New enclosure causing strange behavior

shutupandsmile8

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Jul 8, 2014
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Rue is an 8 year old Red Footed Tortoise and has had several new enclosures in the two years that I have had her. The latest was completed in May. It's 4' x 4' so she has room to walk around, a cave, a pool, a feeding station, and some enrichment. The enclosure itself is plexiglass all the way around, where all her others have been glass. It has not moved in location in the condo. We go outside for exercise and sunlight and grazing.
However, since moving into this bigger enclosure, she spends ALL her time pressing her nose into the plexiglass trying to escape. It's all she does. She's been pooping more often, smaller poops, but eating less than she used to. Her nose is becoming raw and bruised from constantly pushing her face into the plexiglass. She digs and scratches at the bottom and sides, particularly the corners. I have tried butting a cloth over her favorite corner to do this in but it hasn't helped. She just moved to a different spot. She's hurting herself and scraping the silicon off the sealed edges of the enclosure, which worries me if she tries to eat what she's ripped off when I'm not home to catch her.
What can I do? Has anyone else experienced this? I thought of putting up false backgrounds on the glass so she doesn't see "the world out there" that she's so eager to get to.
Any help or advice is much appreciated!
 

Yvonne G

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Many tortoises can't understand the see-through concept. What we do is wrap a strip of any kind of paper around the lower parts of the habitat so the tortoise can't see out.

Tortoises are territorial. The tortoise is trying to get out and go back to its original territory. The behavior will stop eventually as the tortoise gets used to the new environment.

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shutupandsmile8

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Jul 8, 2014
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We've had all glass enclosures before, so what's different? I'll try a full-on wrap though, and see what happens. Thank you!
 
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