Non-stop pacing?

[Anna!]

My 5 month old Sulcata has spent the last two days pacing around and around her enclosure. I upgraded her enclosure on Wednesday and she hasn't stop pacing ever since. She has worn a path around the outside! She has plenty of places to hide but keeps walking. It's almost like she is trying to escape and climb the walls. She has flipped herself twice doing this, and I'm worried she will do it when I'm not home and get stuck for hours! Any advice? I hate to see her so agitated!

 

[wellington]

Would help us if we had a lot more info on the enclosure. Pictures and details please.

 

[Anna!]

She is in a 50 gallon tote and I cut out a window and put in plexiglass so I can see her better. During the day I have a MVB and a CHE, with the CHE turning itself off at 85. At night it is just the CHE. Temps right under MVB ~95-100, right under CHE ~90. In the picture you can see the MVB is on the left and the CHE is on the right, and the space in between stays around 80-85. I have it as humid as I can make it, and use a plastic liner on top of the tub to trap the moisture. You can see in the picture her pacing marks, since it has moved her food all around her pen, which she never used to do. She has a few plants and a little house and likes to dig herself a little burrow next to the ponytail palm and hang out there. If the pictures aren't clear enough I am happy to take more. Also, a photo of Pip giving me her angry bath time face. [ATTACH=full]130369[/ATTACH]

 

[crimson_lotus]

This is just a guess, but is she pacing where the plexiglass is and trying to get out? I know with glass terrariums this can be an issue, if they can see out they will keep trying to get out.

 

[Anna!]

I didn't think about that glass being the issue. I'll try taking it out and putting the regular piece back in. Thanks!

 

[mike taylor]

You don't have to take it out ,just cove the bottom where she can't see out . Plus these guys love to walk that's what they do . I'd be thinking bigger enclosure . A Christmas tree tote would be better .

 

[Anna!]

How big is a Christmas tree tote? You can't really tell in the pics, but this tote is pretty darn big!

 

[Tom]

Tortoises don't like change. Your upgrades made it seem like its not home. Your tortoise is trying to get "home". She will settle down in time, at least until you change everything around again...

 

[EllieN]

What Tom said.

My sully's big on walking the perimeter of her enclosure, too. So I put her water dish against a wall so she would walk through it often, and it works. She also likes scrambling over things, so I put rocks she can climb over on the perimeter as well. Mine's a lot bigger than yours, so she moves all of these things around routinely. As Mike said, walking is what they do. They need exercise to aid their digestion. So the walking itself isn't a bad thing. The trying to get out and flipping herself over is definitely bad, but if you raise the bottom of your window to about 5-6" above floor level so she can't see out, hopefully that will help. If there are certain places where she flips herself you could try putting something she can't move there so she'll have to go around it.

She's so cute!

 

[Anna!]

Thanks for all the advice!! I added some barriers today so she has to go around them and I'm not as worried about flipping now!