New Enclosure/Keeper Syndrome

[Robertchrisroph]

I have no clue if this helps but it did me. When I relocated king to our property he did all this what I did was I took water from original house and used it for his water do the water was the same he was used to. I then went and got his poop and other things put everywere. It seemed to help. Just a idea I had, hope he gets it together. I'm sure he will

 

[DesertGirl]

I personally don’t believe tortoises rationalize like that, like humans do. They don’t care who’s there or get excited if it’s a new place. I believe they act “normal” the first day because they got put in a new territory and are wondering around perhaps looking for their old territory.

Perhaps they sense (smell) other tortoises nearby and don’t want to intrude in their territory?

Gosh, side note here. What kind of tort is your profile pic? Beautiful.

 

[C. Nelson]

I always feel the first day they are like, “This is awesome! Loook at all this new stuff! It’s delicious!”
Day 2, “Well cr—! I’m still here. I didn’t think I was going to be here again today. I mean one day is fine, but forever, I think not. I’m going to pout until they put me back. That’ll show ‘em.”

This happens over and over and I'm at a loss to explain it.

A person brings a tortoise home, a new-to-you tortoise. The tortoise roams around the yard/habitat eating and inspecting and seems to settle right in. He goes into the shelter in the evening by himself. The next day he doesn't come out, doesn't eat, just sits there seemingly pouting.

I get it that tortoises have to settle in to make sure they're in a safe place, but why did they walk around eating that first day?

Last week I took in a 50lb sulcata. They set him down in my back yard, said their goodbyes and took his picture, all the while the tortoise is walking around, eating grass and acting like he's in the best place in the world. That evening he took himself through the vinyl strip door, into the shelter, without having been shown where the shelter is. That was the last I saw of him for three days. He never came out. Finally, on the fourth day, I brought him out. He turned around and went right back into the shelter.

I read that a tortoise has a fantastic sense of smell. I wonder if all the smells of the new location, vegetation, and other tortoises are a bit overwhelming to them.

 

[TammyJ]

This happens over and over and I'm at a loss to explain it.

A person brings a tortoise home, a new-to-you tortoise. The tortoise roams around the yard/habitat eating and inspecting and seems to settle right in. He goes into the shelter in the evening by himself. The next day he doesn't come out, doesn't eat, just sits there seemingly pouting.

I get it that tortoises have to settle in to make sure they're in a safe place, but why did they walk around eating that first day?

Last week I took in a 50lb sulcata. They set him down in my back yard, said their goodbyes and took his picture, all the while the tortoise is walking around, eating grass and acting like he's in the best place in the world. That evening he took himself through the vinyl strip door, into the shelter, without having been shown where the shelter is. That was the last I saw of him for three days. He never came out. Finally, on the fourth day, I brought him out. He turned around and went right back into the shelter.

The fact that some of them don't seem to notice anything different on the first day could just be due to habit, and it just takes them that long to realise that things are different? So they "lay low" for a few days until they feel more secure in the new place!