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What is my Desert Tortoise doing? He just sits there looking at the wall and keeps doing that in different places up and down that wall. Is he trying to keep his head in the sun, if so, why, he has other places to get sun. He's acting kind of weird right now. He has visual barriers and has been eating fine and he's very healthy. Whats the problem????

Studying the wall for the slightest sign of weakness or imperfection so when he is ready to make his great escape he doesn't waste any energy. Just my guess. One of my torts does that also. The others just walk over him while he stands there and stares. Tom

Thanks for the quick response It just happened like 10 minutes ago and I automatically went into panic mode. I should of thought that he is just staring at a wall and its no big deal.

Thanks,
-Tony C

What he's doing... only he really knows but if you look you'll see he is resting on the pipe. What I see is that he is taking up what little radiant heat he can find... and seems to be enjoying it. I call that the 'life is good' position. Tortoises have a few of these but the one were the heat is bouncing off an object is usually the most creative.
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

Yeah, I did'nt think of that eighther I just happened to have my phone, took the picture and posted it without thinking.

-Thanks EJ,

-Tony C

Hi Ed, Thats not a "life is good" moment, THIS IS,

This is amoung a group I have been watching in nature for decades. If you notice, that hole behind the tort is the shape of the tort. The hole grows as the tort grows. Cheers

Frank,

You'll notice that I mentioned that there were a few positions and your picture is one of them but what is special is that it's an animal in the wild... cool.

Are the lizards gettin' boring?
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

I've got a Florida Boxie who lays in exactly that position.

Nanci
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My Egyptian tortoise does that & sometimes sleeps in the most awkward positions. A few weeks ago a friend stopped by & was checking out the tortoise pen & said, "Oh no! Your little tortoise is dead!" Even though he looked like roadkill, he was just basking.
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DeeCee

My Mt.Tort does that i'm dead impression sometimes and it gives me the creeps.Once as I was walking up to one with his head down on the ground, there was a pile of poo beside him that had flys buzzing around it.From my view he looked dead and then we startled each other when he looked up! Maybe its something they do for fun."here comes the keeper everyone look dead" Vic

I wish I had a picture of how my box turtle sits in his water dish. He does it jacuzzi style. He lounges with his front legs over the edge of the dish, looking very relaxed.

awesome picture... my redfoot sprawls out in the same way!

I see EJ beat me to it, but I agree, he's just soaking up warmth. The sun shining on the stone wall will give off extra heat. You'll find a lot of animals in nature using this technique when the ambient temps aren't quite as warm as they'd like. That's the same reason you find snakes laying in the road at night. Fish even do it in the spring, especially along roadways/bridges where the banks are covered with rocks to prevent erosion.