How To Keep PET TORTOISES HAPPY! (TIPS & TRICKS)

what is enrichment enrichment is the action of improving the quality of something in the case of humans we can go on vacations or take our dogs for a walk or go to the movies but under managed care it's up to us as Keepers to do it for our animals things like making subtle changes to their environments simulating rain or stimulating their senses by hiding food all throughout their enclosure are just some of the things we can do and I'm going to show you what we do for our tortoises right here [Music] okay so intellectually speaking these animals aren't the same as birds for example but they absolutely do need to be enriched we want them to exercise we want them to have as fulfilling of a life as possible so what we're trying to do here is not just simply throw food on the floor and say there you've been fed we're going to hide things in places and get them to work for their food a little bit because in nature and these animals are Wild at Heart nobody is just offering them food they've got to go out and look for it even if they are vegetarians as most tortoises are so we've got our weekly produce delivery right here and that's because right now we're dealing with the end of winter in the summer this order completely will triple so we've got some organic curly Endive we got some organic dandelion we've got some romaine lettuce and we also have this right here what's This Ellie that's right it's cuddle bone which is going to give our tortoises calcium and also wear down their beaks if need be or at the very least keep them in check and lastly I've got some Missouri Tortoise diet soaking the animals absolutely love this stuff and this will help them to work for their food by hiding it in some cool places let's get started all right starting with our pancake tortoises we've got a female out waiting right here she is she's already hungry come on so this isn't just about getting them to exercise for their food we want them to use those instinctual behaviors by using their sense of smell to get to the food items so I'm gonna place some Missouri right there and let her find it pancake tortoises are climbers and we've talked about that many of the videos that we do with them out in Africa they're inhabiting these Rocky outcrops the exact ones that lions are basking out on and they just love to climb up even sometimes vertically so this is great to see her already out doing this now she's going all the way to the top of what we call Pride Rock in here so that she can help herself to this treat of Missouri Tortoise diet foreign some interesting areas where they can find water to drink is another thing you can do to create enrichment because in the wild for example pancake tortoises when it does rain they will look for areas that the water pools on the rocky outcrops so right there there's a nice little water pit for her that is similar to how water would collect in the wild part of the fun here is hiding food items for them throughout the enclosure and letting them find it on their own again similar to how things would be in the wild and also when these greens dry out that is still safe for them to eat there are still nutrients left in them and that is also what will happen in nature as plant life dries out and the animals can still help themselves to it and in the case of produce that's even better because there are some things in produce like this certain sugar contents that as it dries out it actually becomes more healthy for the animals [Music] foreign [Music] moving on to our Egyptian tortoises what I'm going to do first here is remove these glass panes which of course is going to let some of that humidity out but that's okay because we have to clean these and this is a perfect opportunity to do it so instead of opening the enclosure twice completely we're just doing it once and we'll get these nice and cleaned off and now we can work easier in here as we hide some food items for our Egyptian tortoises and right now they're hiding but the food is going to bring them out so one other thing I got to do right here before the tortoises start coming out to graze and explore I'm going to change their environment ever so slightly tortoise is our creature of habit yes but there are slight changes that happen in their environments that Peaks curiosity in them so what I'm going to actually do is add a live plant here that they can eat so over time will they ultimately destroy it yes but it's about them not about us and it's going to offer them a chance to be enriched explore mental stimulation and they'll get something to eat in the process this particular substrate in this enclosure is specific to the species this is perfect for Egyptian tortoises that occur on desert-like coastal areas so it's a mixture of play sand Zoo Med Excavator Clay and a little bit of organic topsoil and what that does is it also offers enrichment because it allows the animals to behave in a natural manner it's natural enough for them to lay eggs in should they need to do so and it offers them perfect amount of traction so I'm just making a divot here and we're gonna get a plant right in place and make sure the tortoises can reach it because again it's about them not us [Music] this is a live jade plant it's a succulent and succulents are part of the natural diet of the Egyptian tortoise among other tortoise species so we're simply going to plant this right here and make sure that the tortoises have access to it and they'll be able to eat it over time one thing about jade plant and other succulents is that they can have a kind of laxative effect on the animals where it'll make their stool runny it's okay as long as you're offering other appropriate food items and again it makes up a balanced diet which in return is that