Obsessed with reflection

[Charlietortoise]

Hi,
My 10 year old Hermanns tortoise is infatuated with his-own reflection :s When walking round the living room he does nothing but sit and bite his reflection he has found in the fireplace. When upstairs he bites and chases the mirrored toilet roll holder round the floor. He will not move from the spot... We used to have a mirrored pedal bin that had to go because he kept mounting it! I was worried he is lonely but understand that they are solitary creatures. Also, Im not sure how to interpret the behavior; it may be violent, sexual. Not sure! I feel I should remove all the mirrored items but worry this will just bring further frustration. Hes a very unsettled little thing, always trying to get out of his tortoise table. In fact he tried to escape anything he's put in he is never satisfied. Any suggestions would be very appreciated. Thanks!!

 

[Yvonne G]

Is it possible to set Charlie up in a nice, safe, large outdoor habitat? It would settle him quite a bit to be able to wander about outside.

 

[Charlietortoise]

He does wonder around the fully enclosed patio area daily (when its warm enough) and the grass when I have time to watch him. He is such an escape artist though, he scratches at the fence trying to get out of the enclosed area frequently...

 

[IRTehDuckie]

mine was like that for a while, i didnt want it trying to escape out the back of the enclosure, so i placed a rather large mirror there, and for hours and hours and hours, and it would do it all night long, and it would just pace at the mirror, again i didnt know if it was because of a territorial thing, or just because it was conceited ahah she is a beauty, and i could understand why she would want to spend hours looking at herself, i do looking at her! haha, but anyways, i still to this day have no idea why she was doing it to that mirror, she doesnt have it anymore, she never harmed herself on it, so idk.. torts are just funny lil things =]

 

[Charlietortoise]

Heh, yes they are! He gets himself so wound up though its worrying to watch. He managed to source all the mirrored things in the house! I guess it could different intentions depending upon gender? Charlie is a male and can be very boisterous.