Why is my tortoise climbing her cage walls?

[CharlieS2020]

do you link i oculd get some rocks from outside wash them and put them in? maybe can i still take her out like once a day for 10 minutes so i can still play with her but it wont be as long? also is the cage good though im going to get some rocks and some fake plants today please let me know if there is anythink i hsould add. and is the cage big enough for charlies age and size? please let me know. Charlie

 

[CharlieS2020]

For putting plants in the enclosure, they’ll have the best chance of surviving if you have them planted in pots. If you try and plant them in the substrate, they’ll just get trampled and die pretty quickly. A couple popular choices that are more hardy are spider plants and pothos. If you happen to already have some growing in your house, or know someone who does, it’s much safer to use clippings from those plants to start your own for the tortoise instead of buying new. There’s no way to know for sure if freshly bought plants have chemicals on them. If you buy from a store, it is best that you rinse the roots, change the dirt and grow them out for a year before moving them to the tortoise enclosure. This is what I had to do. It seemed crazy at the time, but I’m now reaching the 1 year mark on my plants now.

You have been given plenty of good advice from the other members. If you want Charlie to stop scratching at the walls you must stop taking her out to roam around and she does need a bigger enclosure sooner than later. Letting her continue to roam around is simply not safe or healthy for Charlie and is perpetuating the issue you have. All of the space being taken up by the “hide” in your enclosure takes up a lot of valuable walking space they require to properly digest their food. Your substrate is too dry and this is likely why you’re seeing her pyramid already. You should keep the substrate damp, but I think you’ll need to line the floor and walls of Charlie’s enclosure with something or the wood is likely to quickly rot and mold. In my opinion, you should start working on plans to get her a more suitable enclosure sooner than later and please, please stop letting Charlie free roam. It sucks that someone had to spend 5 months building this enclosure for you, but it seems it is not working for you or Charlie.

okay i will stop letting her rome and i am going to get fake plants thank you for the advice i really apreshiate it should i take out the built in hide so it is more walking space? and i will mist down the substrate evrey day. when do you think she will need a new cage? and how big will it have to be? please help me i have to go now but any advice i get iw ill respond to as soon as posible. Charlie

 

[Relic]

okay i will stop letting her rome and i am going to get fake plants thank you for the advice i really apreshiate it should i take out the built in hide so it is more walking space? and i will mist down the substrate evrey day. when do you think she will need a new cage? and how big will it have to be? please help me i have to go now but any advice i get iw ill respond to as soon as posible. Charlie

It might possibly have been written before your time, but there was a song from 1919 (written at the close of World War I) which I think your tortoise is singing in his little scaled head. It was called: "How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree)

 

[Krista S]

okay i will stop letting her rome and i am going to get fake plants thank you for the advice i really apreshiate it should i take out the built in hide so it is more walking space? and i will mist down the substrate evrey day. when do you think she will need a new cage? and how big will it have to be? please help me i have to go now but any advice i get iw ill respond to as soon as posible. Charlie

I think it is worth trying to take out the built in hide and giving her a more suitably sized hide that doesn’t take up as much space. If you do a search for hides on the forum, you will find a bunch of really cool ideas that people have come up with. A new hide and some fake plants is a good place to start for now. Because the enclosure will look a little different, it might distract Charlie enough with investigating the new things that she could be more content. BUT, if you take her out and remind her of the big free land outside of her enclosure, she just won’t be content with the box she’s in. How soon do I think she will need a new cage? I think you should start the discussions and plans on that now and by the time it’s ready, Charlie will be ready. You’ll have to figure out for yourself if you want an enclosure that is just for a year or 2 or if you want something of quality and size that will be good for the foreseeable future. My Hermann’s tortoise is a year and a half and I am currently having a 6ftx4ft enclosure built for him out of expanded PVC.

How are you keeping track of the temperatures and humidity levels in Charlie’s enclosure? What are the temps and humidity levels in the enclosure currently? I saw that Tom’s excellent care sheet for temperate species had been provided to you already, possibly on another thread of yours. Please read it and then reread it again. It is the best possible advice you can get. Even though I’ve had my tortoise for a year and a half I still constantly refer back to his care sheets for reminders.

 

[CharlieS2020]

I think it is worth trying to take out the built in hide and giving her a more suitably sized hide that doesn’t take up as much space. If you do a search for hides on the forum, you will find a bunch of really cool ideas that people have come up with. A new hide and some fake plants is a good place to start for now. Because the enclosure will look a little different, it might distract Charlie enough with investigating the new things that she could be more content. BUT, if you take her out and remind her of the big free land outside of her enclosure, she just won’t be content with the box she’s in. How soon do I think she will need a new cage? I think you should start the discussions and plans on that now and by the time it’s ready, Charlie will be ready. You’ll have to figure out for yourself if you want an enclosure that is just for a year or 2 or if you want something of quality and size that will be good for the foreseeable future. My Hermann’s tortoise is a year and a half and I am currently having a 6ftx4ft enclosure built for him out of expanded PVC.

