Ornery Tortoise (Enrichment ideas?)

[BuddysOwner]

Hello,
I am a relatively new tortoise owner for reference (going on 2 years).
Inherited a 100+ lb sulcata from relatives, he is 22 years old.

For the first year, he was relaxed and his daily routine consisted of grazing, sunbasking, etc. He was relaxed and peaceful.

As of this year, he is going berserk. He paces around his pen, tries to break out, pushes on his housing (when he did not before). We made him a rock girlfriend as well and he humps it for multiple hours per day.

Wondering what else I can do to provide him enrichment?
Tried getting him an exercise ball and things to push around but he does not care for them. He does have a pool for the summer. Every day he gets a variety of fresh produce.

Just worried that he is unhappy and will continue being ornery. His pen is cinderblocks and rebar (seems to be holding up), but it is stressful leaving knowing he is constantly trying to break out (have a camera for monitoring at least and airtagged him). My understanding is that tortoises tend to be creatures of habit but he totally changed year over year (tortoise hormones)? We’ve had to squirt him and wrestle him to get him to chill, and it’s exhausting.

Any advice or recommendations are greatly appreciated!

 

[wellington]

How big is the enclosure?
When you feed him, put it in several locations, not just one place.
Did he do this before the humping rock or just since he got it?
May be mating time and will settle when it's over and likely will happen a couple times a year or he may not like the rock in his area if he thinks it's another tortoise in his space.

 

[KarenSoCal]

Have you carefully checked that there are no ants, termites, bees or anything else in his nightbox or enclosure? Just a thought.

 

[Tim Carlisle]

My sulcata pen has tons of enrichment items such as bushes to hide in, ponds, a steep hill to climb, and a large deep shade area to explore and relax in. I'll post a short vid for you. Pay no mind to the garden tools - it's cleanup day.

 

[BuddysOwner]

How big is the enclosure?
When you feed him, put it in several locations, not just one place.
Did he do this before the humping rock or just since he got it?
May be mating time and will settle when it's over and likely will happen a couple times a year or he may not like the rock in his area if he thinks it's another tortoise in his space.

Appreciate your reply - here are the details:
His enclosure is ~16’x24’.
Spreading out his food, so covered there.
He’s had the rock since last year but didnt start humping it until this year.
I’ll try moving the rock out to see if if makes any difference.

 

[BuddysOwner]

Have you carefully checked that there are no ants, termites, bees or anything else in his nightbox or enclosure? Just a thought.

There aren’t any apparent pests, but I’ll keep monitoring this to be sure.

 

[BuddysOwner]

My sulcata pen has tons of enrichment items such as bushes to hide in, ponds, a steep hill to climb, and a large deep shade area to explore and relax in. I'll post a short vid for you. Pay no mind to the garden tools - it's cleanup day.

thank you for sharing! this is great, amazed by how green everything is

 

[TammyJ]

Can you give him a bigger enclosure? Also can you post some pictures of him in his present enclosure?

 

[Renee_H]

Appreciate your reply - here are the details:
His enclosure is ~16’x24’.
Spreading out his food, so covered there.
He’s had the rock since last year but didnt start humping it until this year.
I’ll try moving the rock out to see if if makes any difference.

Can you expand his area? That’s pretty tight for such a large tortoise.