Frantic little guy

[Emmykitty111]

Hey guys! I have a Greek Tortoise named Carl and he has been acting pretty strange lately. While I know it is normal for tortoises to claw at the sides of the enclosures, he does it from sun up to sun down. It's very loud for my sake, and he seems kind of frantic. I haven't changed anything about his enclosure. Temp is in the high 90s, humidity at 50, coco coir substrate. I don't have the exact measurements of his enclosure but I know it's big enough for him. He still sleeps and eats but every waking minute he is clawing at the corners. When he got like this in the summer time I would just take him outside, but it's been at freezing Temps outside. Any ideas?

 

[Yvonne G]

It's too hot for him. He's 1. trying to escape or 2. trying to dig down into cooler earth

 

[Lyn W]

Can you post pics of his enclosure? Then members can advise on any improvements you could make that may calm him down.

 

[wellington]

I was going to say the same thing too hot. Only a basking spot should be that high, not the whole enclosure.

 

[Emmykitty111]

Only the basking spot is that hot. The whole enclosure is usually in the high 80's. If I take him out and let him wander around my room that calms him down a little. He paces back and forth all day in his enclosure anyway, so it seems like he would be getting enough exercise. I will post pics in a moment. I made his su state a little deeper to see if that might help and it didn't make a difference

 

[Emmykitty111]

Here is the interior. It's a little messy since it's toward the end of the day. He spills his entire water dish into the substrate every day, so I promise I give him water! I give him space behind the log because he paces around in circles and if I put it against the wall he tries to climb over it. Because of some injuries from his previous owner, climbing is more dangerous for him so I try to avoid it. About half way past the basking spot the temp drops to low 80's and the shaded side is a little bit cooler than that. Sorry guys, I should have specified that the 90s temp was only in the basking spot. The substrate is pretty deep, and that seems to help. Any suggestions?

 

[MPRC]

How deep IS the substrate? I know some torts want to be able to completely bury themselves.

 

[Lyn W]

Here is the interior. It's a little messy since it's toward the end of the day. He spills his entire water dish into the substrate every day, so I promise I give him water! I give him space behind the log because he paces around in circles and if I put it against the wall he tries to climb over it. Because of some injuries from his previous owner, climbing is more dangerous for him so I try to avoid it. About half way past the basking spot the temp drops to low 80's and the shaded side is a little bit cooler than that. Sorry guys, I should have specified that the 90s temp was only in the basking spot. The substrate is pretty deep, and that seems to help. Any suggestions?

I think part of the problem is that his enclosure is way too small for him. Is there any chance you can get him something much bigger that you can put plants in and make it more interesting for him? I have seen 4 x 8 recommended as the minimum size, because they are wandering animals so need floor space. Also do you have a digital temp gun? They are great for spot checking your 4 temps

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

I agree with Lyn, unless I am misunderstanding the size of that enclosure and there is much more to it outside the photo, that is way too small for a tortoise that size. You need to give this animal substantially more space if this is where he is spending his days.

 

[Tom]

If that enclosure is one of those ZooMed tortoise house, then I agree it is far too small. You tortoise needs the space of about four of those. More space would also allow the tortoise to get farther from the heat source if it wants to.

Letting him loose in your room is not safe either. Everyone professes how safe they make it and how watchful and careful they are, but so many tortoises end up impacted, injured or dead because people let them loose in the house.

I have another question. What are you using for UV?

 

[Pearly]

I noticed dial type thermometer in your enclosure. I also initially bought 2 of those along with one digital thermo-hygrometer with probes and infrared gun thermomter (was worried about overheating and cooking those babies in there). The analog ones pick up temperature from the wall area where they are glued on which is not always the best indicator of how warm the overall ambient is. I have since got 3 more digital ones and placed them at substrate level in differen spots of the enclosure so now can REALLY say that I know how warm is in there. If you already don't, get couple of digital ones at hardware store place them on top of substrate same way as were the tort walks. Have one in warm and one in cool side of the enclosure. And I'd also put some plants in there but don't spend a big bucks on those. Torts tend to mow things down. I had to start rotating some of my plants becase they eat the leaves like they had no food otherwise! Good Lord!, I covered the substrate with layer of natural moss. It keeps things clean and it's soft for the babies' tiny feet, still allows for the seeds to grow. I throw different seeds of tort edibles at every clean up. this one was my old enclosure, but just wanted to give you an idea what has worked for me. I have also place several sculpted hides put moss inside and covered the tops of plastic ones with sheet moss and the stone ones are left bare for them to have different textures to climb on. My babies LOVE to climb. I have a thick layer of substrate (at least 6inches) and I bury the pots in it, cover around the plant bases with moss, so it looks/feels natural. I hope this helps you some

 

[Pearly]

visual always works best for me so I thought I'd put few more pics of what has worked well forme, I always select tortoise safe plants in case they want to chew on them. this is old enclosure, but see how much substrate I have. I have never had to change it. Have bunch of earthworms in there that I got as babies "protein" and they didn't eat them. The worms have been happily living in there since as "cleanup crew", those plus few pillbugs and bunch of tiny soil centipedes. They seem to manage the waste just fine as the enclosure does not have an odor. this is one of the lava rock caves. here is a plastic old hide that is too small for them now so it's become a hill to climb on. here are couple of thermometers one placed "in sin" the other "in shade" again, lots of plants, sight barriers some of the mood moss sprouting spores. It's probably too warm and in there for them to actually start growing☹ and did I say "I loved the moss"??? Be patient, keep trying. Learn from your tort to be persistent. Torts are very smart animals. We all have much to learn from them about perseverance, adaptation and survival.