How are you keeping track of the temperatures and humidity levels in Charlie’s enclosure? What are the temps and humidity levels in the enclosure currently? I saw that Tom’s excellent care sheet for temperate species had been provided to you already, possibly on another thread of yours. Please read it and then reread it again. It is the best possible advice you can get. Even though I’ve had my tortoise for a year and a half I still constantly refer back to his care sheets for reminders.

okay i will read the care sheet and take out the hide thank you so much for the advice. Charlie

 

[CharlieS2020]

It might possibly have been written before your time, but there was a song from 1919 (written at the close of World War I) which I think your tortoise is singing in his little scaled head. It was called: "How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree)

i watched the video thank you so much for the help. Charlie

 

[Krista S]

okay i will read the care sheet and take out the hide thank you so much for the advice. Charlie

I was just looking and see a variety of care sheets have been linked for you. This is the most recent care sheet Tom has created and is the one you should closely follow in my opinion. The information he has provided is priceless.

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

www.tortoiseforum.org

 

[William Lee Kohler]

Maybe her kids are driving her nuts?.

 

[Chefdenoel10]

It might possibly have been written before your time, but there was a song from 1919 (written at the close of World War I) which I think your tortoise is singing in his little scaled head. It was called: "How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree)

JUDY GARLAND AND GENE KELLY WERE MY DADS FAVORITES!!!!!!!
????
I haven’t seen this movie in YEARS!!!!!
Thanks got the memory!
You don’t seem old enough to know that movie?? I unfortunately do..?

I hope your message was loud and clear.
She seems to listen to good advice so I think she will be fine.. best wishes to her and helping her tort out... we all had to learn things the hard way, so now we must teach what we know and did wrong so they can learn from OUR mistakes.
???❤️

 

[Chefdenoel10]

i watched the video thank you so much for the help. Charlie

we are hear to help you . Please don’t get discouraged... I have done SOOOO many wrong things till I found this forum.
But all that said try to do your best to take the advice. You may be like... oh I don’t need that.... but trust me.. in years to come (like me) you’ll wish you had...
? best of luck!! ❤️

 

[Lyn W]

i dont know to post photos. i would love if you could teach me. Charlie

I just copy and paste mine into the post.

 

[Chefdenoel10]

i dont know to post photos. i would love if you could teach me. Charlie

here is how to post pics....
When you are going to “reply” to someone
You click on reply at the bottom right corner
Right?....
Ok ...now....
Look over to your left bottom...
Does it read “attach file”?
If so press on that... it will offer to “take a photo” or “use one from your phone”
Decide what you want to do (use one from your phone) click on the picture you want to use and up on top right corner it says “done”. That will load the pic to the forum right under your message...
when all of that is done...
THEN PRESS “REPLY” at the bottom right corner....
Hope this helps????
It took me a long time to get it right too!!!
??

 

[CharlieS2020]

thanks

I think it is worth trying to take out the built in hide and giving her a more suitably sized hide that doesn’t take up as much space. If you do a search for hides on the forum, you will find a bunch of really cool ideas that people have come up with. A new hide and some fake plants is a good place to start for now. Because the enclosure will look a little different, it might distract Charlie enough with investigating the new things that she could be more content. BUT, if you take her out and remind her of the big free land outside of her enclosure, she just won’t be content with the box she’s in. How soon do I think she will need a new cage? I think you should start the discussions and plans on that now and by the time it’s ready, Charlie will be ready. You’ll have to figure out for yourself if you want an enclosure that is just for a year or 2 or if you want something of quality and size that will be good for the foreseeable future. My Hermann’s tortoise is a year and a half and I am currently having a 6ftx4ft enclosure built for him out of expanded PVC.

How are you keeping track of the temperatures and humidity levels in Charlie’s enclosure? What are the temps and humidity levels in the enclosure currently? I saw that Tom’s excellent care sheet for temperate species had been provided to you already, possibly on another thread of yours. Please read it and then reread it again. It is the best possible advice you can get. Even though I’ve had my tortoise for a year and a half I still constantly refer back to his care sheets for reminders.

for the respons i really apreashiate it.

 

[CharlieS2020]

here is how to post pics....
When you are going to “reply” to someone
You click on reply at the bottom right corner
Right?....
Ok ...now....
Look over to your left bottom...
Does it read “attach file”?
If so press on that... it will offer to “take a photo” or “use one from your phone”
Decide what you want to do (use one from your phone) click on the picture you want to use and up on top right corner it says “done”. That will load the pic to the forum right under your message...
when all of that is done...
THEN PRESS “REPLY” at the bottom right corner....
Hope this helps????
It took me a long time to get it right too!!!
??

thanks