I introduce our curious boiii Franklin

Is he just in terrible two's?

  • Nah somethings up!

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    2

LifewithFrank

New Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2020
Messages
8
Location (City and/or State)
California
Hello everyone my name is Cassie,
Thank you for having this amazing forum, My fiance Marcus and I have not had an account, but have used it a ton since as we got our baby Russian Tortoise Franklin in 2018.
Just as a background information, we have currently two enclosures one indoor and one outdoor, but the one I will be discussing about is the indoor enclosure. Its a 2x2/2.5x2.5 ft wooden enclosure with a lighting system: Mercury Vapor bulb (100w), a UVB tube light, and then a ceramic heater (when temp gets too cold/goes below 65 degrees); Lights turn on around 7am and stay on until 9pm where daytime temp is measured with an electrical system that reads 85-95 degrees in the basking area, and 75-80 degrees in the cooler areas.
So now that we have all of the technical stuff out of the way, we normally have a very curious tortoise, he loves being greeted with food, he recognizes my fiance and I when we approach him, he doesn't really like to be touched, but allows us to hold him and transport him outside [when our California weather permits good temperatures]. Since its been raining a lot, and very cold outside we haven't taken him out of the indoor enclosure for about a month (give or take). In this time he'e been very, very antsy. He's moving almost everything in his enclosure, including both hides, and finally putting us over the edge (literally) when he made his first escaping act, as he's developed his most recent behavior/talent of climbing ?(don't worry he didn't fall, and we've since added taller sidings around the entire enclosure):

Escaping Frank.jpg

Escaping Frank.jpg
Now because we have seen his curious behavior before, I thought maybe he's bored/stir crazy from the whole shelter in place situation were in lol. So I thought i'll just switching up his enclosure? i.e where his hides are, adding new an exciting succulents to his enclosure would have done the trick, but no, he's more determined then ever to try to peep over the edge. So much so he doesn't care how many times he gets himself into weird positions, and even flipping over because he's determined (Lord help me ??).
Now is this just his rebellion faze of being in his terrible 2's or what's the deal!? Please let us know as we are just as curious. We love him to death and just want him to be happy and settled.

Meet Frank.jpgOur curious boiii.jpgFrank Climbing.jpgFalling over.jpgDigging Frank.jpg
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,388
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
What a fun and entertaining little tortoise! Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

It's like you first thought, he wants to go outside. He got used to the program and can't understand why he's under house arrest. If you're home during those hours in between rain storms, go ahead and take him outside for a little while. He's pretty cold hardy, and a short bit outside in between rain storms may satisfy his need to be out of his enclosure.
 

LifewithFrank

New Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2020
Messages
8
Location (City and/or State)
California
Thanks! Thats what we thought so we're doing short times outside! I think he's okay, just annoyed at us that we cant leave him outside to roam alone ?
 

FrankIinTheTortoise

Active Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2020
Messages
112
Location (City and/or State)
Earth
Thanks! Thats what we thought so we're doing short times outside! I think he's okay, just annoyed at us that we cant leave him outside to roam alone ?
You're really lucky for such a good owner like Yvonne to have responded, he knows a lot and I made the mistake of neglecting his advice.
 

SasquatchTortoise

Active Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2020
Messages
332
Location (City and/or State)
Forth Worth, Texas
Nice tortoise! Yes, they have terrible twos, and unfortunately, it will get worse for a while. Try to get him outside whenever possible and maybe get him a bigger enclosure
 

wellington

Well-Known Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Tortoise Club
Joined
Sep 6, 2011
Messages
49,658
Location (City and/or State)
Chicago, Illinois, USA
The indoor enclosure is way too small. It's barely big enough for a new born hatchling. He wants out cuz it's too small. He needs a 4x8 foot enclosure minimum. Even though the indoor enclosure is probably not used as much as the outdoor which I hope is much bigger, he does still need a bigger indoor then what you are giving him.
 

Sleppo

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2018
Messages
413
Location (City and/or State)
Philadelphia, PA
You'll need much larger enclosure with higher walls, they are extremely good climbers and diggers. I would also feed off of a piece of slate so it does not ingest your substrate, the picture looks like you are feeding right on the substrate. Please review the specs of the care sheets on the forum and you will be good to go.
 

New Posts

Top