tortoise training, update

SGT Fish

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Sep 1, 2015
Messages
102
Location (City and/or State)
Columbus, Ohio
well my sulcata has been living in my kitchen since the weather turned south. in the summer he would only be brought in for the night and put out in the morning if i felt like moving him. but he did sleep outside a lot. when i got him i asked about litter box training a tortoise and someone said a person did it halfway successfully. and most others thought it was funny. well i was halfway serious about it. In the corner of the kitchen I placed a concrete mixing tub from home depot that i cut an entry way into it. a box house pretty much fills up the tub and has a CHE on top with one of the thermostats i made. there is a 2ft or so ramp into the tub and the tub is filled with substrate with cardboad surrounding the tub to catch and substrate being kicked out. I keep a broom there to sweep up any loose food and substrate around his house. and i spot clean his substrate when i see he pooped

It took me putting him halfway up the ramp a couple times for him to figure it out. but he now knows to go in and sleep there or to get some extra warmth. He also exclusively poops in his house/tub or in the yard. Im not so sure it is training but may be more of just giving him the ideal bathroom so he doesnt want to go anywhere else. He does however pee on the ramp or by his food bowl, but it usually just looks like somebody spilled a cup of water. A 2x6 piece of wood keeps him from venturing out of the kitchen into the carpeted areas.

He also definitely knows that the greens are in the fridge. if he is out of his house he will march right up to the fridge when i open it and wait for a snack. or if he is in the yard he will march up to me to see what im doing and wait for a snack. I am thinking about using a clicker when i feed him snacks so that i can call him to me. Ive heard of zoos successfully doing this training with aldabras or galops to make it easier to get them to move where they want them to go.

thats all for today. my 25lb bag of mazuri is supposed to be waiting on the front porch so ill see how he likes it. hopefully it will be a good supplement for over the winter.
 

waretrop

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Aug 30, 2015
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283
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NE Pa. Zone 5
SGT Fish, I love your post. I have Alice living with me. She is in my kitchen. She lived with another family for her first 5 years and was fed all the wrong things and did well. She does have a little pyrimiding but hopefully that will stop.

Alice has a 2 X2 steel cubical with an open front that she can climb in anytime she wants. It is heated very well. For a long time I thought she was doing her business in there because she would eat and then go there to digest and of course the heat would make her go. Guess I can call that litter box trained...She has been in the house for months now and never once has she gone out of the box.

Today I had the heat off because I was doing something with the heat source and sure enough she barged right in there to do her business. It was cold in there. It could also be that they like privacy like a cat. I do have a towel draped down over the front of it to hold the heat in.

Just food for thought..alice bed1.jpg

alice bed2.jpg

alice bed3.jpg

If she is going in there to do her business I will offer her a new bed later to see if she will keep each room separate.
 

Dragon

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Joined
Jan 25, 2022
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290
Location (City and/or State)
michagin
is there a way to tell how old a turtus is? we got a russin turtus about 4 days ago and all they told us was that she is an adult.
 

Tim Carlisle

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Nov 13, 2017
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2,560
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Cincinnati, OH
is there a way to tell how old a turtus is? we got a russin turtus about 4 days ago and all they told us was that she is an adult.
Not really. It's a " best guess" effort if you don't know the actual hatch date.
 

Dragon

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Joined
Jan 25, 2022
Messages
290
Location (City and/or State)
michagin
oh ok it dosnt really matter to us I was just courious lol... I dont really care how old she is... as long as shes healthy and happy and so far she seems to be both. She has already taught me when she would like more food. if her food dish is empty and shes hungry she just crawls up on top of it looks at me and puts one of her feet on the pelxglass lol. at least thats what i think shes trying to tell me. It will be interesting to see if she will eventualy learn to climb off her food dish when she sees me coming to get it, right now i have to lift her off it, then she just stands there next to where her food dish was until I put the filled dish back in her house and reclose the door again, and she walks back over to it and begins to eat. lol now she could be doing this just because shes hungy but so far thats the rutioun we have. lol
 
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