Lava Rocks OK in Indoor Enclosure?

[Oxalis]

Before expanding our Russian's enclosure to make it bigger and better, I've been doing some reading around the forum to brainstorm ideas. @Stitchpunk had some awesome links about enrichment (and I've included them below if anyone's interested) and I was wondering if a small pile of lava rocks would be fun as my Russian LOVES climbing. I'm working to get rid of many, many lava rocks in our yard to make way for a butterfly garden so I have more than enough to spare for some possible tortie enrichment. Do you guys think these are safe and that the unique texture might interest a tortoise?

Doing a little research into environmental enrichment for pet tortoises and will share good links as I come across them. This one has got me thinking about suitable toys: http://tortoisegarden.com/2015/07/27/enrichment-providing-mental-well-being-for-your-tortoise/

https://sites.google.com/site/tortoiselibrary/Indoor-Housing/enrichments
http://consciouscompanion2012.com/tag/tortoise-and-turtle-enrichment/
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10888705.2014.917556 this one is about colour preference in tortoises. I have access to the PDF if anyone wants it.

 

[Stitchpunk]

Before expanding our Russian's enclosure to make it bigger and better, I've been doing some reading around the forum to brainstorm ideas. @Stitchpunk had some awesome links about enrichment (and I've included them below if anyone's interested) and I was wondering if a small pile of lava rocks would be fun as my Russian LOVES climbing. I'm working to get rid of many, many lava rocks in our yard to make way for a butterfly garden so I have more than enough to spare for some possible tortie enrichment. Do you guys think these are safe and that the unique texture might interest a tortoise?

I don't have an answer to this, but thanks for asking the question because we have an abundance of volcanic rock here too. I'm thinking it would give better grip for tortoise claws than smooth river rocks, but I'd like to know whether the roughness of it could cause injury to a baby.

 

[MPRC]

I had a very sweet very dumb beardie who would bite and scratch bits off of the red lava rock we had around here.

My tortoises enjoy climbing the gravel pile though....I haven't seen any evidence of ill effects. It is fun to watch them slide back down once they get to the top, haha.

 

[Stitchpunk]

I had a very sweet very dumb beardie who would bite and scratch bits off of the red lava rock we had around here.

My tortoises enjoy climbing the gravel pile though....I haven't seen any evidence of ill effects. It is fun to watch them slide back down once they get to the top, haha. View attachment 167240

I guess when you're as low to the ground as a tortoise, any chance to get up high must feel like

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

 

[dmmj]

I cannot answer whether or not lava rocks are safe, I do know you do want to discourage climbing too much of a risk of flipping over

 

[Stitchpunk]

I cannot answer whether or not lava rocks are safe, I do know you do want to discourage climbing too much of a risk of flipping over

True, and thanks for the reminder! But if lava rock was suitable a piece could be put into the environment for some supervised playtime and then removed - it'd help to make life more interesting for the tortoise.

 

[Oxalis]

I cannot answer whether or not lava rocks are safe, I do know you do want to discourage climbing too much of a risk of flipping over

Excellent point! I definitely should have added: just enough rocks for him to climb over, but not so many that he'll flip! That was a big worry of mine when he was in his glass tank (his table is much better now, thankfully).

It sounds like it wouldn't be too much of a problem for him, so maybe I'll hang on to a couple. My plan is to get them entirely out of my front yard by the end of this year!! Hopefully before summer reaches its hottest days.