Twitching

[reptire]

This has been happening since day one in my care after purchasing my tortoise from the pet store.

He is... well, in lack of better words, twitching. Not that suddenly (well, he IS a tortoise) but he does steady forward-back movements with his head and his limbs continuously whenever he feels like it and it can last 10 minutes even at a time.

Is this a disease? Or is it simply an indicator that he is weak (a fact I was aware of when I bought him, trying to get him in shape currently)?

 

[sibi]

I don't know, but when my torts do that twitching, it usually means they are supper stressed. But, yours doing that for 10 minutes straight is not good. Tell me exactly what he's doing when he begins this twitching.

 

[reptire]

I don't know, but when my torts do that twitching, it usually means they are supper stressed. But, yours doing that for 10 minutes straight is not good. Tell me exactly what he's doing when he begins this twitching.

Oh, it's not like strong and fast shaking or anything like that, just steady movements exactly at the middle of slow and fast.
What he is doing is easily answered: He just sits in different places of his vivarium. No pattern to it. Sometimes he even does it in his sleep (at least he looks like he is asleep) at late evening/night with closed eyes. I doubt he is able to experience nightmares...

Edit: I bought him about 16 days ago. Maybe he is just not adjusted to his new environment yet?

---

After a quick google search I've found this thread:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-13838.html
and it provided some comfort. The opening post describes the occurence perfectly. Could this be it?

 

[Moozillion]

It sounds a lot like what my Elsa does if she's alarmed. Since their shells are rigid and don't move, if they need to breathe faster the only areas that can move are the fleshy areas where their legs and head come out of their shell. I think of it as their legs acting like bellows to make them breathe faster. As Elsa gets used to me, she does it less. I also find if I hand feed her a food she loves, like the yellow dandelion flowers, she quits breathing hard like that and focuses on her treat!

 

[Pokeymeg]

You have nothing to worry about! Sounds like a normal thing to me. This action is more pronounced in younger tortoises, but I occasionally see my adult do it when I startle him and he is breathing hard. For younger torts, it's more pronounced and you may see them doing it quite often, even when they are just breathing normally. They use their legs like billows to get air in and out.