Our tortoise keeps his head in the corner and tries to hide... is this good?

hubert

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Since we got our baby red footed tortoise, he's always wanted to hide in the corner of the enclosure, or simply hide in any possible way. We sort of thought he'd get used to use or something and stop being so paranoid, but for some reason he's still trying to hide and when we put him in rather enclosed areas that he hasn't been before he starts freaking out. Why might this be? Is it normal? How do we fix this?
 

Yvonne G

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Young tortoises are prey and as such they stay hidden to be safe. Your tortoise's head in the corner makes me think his enclosure is too wide open. Add lots of sight barriers to make him feel safer.
 

hubert

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Young tortoises are prey and as such they stay hidden to be safe. Your tortoise's head in the corner makes me think his enclosure is too wide open. Add lots of sight barriers to make him feel safer.
is it okay for him to be hiding all the time? I know it makes him feel more comfortable but isn't sun and light good for him
 

Yvonne G

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My point was if you give him more sight barriers he won't hide all the time.
 

Maggie3fan

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Also Redfoots live on the forest floor, so the light is dim, not bright. I don't put any light uvb or otherwise over them. The enclosure should be heavily planted and remember it is a baby...just like human babies tortoise babies sleep a lot.
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Toddrickfl1

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Since we got our baby red footed tortoise, he's always wanted to hide in the corner of the enclosure, or simply hide in any possible way. We sort of thought he'd get used to use or something and stop being so paranoid, but for some reason he's still trying to hide and when we put him in rather enclosed areas that he hasn't been before he starts freaking out. Why might this be? Is it normal? How do we fix this?
This is perfectly normal behavior for a hatchling.
 
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