Pictures on a tank?

[yuri2012]

Hi All.

So I've had Yuri my Russian tortoise for about 3 months now and I've noticed he likes to run into the glass over and over. Now I know that's not the "ideal" area to keep a turtle, but I'm in an apartment and don't have much of a choice in terms of building him an outdoor enclosure.

With that said, I had an idea of maybe placing pictures of "outside areas" such as a desert picture or an open field on the inside of the tank so he would see all of these pretty pictures around him but i'm not sure if that would cause him to "bang" against the glass sides more or less.

Meaning, I don't know if this would actually be helpful or worse. I know everytime I walk near his tank and he sees me he comes up to the glass and trying to go through it.

Anyone have any thoughts for preventing him running into the glass wall? (short of getting him an outside enclosure?)

 

[Jacqui]

I use on some of my tank enclosures, some of those backdrops. I know some folks just use plain paper and the like. I don't have a problem with any of mine running into the glass, with or without coverings on them, so I can't give you any real advise on the subject.

 

[Jacob]

My Sulcata is the same way, i dont have anything in his terrriem, but im sure it would help a little.

 

[lisa127]

I have a hatchling box turtle in a terrarium with brown paper bags covering the sides, and I have a juvenile box turtle in a terrarium with construction paper covering the sides.

 

[yuri2012]

I have a hatchling box turtle in a terrarium with brown paper bags covering the sides, and I have a juvenile box turtle in a terrarium with construction paper covering the sides.

So, having something on the outside works in preventing them to stop running into the glass but the question now I guess is can they tell and differentiate between looking at a picture and a brown paper bag? I don't want him to be stressed out more bc he wants to "go to the places in the pictures" and he might try to run into it even more??

 

[anmiller0]

When my tortoise was a baby I originally had him in glass. I realized pretty quickly the see through walls confused him. He would try to walk through them and even flip him self over trying to get out. It didn't seem healthy at all so I thought, what can I put him in that isn't see through? I went to Target and bought one of those giant plastic storage containers meant for storing things under the bed. It totally worked until he out grew it. Now we have a regular wooden tortoise table. Its just an idea

 

[wellington]

I will try to answer your question. Most likely the pictures on the glass will not make him ram it more. That said, every tortoise is different. I have put pics on my leopard and my lizards glass, neither one acts like they think it's real land, rocks, etc. So, I would try it and if he seems to still ram it a lot, then switch it out for plain paper. I printed my pictures off the Internet on plain print paper. Cheaper then buying some of the aquarium scenes or real photos. Let us know how it works for you.

 

[Jacqui]

Do an experiment... make one side with plain paper, one with pictures, and one plain glass. See which works for you and your tortoise.

 

[yuri2012]

Do an experiment... make one side with plain paper, one with pictures, and one plain glass. See which works for you and your tortoise.

Thanks guys. It's odd because he always rams the one corner and side of the cage and very rarely does he go to other spots and ram those areas.

With that said, I have a few pics printed from the internet taped to the outside of the glass to see if it makes a difference. At first, it was odd because he kept stopping peaking his head out of his shell looking at the actual pictures so it was kind of freaky. With that said, so far he initially rammed it a bit but has stopped and I'll monitor and see how this progresses.


Thanks.

 

[Jacqui]

Did you ever look to see, if there was something special about that spot? Like did it reflect back making him think he was seeing another tortoise?

 

[yuri2012]

Did you ever look to see, if there was something special about that spot? Like did it reflect back making him think he was seeing another tortoise?

No, the spot he always went to was the place where I would drop his food in his food bowl. There were no reflections that I could see. The corner he chooses is the one that is where I place his food and the corner closest to the outside door (when people come in he tends to see thru the glass and comes closer to the glass as if approaching like a dog.)

 

[Jacqui]

Which is pretty much what he is doing. He thinks food will appear, when people approach that side of his enclosure. Sounds like he is doing a form of begging to me.