Restless tortoise, help?????

[Merilyn (Tortoise lover)]

Hi,
These past few days, my tortoise has been constantly non-stoppingly pacing and scratching along the glass wall(i have 4 glass walls, I know its not a good idea but i want to get a wood one soon) Before, he wouldpace/scratch for a little bit, and then stop. Now, every time i come home all i hear is him scratching and pacing. Yesterday, he wouldn't eat the romaine lettuce(he usually likes it) and I had to give him a flower before he would eat and ate very agresivley before going back to pacing. Today, I gave him dandilion greens(he usually doesn't particularily like it)and he would eat it after I shook him a little bit and hand-fed it to him, but after I stopped hand-feeding it he just went back to pacing(he also ate agresivley today) Help?!?!?!?!?!?

(by the way the tort in my profile pic is not the one im talking about, that one passed away a few months ago

 

[Minority2]

1. What is the size of your current indoor enclosure? Tortoises do not enjoy living in small areas. They're nomadic animals. Small spaces may encourage their desire to escape and explore other areas.
2. How old is your current Russian?
3. Which part of the house is your indoor enclosure located? Outside noise can keep a tortoise from sleeping at night. Tortoises are quite sensitive to sounds made by vibrations.
4. What type of diet are you feeding your tortoise? Foods such as romaine lettuce are very high in water content and little in nutrition. They're more likely to give tortoises diarrhea than succulents do. Ignore your tortoise's preference for particular foods and stick with a high fiber diet.

 

[TriciaStringer]

How large is the enclosure? A glass tank is usually not big enough. You can cover the bottom so he can’t see out. I thought vinyl sheets would adhere to it easily and be a great visual blocker.

 

[DARKFIRE007]

No see through walls, at least 4x8 foot enclosure, and the diet already mentioned. Also...never deliberately shake a tort. It scares them.

Once you make the appropriate enclosure changes, add things like slate/flat rock, medium size rocks, hides, and keep the position of things changing. I find mine don't pace and get restless if they don't have the same setup day in and day out. They love to explore, so embrace that and give them new views in the enclosure. Making differing height mounds in the substrate seems to be a big hit with mine for instance.

 

[jockma]

When you describe him as aggressively eating I just imagine that he’s hungry but bored of what you usually feed him. They will pace to look for food. He might also be too hot and is trying to escape the heat (depends on your temps). Try offering him different suitable foods until he eats his fill.

The other suggestions will help with boredom and improve his overall quality of life. He will not pace as much on the outer edge of his enclosure if he has interesting things to do inside it.

 

[Merilyn (Tortoise lover)]

thank you all!!!