Russian tortoise always buries itself and goes to sleep

Richard Fuller

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Sep 7, 2014
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Hey there,

We have owned two horsefield tortoises for about 9 months now; Shelly and Heratio. Shelly wakes up by herself and basks freely. She wonders around the enclosure for a while before going back to bed later in the day. If we wake her up and put her uner the basking lamp she sits for a bit and then wanders. Heratio, on the other hand, seems to sleep all day. We have our heat lamp and UV lamp on a timer and he never seems to wake himself up. If we wake him up and put him under the heat lamp he immediately goes back and buries himself in the bedroom area. If we take him out of the table he wanders around quite happily but always seems to bury himself when he gets back in the table. Is this just different personalities or should we be worried that he always goes back to bed?

Set up is this package -
http://www.thetortoiseshop.com/tortoise-housing/large-starter-set-up-large-tortoise-starter-pack
We have added some logs to climb over / hide in, a stone pool and a feeding slate.
They are only babies (roughly 1-2 years old we think)
 

johnsonnboswell

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You need to check the humidity and light levels. Sometimes one tortoise is more sensitive to environmental aspects than the other.

However, when one tortoise behaves normally and the other hides, it's often due to intimidation. Pairs of Russians don't do well together. The timid one does not eat well or bask and eventually fails.

Separate them permanently.
 

Yvonne G

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Hi Richard, and welcome to the Forum!!

Wow...that enclosure is way too small for two Russian tortoises...even if they are babies. And about that - you can't tell the sex of a tortoise until it gets to be big enough that it is going through sexual maturity. In Russian tortoises this would be about 4 or 5" in a straight line, front to back.

Johnsonnboswell is spot on in his second paragraph. Your hiding tortoise is trying to stay out of the more aggressive tortoise's space. It won't get better. They each need their own territory. Tortoises seldom do well in pairs, no matter what sex they are. This is especially true of the Russian tortoise. They are territorial and solitary.
 

Richard Fuller

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Sep 7, 2014
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Thank you for the response. We'll look into getting a seperate table. What size would you recommend for a single tortoise?
 

Tom

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