Sulcata won't stop digging

[NorCal tortoise guy]

My sulcatas all use the night box year round but I do turn off the heat in there when summer is in full swing and our nights stay worm. I have also noticed they only seem to want to dig to excape the heat.

 

[Boo628]

I only have one tortoise so I don't really know what is normal behavior. My tortoise doesn't dig incessantly. The only time I saw him dig without stopping was the first summer I put him in the yard. Now I realize he was trying to escape the heat. The last several years he has had a heated night box, and since then, he hasn't dug. During the summer, he sits in a shallow muddy depression under a bush to cool off. I think because his temperature needs are being met, he doesn't feel the need to dig.

Is that his house in your avatar? He looks like he is outgrowing the doorway. He needs something that is insulated. Heat lamps aren't good for larger tortoises because it concentrates the heat in a small spot and the rest of the tortoise stays cold. They can end up with burns on their shell.

My tortoise won't use his house during the summer. He prefers to sleep out in the yard. It doesn't cool down very much at night where we are. I think that most tortoises on the forum use their heated night boxes all year.

At first that's what i was thinking too. Escape the heat. So this is what happened today. Hes not digging the second spot i moved him to. Gave him some greens n he ate it then layed next to his first spot he dug which i covered up. So i took the cover off to see what he'll do. He started digging again. A bit later i brought him some greens. He looked at it, sniffed it then went back to digging. So i picked him up and covered the hole, gave him some greens and he ate the whole thing. He's now sitting looking at the cover trying to look under it. So basically when he digs he's saying don't bother him lol btw avatar pic is not his house. It was suppose to be but he wouldn't go in. I just happened to walk out n saw him like that

 

[Boo628]

The two tortoises live separately, right?

Can you pick up your tortoise and hold the carapace against your torso with the tortoise's nose pointing toward the sky, and have someone take a pic of the tail and anal scutes?

Is the tortoise always digging with its front feet, or does it also turn around and dig with its back feet?

Hi Tom, yes they live separately though i will admit there were times when im outside i have them in the same place. Not together though. Here's the thing. The DT always go up to the sulcata. Sulcata would then try to mount DT. Dt just stay still, doesn't try to run. I pick up DT move him to another spot and he comes right back. That's the reason why just last week I'm thinking DT is a female cuz i was pretty sure it's a male. Sulcata was never aggressive towards DT. One time i put a blocker in front of them and they sat there face to face for the longest time like long lost buddies/ lovers idk

 

[Boo628]

He only dig with his front

 

[Tom]

He only dig with his front

I suspected it might be a female incessantly looking for a good spot to lay and digging test holes, but your photo confirms you have a male 100%, so we can discard that suspicion.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Bob never dug and I believe it's because he was comfortable in his house. He had a 20'x12' foot heated and insulated shed. he liked it and was happy there. He put himself to bed at 6:30 everyday. He had a doggie door so he could go in and out when he wanted, but, he was smart and weighed 125 lbs.
I have an almost 2 yr old Sulcata that weighs over 30 pounds, I think that 10 yr old is small for his age. JMO

 

[Boo628]

Bob never dug and I believe it's because he was comfortable in his house. He had a 20'x12' foot heated and insulated shed. he liked it and was happy there. He put himself to bed at 6:30 everyday. He had a doggie door so he could go in and out when he wanted, but, he was smart and weighed 125 lbs.
I have an almost 2 yr old Sulcata that weighs over 30 pounds, I think that 10 yr old is small for his age. JMO

Hi, i was thinking the same thing from what i read online. He's small for his age if that's really his age. Idk how to count his scutes to tell his age. Can u tell by looking at his scutes?

 

[Maggie Cummings]

no

 

[Yvonne G]

Bob never dug and I believe it's because he was comfortable in his house. He had a 20'x12' foot heated and insulated shed. he liked it and was happy there. He put himself to bed at 6:30 everyday. He had a doggie door so he could go in and out when he wanted, but, he was smart and weighed 125 lbs.
I have an almost 2 yr old Sulcata that weighs over 30 pounds, I think that 10 yr old is small for his age. JMO

Dudley (110lbs) never digs either. He has a heated shed and a very large shrub that he likes to rest under.

 

[TechnoCheese]

Hi Tom, yes they live separately though i will admit there were times when im outside i have them in the same place. Not together though. Here's the thing. The DT always go up to the sulcata. Sulcata would then try to mount DT. Dt just stay still, doesn't try to run. I pick up DT move him to another spot and he comes right back. That's the reason why just last week I'm thinking DT is a female cuz i was pretty sure it's a male. Sulcata was never aggressive towards DT. One time i put a blocker in front of them and they sat there face to face for the longest time like long lost buddies/ lovers idkView attachment 237250View attachment 237251

That’s being aggressive, not friendly. Sitting face to face is them trying to assert dominance and stress the other out of its territory, and mounting is the same. I would cover any places they can see each other, if you can.

