Climbing!

Acadia

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Hello! I have one tort who attempts to climb on all of his enclosure furniture and sometimes gets stuck. Has anyone else noticed this behavior? If so, so you think it is because he is trying to get out or is it just something that is interesting that I can use for enrichment? The other tort in with him (same age and species) does not exhibit this behavior.
 

JoesMum

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You don't mention the species, but it is not unusal. They love to climb! Russians, in particular, seem to regard it as their birth right to attempt to escape at every opportunity!

How big are your torts and how big is the enclosure? Why not post a picture of your enclosure and then maybe we can make some suggestions.
 

Acadia

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They are red footed torts and only a little over a year old. They can fit in my palm. I uploaded a picture of where they live.
 

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JoesMum

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That enclosure looks pretty small for one tort, let alone two. How big is it and how long are your torts? As a rule of thumb you should be looking at a minimum of one square foot of enclosure per square inch of tortoise.
 

Acadia

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The enclosure is 3ft by 2 ft and my torts are a little less than 3 in long. I let them run around in a larger area every day as well and they really enjoy that, but I would like to get a larger space for them once I am settled in a specific region.
 

JoesMum

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I think you have an explanation for behaviour. Your enclosure needs to be at least double the sixpze for the two of them... more allowing for them growing
 

Yvonne G

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Not only the enclosure size (I agree with Joe's Mum), but the fact that tortoises don't always do well in pairs. The more dominant tortoise might be telling the more submissive tortoise to get out of the territory, so he's trying his best to do just that. I bigger habitat with more sight barriers would probably solve the problem.

Also, you need to read the care sheets for RF tortoises. You have them in a very dry environment. They come from the rain forest, where it is moist and humid all the time. This is not a healthy environment for them.
 

DobbyRed

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I have two red foots and they are seperated at the moment do to differance in size and they love to climb their cave, I even put a ramp in it so they can get down without any problem. ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1401823788.697668.jpg

ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1401823838.215554.jpg
Even Little Hedwig with just 1 3/4" love to climb it.
 

DobbyRed

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And for the substrate I use cypress mulch and keep it always wet for high humidity and a small part with repti bark for a dry area, I have the hide caves on the bark side for them to sleep dry but with high humidity to avoid shell rot and for balance.
 
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