Very active tortoises

[MarshallT]

Hi all. I am new to this group but hope someone can advise. I have two female tortoises, both spur thighed and about the size of a dinner plate and are around 35 years of age. Over the past couple of months they have started to become really active following me around in the garden and getting up to mischief, but the past few weeks, all they seem to want to do is climb the small step to my patio doors and come inside. They wander around the house like they are looking for something, then go back outside, turn around and back in the house. If I do not open the patio doors to let them in, they constantly pace up and down outside, trying to get in and the noise of them doing that is driving me insane. This only seems to happen during the first half of the day and by the afternoon they settle down and just chill out - probably because they have used up so much energy during the morning. They have full reign of the garden, so it isn't anything to do with having a small enclosure and they also like to pace up and down along side the fence and trying to climb that to get over to next door.

Does anyone know why they would be displaying this kind of behaviour?
Kind regards.
Tina

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Tina, and welcome to the Forum!

This is the time of year that females are looking for good places to lay eggs. Even though your ladies don't have husbands, it's only natural for them to follow their instincts.

If this is NOT the case, then maybe they're looking for a little extra hand-out from you, the food goddess????

 

[MarshallT]

Hi Yvonne,
That is what I thought initially about the laying of eggs, however, one of my tortoises (the smaller of the two) had to have her ovaries removed around 8 years ago - she was attacked by a fox which removed her tail and a couple of years after that she started to lay eggs but they were getting stuck, so the vet recommended removing her ovaries, so that she could not produce eggs anymore. My other tortoise, who is the one who started off being very active, was at the vets last year prior to hibernation due to a prolapse coming out of her tail when she went to the toilet. They x-rayed her to see if she was perhaps egg bound or had a bladder stone, but there was nothing. They did discover she had worms, so they were both treated with a wormer.

I do give them extra food each day anyway and they have the run of the garden so always roaming around for their favorite plants. There behaviour is just strange as when they come across a wall or corner when in the house or trying to get in the house they climb the wall.

A funny sight yesterday was that they were both pacing up and down outside the door like they were racing each other and all of a sudden the smaller of the tortoises (who is normally very placid) was pushing the other one, got underneath her and she almost flipped her over. They have always lived together since before I acquired them, so it isn't like they do not know each other.

Tina