Crazy things my Tortoise does...

[Hoka's Mom]

So, Hoka (5 year old Russian), has some funny habits and I am wondering if others do too....
1. He has a pile of rocks that he dutifully has to climb up and down several times every morning (like he is getting in his steps for the day)
2. He has decided to try flying. He recently started climbing as high as he can get, pauses with his legs over the edge, looks up and down and around (as if taking a survey of the area) then just pushes off the edge! He usually falls on his face into the bedding and it hasn't stopped him from trying! My husband was worried so he pushed bedding up to make a hill so that he would fall...Hoka climbed up, looked right at the hill, turned around and went back down. The next morning, he had dug away the hill!
3. If we move something while he is asleep, when he wakes up he always does a double take and then just has to go check out the change. Every time.
4. I don't know how he can breathe under all his bedding but he loves to dig tunnels under everything. It is no use making his area pretty as he drags bowls around and burrows up under his shelters. More gofer than tortoise!?

Anyone else?

 

[Blackdog1714]

Add does not like to be touched and you have typical russian behavior. Think like you own a monkey-they will climb so you have to design so that they can't.

 

[Cheryl Hills]

Sounds like a russian to me! All normal

 

[Cathie G]

So, Hoka (5 year old Russian), has some funny habits and I am wondering if others do too....
1. He has a pile of rocks that he dutifully has to climb up and down several times every morning (like he is getting in his steps for the day)
2. He has decided to try flying. He recently started climbing as high as he can get, pauses with his legs over the edge, looks up and down and around (as if taking a survey of the area) then just pushes off the edge! He usually falls on his face into the bedding and it hasn't stopped him from trying! My husband was worried so he pushed bedding up to make a hill so that he would fall...Hoka climbed up, looked right at the hill, turned around and went back down. The next morning, he had dug away the hill!
3. If we move something while he is asleep, when he wakes up he always does a double take and then just has to go check out the change. Every time.
4. I don't know how he can breathe under all his bedding but he loves to dig tunnels under everything. It is no use making his area pretty as he drags bowls around and burrows up under his shelters. More gofer than tortoise!?

Anyone else?

Yes my little Russian is hilarious. Yours is probably practicing for the great escape. Saphire(my little guy) scoots his furniture around so that he can climb the walls of his enclosure. If he has a way to flip sideways he can climb out like the little monkey he is.

 

[dmmj]

I bet if you told your friends your tortoise climbs, they would probably call you crazy

 

[Hoka's Mom]

Blackdog...EXACTLY!

 

[Hoka's Mom]

Yes my little Russian is hilarious. Yours is probably practicing for the great escape. Saphire(my little guy) scoots his furniture around so that he can climb the walls of his enclosure. If he has a way to flip sideways he can climb out like the little monkey he is.

I am glad to hear that others are so comical. I never thought I would laugh so much over a tortoise but he is very entertaining. Sometimes it reminds me of the way velociraptors tested their perimeter in Jurassic park! Clever girls.

 

[Hoka's Mom]

I bet if you told your friends your tortoise climbs, they would probably call you crazy

My friends do not believe me. Even when I show them they are baffled that he can do it.

 

[RosemaryDW]

They climb up and down on rocks and hard surfaces in the wild; that’s why most of the ones we get in the U.S. are so dinged up. My tortoise flipped herself over trying to climb this wall repeatedly last spring; it was unnerving at the beginning but she flips herself back up so fast I almost got used to it. Almost.

 

[Cathie G]

I am glad to hear that others are so comical. I never thought I would laugh so much over a tortoise but he is very entertaining. Sometimes it reminds me of the way velociraptors tested their perimeter in Jurassic park! Clever girls.

Yea and don't forget one single thing your little escape artist shows you (while you're laughing) because it's the only way!...you might be able to outsmart them.

 

[Toddrickfl1]

 

[Mo & Bolt]

 

[Mo & Bolt]

Climbing trees ha ha , string now removed

 

[Tortenthusiast]

I had a male and female (Greek torts) together and the male was always crazy doing those things compared to the female.

 

[Wm.Brenner]

So, Hoka (5 year old Russian), has some funny habits and I am wondering if others do too....
1. He has a pile of rocks that he dutifully has to climb up and down several times every morning (like he is getting in his steps for the day)
2. He has decided to try flying. He recently started climbing as high as he can get, pauses with his legs over the edge, looks up and down and around (as if taking a survey of the area) then just pushes off the edge! He usually falls on his face into the bedding and it hasn't stopped him from trying! My husband was worried so he pushed bedding up to make a hill so that he would fall...Hoka climbed up, looked right at the hill, turned around and went back down. The next morning, he had dug away the hill!
3. If we move something while he is asleep, when he wakes up he always does a double take and then just has to go check out the change. Every time.
4. I don't know how he can breathe under all his bedding but he loves to dig tunnels under everything. It is no use making his area pretty as he drags bowls around and burrows up under his shelters. More gofer than tortoise!?

Anyone else?

My Russian tort has the same type of routine.

 

[Mo & Bolt]

 

[Mo & Bolt]

Can you spot my tortoise trying to climb the fence 16 inch high

 

[Tamihealey5163]

Geez...I'd swear you had a nanny can watching my sulcata when he was small he would try flying ALL the time...now he just flies on the carpet on his stomach with his front legs stretched out and the rear legs in the pilot approved "L" shape formation. And every time i would clean out his turtle habitat to put fresh coco coir in it and place his house furniture back where it goes...cuz you know...BULLDOZERS...as soon as he went back in EVERYTHING had to be checked out. And smelled again just to make sure it was his. I'm sure he rearranged it exactly like he wanted and there I go...the nerve of me...placing HIS THINGS where I wanted them to be....typical bachelor pad behavior! Aren't they great?!! I'm so in love with my shell baby... going to be 5 this year and its just keeps getting better!

 

[Shuler24]

Yesterday Sheldon climbed a rock while outside, didn’t think he would make it to the top but he did, and as I watched him, I swear he not only pushed with his back legs to jump but I think he held out his arms like a swan dive. I was pretty impressed, I then removed the rock.

 

[LaLaP]

Everything you said describes my Russian, Pops, behavior. The face flop really makes me cringe but he's an expert at it so I don't worry too much. My other Russian, Diego, is an incredible climber. He climbs boulders in my backyard. It terrifies me but he loves it. I respect their sense of adventure and their drive to do the impossible!