It may just be that now he is comfortable in the enclosure he is ready to see what all is in there and perhaps on the “other” side of the walls.

Flipping can be a concern, particularly for hatchlings, but tortoises are quite good at righting themselves. I am not going to link to any here, as some people find them upsetting, but you can very easily find videos of tortoises getting back up.

You might try a rock that’s a good size; My Russian likes to climb large rocks and then slide down them. And I do mean large. Here she is next to or on a couple of her favorites. She skids right down the sides. Both of those rocks can be easily accessed from a lower/easier side, she’s not interested. It bothered me the first hundred times or so but it’s how they live in the wild. So maybe something that’s taller than your tortoise but with a more or less flat top and some edges he can get a grip on.

Did I read you have access to slate? Maybe you could pile two or three pieces up for him to scramble over.

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I do have acces to slate. I have a brick that i could put a deep tupperware box and cut 1 side off of and put a rampup to it . I could super glue it to the brick and the ramp so he cant tip it , would that be okay ?

 

[RosemaryDW]

I’m not sure I understand what this would look like. Is the box upside down? And he could walk up the ramp to the top of the box?

Seems reasonable enough.

I think I’d just put in a brick by itself to start and see what he does. You can bury it in the substrate if you don’t want it too high. Then start working on putting the box and ramp together.

 

[Jude curran]

I’m not sure I understand what this would look like. Is the box upside down? And he could walk up the ramp to the top of the box?

Seems reasonable enough.

I think I’d just put in a brick by itself to start and see what he does. You can bury it in the substrate if you don’t want it too high. Then start working on putting the box and ramp together.

Thats what i will do

I meant i will put the tupperware with the lid off facing up , cut out one side and stick it to a brick and add a ramp so he can climp up and down as much as he likes

But i will just start with a brick on its own lol