 

[ascott]

Hi Tom, yes they live separately though i will admit there were times when im outside i have them in the same place. Not together though. Here's the thing. The DT always go up to the sulcata. Sulcata would then try to mount DT. Dt just stay still, doesn't try to run. I pick up DT move him to another spot and he comes right back. That's the reason why just last week I'm thinking DT is a female cuz i was pretty sure it's a male. Sulcata was never aggressive towards DT. One time i put a blocker in front of them and they sat there face to face for the longest time like long lost buddies/ lovers idkView attachment 237250View attachment 237251

Yeah, I would not confuse the gate thing with friendship or long lost love feelings...that is two males trying to figure out how to completely dominate and chase away the other...in this case, the size will always always always harm the smaller....gladiator vs gladiator....the best thing you could offer, is peace and a bit of a nomad life for them both...allowing an environment where each is king of their kingdom....

 

[Big Charlie]

Hi, i was thinking the same thing from what i read online. He's small for his age if that's really his age. Idk how to count his scutes to tell his age. Can u tell by looking at his scutes? View attachment 237446View attachment 237447

You can't tell age by counting scutes! You have to know hatch date to know age.

 

[Big Charlie]

I only have one tortoise so I don't really know what is normal behavior. My tortoise doesn't dig incessantly. The only time I saw him dig without stopping was the first summer I put him in the yard. Now I realize he was trying to escape the heat. The last several years he has had a heated night box, and since then, he hasn't dug. During the summer, he sits in a shallow muddy depression under a bush to cool off. I think because his temperature needs are being met, he doesn't feel the need to dig.

Is that his house in your avatar? He looks like he is outgrowing the doorway. He needs something that is insulated. Heat lamps aren't good for larger tortoises because it concentrates the heat in a small spot and the rest of the tortoise stays cold. They can end up with burns on their shell.

My tortoise won't use his house during the summer. He prefers to sleep out in the yard. It doesn't cool down very much at night where we are. I think that most tortoises on the forum use their heated night boxes all year.

Who knows why tortoises dig? Charlie hasn't dug in years. The first summer we lived her, when he was about 5, I put him in a small fenced off area of our yard where he dug his first burrow. That one collapsed and he dug at least one more burrow in that small fenced off portion of the yard, even after he had access to the entire yard. That was the burrow that went under our house so we had to fill it in. After that, we closed off that small yard. So he hasn't had a burrow in years, and he hasn't had access to that small yard in years. However, since he doesn't have access to that yard, the best weeds grow there. I've been pulling him some every day. Then my husband suggested I just leave the gate open so he could get to the weeds himself. I did that yesterday. It didn't take more than a few minutes before he started digging a burrow! This was in a different place than where his others were. We couldn't let that burrow continue because it would have run into our irrigation pipes. He dug almost all day yesterday and part of today. Then as soon as he came out to graze on the lawn, I closed the gate. Now he is staring at the gate, trying to figure out where the yard went.

I wonder why he was inclined to dig now even though it isn't particularly hot or cold. Is it that the soil is softer than in the rest of the yard? Or does he have some memory of his other burrows?

 

[Merlinthepug]

Hi everybody i have a question about my sulcata. His name is Bigfoot. So here's the thing, i got him in November and the guy i got him from said he's 10 years old 40 lbs. Ever since day 1 he sleeps in the house. He found a spot and claimed it his. He goes outside everyday except for some days when it was really cold. On those days he'll walk to the door and turn around back to his spot. The thing is he never digs. In the 6 months i got him he never dig anything anywhere. Not even a small hole. He won't even go in the hole i dug for him. He looks at it and turn around. Then yesterday he just started digging out of nowhere but he stopped and went in the house around 3-4pm. But today he was digging for almost 5 hours straight. I went outside told him go in the house and sleep, he stop digging, turn around half way sat there n looked at me, then went back to digging. He NEVER digs before and now he's digging non-stop. I know its getting hot now but he never stay outside past 4pm. It was almost 6pm today and he was still digging. (Getting cold) He never sleep outside since i got him. He refused to sleep outside. Tried it a few times but he fight his way back in the house. From November until a couple weeks ago he goes in the house around 2. If the door is not open for him he would go on a rampage and run everything over. He would go in the house then go into his house but he haven't gone in his house lately he been parking himself next to his house so i took it out and put it in the back yard. I put his house back there before and he wouldn't even go in it but now he's digging under it. Is there a reason why all of a sudden he's digging like that? He didn't wanna walk to the house today so i picked him up and put him at the door, let him decide if He wanna go back to digging or in the house. He walked straight to his sleeping spot and went to sleep. Maybe he's mad about something idk. His digging might seem normal to everybody here but it's not to me cuz i had him for 6 months and he never digs but now theres a big hole he dug. At first i was like yay he's digging but the amount of time hes didn't digging and the way he's acting just doesn't seem normal to me. Maybe he got mad cuz i closed the door on him when he was in front of the house. I wasn't locking him out i was letting him explore. He walked around a lil then came trying to run the door down so i opened the door and he walked straight to the back, laid there for maybe 30 mins and started digging. So, any idea what he's thinking? I'm gonna let him dig all he wants but is there a reason for his change in behavior? Never dug a hole and now he can fit in there. View attachment 237124