Squirrelly tort

[teneb]

Watson has taken to pacing around the circumference of his enclosure, just marching round and round. He also occassionally stops and stretches up as far as he can and scrabbles like he wants to climb out. We often let him run around on the floor for ~15 minutes a day, so part of me is thinking he just wants out more. However, I wanted to make sure there isn't something else that might be going on.

In his enclosure we have two heat lamps (one red, one visible light) and a UVB bulb, two half-log hides, his feeding plate and one small branch. Two of the walls (nearest the heat lamps) are bare because I was concerned about him flipping over under the lights.

Anyone else experience such a thing? Also, he appears to have a rub spot on his snout, perhaps from bumping up against the wall. I treated it with some bacitracin and it appears to be healing quite nicely.

-Shannon

 

[Crazy1]

IMHO it is never good to let a shelled one run around the floor, too many things to get into not to mention the coldness. But once he has been out he may just want more. When I bring my herd in for the winter their space is drastically reduced. They pace and clamber to climb the sides for a time then settle down. If I do take them outside when the weather warms and then bring them back in again they start the pacing all over but the time they continue is much shorter.

 

[tortoisenerd]

What kind of walls does the enclosure have? If they can see out that can cause the pacing.

What size is the enclosure, and how big of a tort?

Pictures?

How's the line-of-sight? Ideally you'd want the tort not to be able to see very far, with cage furnishings scattered to make it bigger than it really is.

Maybe you can set up a safe "exercise" area if getting him outside isn't an option now. Free run on the floor isn't so good, but I've heard stories of people setting up a second area away from the "home" for the tort to stretch their legs. Anything that is safely enclosed, and warm enough at the floor level could work (tile floors or similar will be too cold).

 

[teneb]

What kind of walls does the enclosure have? If they can see out that can cause the pacing.

What size is the enclosure, and how big of a tort?

Pictures?

How's the line-of-sight? Ideally you'd want the tort not to be able to see very far, with cage furnishings scattered to make it bigger than it really is.

Maybe you can set up a safe "exercise" area if getting him outside isn't an option now. Free run on the floor isn't so good, but I've heard stories of people setting up a second area away from the "home" for the tort to stretch their legs. Anything that is safely enclosed, and warm enough at the floor level could work (tile floors or similar will be too cold).

It's a wood enclosure, about 3x4 feet with a screened top. Watson's probably about 6-7 inches from snout to tail. We never let him outside (MN, brrrr), but let him wander in the living room supervised. He really likes our cats, which I find hilarious. He's very energentic when he's out, walking over cat furniture and through our alpaca rug (I think he likes the way it feels as he spends a lot of time on there).

Side story: one of my cats, Tie, has decided he likes lettuce and tries to steal Watson's dinner (we often feed him on the floor while he's out). Another cat, Stormie, has adopted Watson and taken on the protector role - she chases Tie away now when he approaches Watson's food. I'll have to get a picture posted, it's pretty comical.

At any rate, I rearranged his furniture so that it lies along the walls and breaks them up a little bit. That has seemed to help somewhat, as he still walks around the enclosure but it's more wandering and not as manic.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I have discovered that they walk around more manic when they are unhappy with their surroundings. Bob did that for months and literally reshaped his nose from rubbing it on the cinderblock of his yard. I made the yard somewhat bigger and changed the shape of it and Bob has settled down...but he now has a funny bump on the top of his nose. I'll have to post a picture for you. I personally love the way my cats interact with my tortoises. I have created an 'exercise yard' outside of their regular pen. It's on the floor in my Dale Earnhardt Memorial Worship Room and Lil Roxie, my small cat loves to get in that pen with my babies and mess with them. She licks them and pushes them with her paws and just lays under the light and lets them walk on her...it's absolutely too cute for words...

 

[Crazy1]

Shannon You stated that Watsons enclosure is screened. Is the screen obstructing the UVB light?
Most UVB loses its effect if it has to pass though screen or glass, just a FYI. Perhaps Watson is a Tort that just needs a bit more room. My male Greek Ajax use to pace in his enclosure before I doubled its size. Just a thought.

 

[teneb]

Shannon You stated that Watsons enclosure is screened. Is the screen obstructing the UVB light?
Most UVB loses its effect if it has to pass though screen or glass, just a FYI. Perhaps Watson is a Tort that just needs a bit more room. My male Greek Ajax use to pace in his enclosure before I doubled its size. Just a thought.

The screen is quite open (2 cm square I'd guess) so I don't think it's an issue with the light. He's a little better now that I rearranged the furniture, so maybe that was the issue (as Maggie pointed out). Thanks everyone, I appreciate your input. I'll try adding a few more pieces of wood around the perimeter and see if that calms him down even more.