What is the normal activity level of a yearling?

[hunterk997]

My 10 month old tortoise was really active when I put her in her enclosure on Wednesday. She was checking everything out, climbing her log hide, going in and out of her hides, and investigating the enclosure by walking the perimeter of it once or twice. She also went into her water dish a lot. I think I counted six times. Yesterday was similar. But today she woke up and came out of her log hide, ate, then basked. Then I soaked her for a good 30 minutes to try to get her to excrete something, but to no avail. So she spent 30 minutes scrambling around in a soak hydrating. Right now she is sleeping next to her basking rock where it's around 92-ish degrees. Could she be tired from the soak, or is her enclosure uninteresting? She hasn't used her water dish at all today...

 

[gieseygirly]

My yearling leopard tort has this very same behavior once or twice a week. He'll be super active for two or three days, then he'll just lay around and bask all day and hardly eat. I like to think of it as those days we humans have when we just want to lay around in our pajamas all day and watch movies.

 

[mikeh]

I observe very similar pattern with my leopard. Another observation, perhaps odd, higher temps makes this leo want to bask and lay around more, even all day. Lower temps force constant activity.

On a side note, I would soak the tort before basking, less shock going from cool to warm and he may even enjoy warming up in water.

 

[mctlong]

Is she a new tortoise? Sometimes when they're placed in a new enclosure, they like to explore their surroundings, which may take a couple days. Once their explorings done, they calm down and do not appear as active. Thats normal.

 

[hunterk997]

Thanks for replying. I will start doing soaks as soon as she wakes up and before she basks. And yes, she was just placed in this enclosure Wednesday. So maybe she has had her fill for exploration.