Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My sulcata decided to start burrowing this year. (he's about 4 years old)
He has a HUGE pen and I'm not worried about him burrowing out, but I was trying to decide if I'd let him keep the burrow or not.

How many of you sulcata people let their torts burrow to their hearts desire? Is is safe? I can't help but think of rain filling in the burrow and stuff like that.

I'd love to hear what some of you do about burrowing sulcatas.

Thanks,
Pamela

That's interesting. What kind of "house" does he have? I thought
they usually didn't burrow if they had a house they liked going
into. I remember Terry from this forum that had some big sulcatas
and one was burrowing near a boulder and got several feet down
into the ground, causing her to be a nervous wreck. They tore
up her underground sprinkling system and destroyed the small yard
eventually she rehomed them. How deep is he going and is
it under anything, at an angle or straight down!? Once when we
moved here Teddy was digging into the side of a huge mound of
dirt before construction on the house next door and I was worried
about a "landslide" and didn't let him do it much. I guess it's
like cats getting into a tree. Makes people nervous but then
again, have you ever seen a cat skeleton in a tree. No, they manage
to get down. You'd think they had some instinct about digging.
I've thought about starting a spot and seeing if he'd dig too,
but then I could see it going 15 feet down and filling with
rain (though we usually only get an inch or so of rain not
3 feet of rain) or collapsing.

I have 3 different "tort" houses for my sulcata. They are the large plastic dog houses that are in shaded areas.

The burrow is in a place where he won't damage anything, can't escape, and it looks like it's going down at a very gradual slope. He had been hanging out under my low reclined lounge chair that I use when I'm hanging out with him, and that's where he started digging.

It's not that I really mind him burrowing. I assume it's a totall natural thing for him to do. It's been really hot here the past two weeks, so I'm guessing that he's burrowing to cool off. I just get paranoid about possible things that could go wrong...flooding from rain, collapsing dirt, things like that.

I was hoping to gain some insight from other's experences in this so that I can decide whether to let him keep it, or fill it in. But the more I think on it, the more I'm inclined to fill in the burrow. One reason is that I won't be able to get to him when I need to....He usually comes when I call him, but if he got sick or something, I can't imagine him rushing out to see what kind of treats I had for him. PLUS around here, rattlesnakes are known to share burrows with gopher tortoises.... I sure don't want one of them under my lounge chair... lol

Pamela

Most animal behavior has very specific function. In this case it is to have a protective home that is a cool escape from the sun and has somewhat higher humidity levels to minimize dehydration. I've see man made scrapes where instead of having a house or shed, they install metal or pvc piping of a very large diameter and with good length. The lower end is capped and a soil mixure is added into the pipe to give it a more natural feel....the theory being that if they have a scrape they won't dig others. I've seen where the torts will dig multiple holes. However, I've seen this mostly where the tort has a rather large area in which to roam and the multple holes appear distributed to provide more readily available escape from heat, etc. If the torts yard is really large, you may be able to reduce the behavior by providing more manmade escapes in the form of dog houses or constructing holes of your own. I'd be cautious about the metal/pvc route because they can't dig a turn around location if they get too big. Best wishes with your tortscaping.