Driving me crazy!!! (Active tort)

[GingerLove]

Some of you may remember that I was afraid that Ginger had a respiratory infection. I took all of the wonderful advice on this forum and she seems to be getting much better, if not completely better!! Thanks everyone!
As a matter of fact, she feels so stinkin' good, she has decided to pace the cage back and forth repeatedly slamming into the walls and poking the ground. And she only does this when I'm in the room trying to take a nap. I would let her wear off her energy outside, but it's quite cold (for Florida anyways) and very rainy. Not to mention I am not letting her outside until I can watch her constantly or until I install chicken wire around the inside of the fence. (She gave me a scare yesterday. She escaped my yard under a hole in the fence and I found her almost three houses down in the woods out back. Thank God I found her!) So she is staying inside today!!!!
Do you think she's pregnant or just being annoying? What suggestions do you have to calm down an crazy tort?!!!
Thanks!

 

[Yvonne G]

Once they've been outside, it's pretty hard to contain them in a small enclosure. The tortoise is trying to get out of that container and find its way back outside.

 

[dmmj]

Sight barriers inside the enclosure might help. If they can see from one end to the other with a uninterrupted view of their enclosure they get antsy

 

[GingerLove]

Sight barriers inside the enclosure might help. If they can see from one end to the other with a uninterrupted view of their enclosure they get antsy

Thanks! I already have all the walls wallpapered... but I don't think that's going to be enough!

 

[dmmj]

you need to block her view inside the enclosure so she cannot see from one end to the other so you need logs or plants things like that.

 

[GingerLove]

you need to block her view inside the enclosure so she cannot see from one end to the other so you need logs or plants things like that.

Ooohhhhh, that's what you meant!!! That's a great idea! Don't know why I never thought of that. I'll give it a try. Thanks!

 

[Mr Buster]

Buster will come out of his burrow and check his food dish when I walk towards his enclosure he cannot see through. He feels the vibrations of my footsteps. He associates it with food.

 

[Blakem]

Even with a large outdoor enclosure, my Russian would pace. Even when I let him roam the whole backyard he would find a fence and pace. In the wild, they travel all day, without limits. The Russian tortoise isnVERY active, as you mentioned.

 

[RosemaryDW]

My Russian paces what she has identified as the weakest wall of her (large) outdoor enclosure and paces it every day. Sometimes she is so aggressive we can hear her slamming around from inside the house!

She needs the largest, safe enclosure you can manage. She's already escaped once, she knows there is a bigger world out there.

 

[GingerLove]

Even with a large outdoor enclosure, my Russian would pace. Even when I let him roam the whole backyard he would find a fence and pace. In the wild, they travel all day, without limits. The Russian tortoise isnVERY active, as you mentioned.

Very true! Today she seems to have calmed way down. What the heck?!!!

 

[Hoka's Mom]

My Russian paces what she has identified as the weakest wall of her (large) outdoor enclosure and paces it every day. Sometimes she is so aggressive we can hear her slamming around from inside the house!

She needs the largest, safe enclosure you can manage. She's already escaped once, she knows there is a bigger world out there.

Testing the perimeter!