mental stimulation from mental enrichment so we're gonna put the substrate back in place here making it as natural as possible almost as if this plant just appeared because of the Season that the animals may be in and they will be able to snack on it whenever they feel the need and you know luckily Egyptian tortoises are very tiny so they typically won't just destroy this plant in one shot there is a way to keep it alive if you really want your plants to stay alive in here you could put a little cage mesh around them to keep the tortoises away from it at times let the plant rejuvenate a little bit and then once you feel that it's filled out you can take that little mesh or cage away and let the tortoises have at it again let's see how they like this they can climb right up to it [Music] yet another form of enrichment simulating rainfall all of these animals experience it to some degree and in the case of the Egyptian tortoises that come from those coastal areas that might have a coastal Mist coming in as much as every morning this this is a great way to keep them hydrated and stimulate them to exhibit the behaviors we want to see it's also great for any live plants you have in here and once the glass panels are back on the humidity can build back up and then dissipate as the day goes on which replicates the wild habitat of some of these species [Music] thank you [Music] you can also help your tortoises by interacting with them this way by making them Reach you're getting them to use their neck muscles and of course their leg muscles by lifting their bodies up and reaching high for food because as I've said in other videos tortoises should not always eat off the ground it's healthier for them to have to work for it and this is one of the ways you can help them that succulent jade plant that I just put in that's brand new to them it's going to take them a little while to figure it out so I could rip leaves off it and show it to them and get them to reach for it that way and then eventually they'll take right to it [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] tortoises should always have access to what they need to survive in life and calcium is one of those things but we shouldn't go forcing it on them by throwing calcium powder on on their food every single time we go to feed them instead use cuttlefish bone it's sold for Birds but you can bite and bulk on places like Amazon and what you do is you break it apart or leave it whole and be creative in hiding it in different areas in the enclosure or you can make them Reach for it again it gives them that calcium which is super important for babies and gravid females females carrying eggs but it also keeps the beacon check now in the case of our Egyptian tortoises you'll notice their shells are very pyramided because of their prior care before we got them so keeping them well hydrated giving them a good diet keeping them well exercised and giving them cuddle bone when they want it is all major pluses all right so live plants they offer a food source and they also offer a little bit of a change in an environment so you can pick these up at Garden Centers Lowe's or Home Depot but you are going to want to make sure that you rinse them really well to get anything dangerous off them and you can even put food items up in them because this way it'll enable the tortoise to climb up into the plant which is something that they absolutely do in nature [Music] foreign make sure you do your research on what plants are safe for tortoises this is an agave it is safe for them to eat but they also don't go nuts over it so you don't have to worry about them destroying it completely too quickly so check it out Iris here she's a Texas tortoise this is an arid plant so it's a good match for her and her environment because those are some of the things that are found in her environment in nature she's already checking out what I'm doing and what are the differences here what's going on this is new so I put a couple pieces of curly Endive on the agave plant right there and let's see if Iris has any interest there we go she's getting to reach for her food a little bit but you know what even if she decided not to eat it she's still sniffing things and checking things out and she's actually very Lively about it right now so this is literally what you want to see you want to see an animal being active and being exploratory [Music] foreign explores her new agave plant and the treats I put in it for her I'm gonna go ahead and hide some more things around her enclosure including some cuddle bone and I hope this gave you guys some good solid ideas for how you can help enrich your tortoises life especially if you keep them indoors primarily Iris gets to go outside our pancake tortoises get to go outside once spring hits so it's a lot easier to do these kinds of things for them when you're in a real naturalistic setting with the natural sun on them but that does not mean all hope is lost for indoor keeping so leave some comments for us I'd like to know what is it that you guys do for your tortoises to keep them enriched and if you want to learn more about the Egyptian tortoise because I know a lot of you do click this video right here come on [Music]

Channel: Garden State Tortoise

Views: 19,135

Keywords: Tortoise care, Pet tortoise care tips, How to raise tortoises, how to keep tortoises, keeping tortoises indoors, garden state tortoise, Otis the turtle, best pet tortoise care, housing tortoises indoors, tortoise facts, tort care, tortoise species, best pet tortoise species, tortoise breeds, the best tortoise information, tortoise care info tips, tortoise enrichment, Brian strong, Brian Barczyk cancer

Id: Hh4d8fBHPA0

Length: 11min 51sec (711 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 19 2023