If you’ve taken care of tortoises before, or if you’ve had your pet for a while, then you’ll know that these reptiles love to sleep.
Knowing this, you’ll understandably be confused if your pet suddenly becomes active at night.
This article looks into why your tortoise is so active at night.
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Why is my tortoise so active at night?
Tortoises are diurnal, they are like humans in that they sleep at night and are awake during the day.
So, it would be quite odd for your little pet to be up and active during the night
Here is why your pet tortoise may be active at night:
Lighting:
One of the simplest reasons why your pet tortoise may be up at night may be lighting.
Your tortoise doesn’t understand how lights work so it assumes that light means that it’s morning time and dark means that it’s nighttime.
If the lights in your pet’s room are kept on then the animal will simply think it is the daytime and will stay awake.
Keeping the lights on will also make these animals fight with each other.
If you have more than one pet in the enclosure then they may become more active and start fighting.
What to do:
This can be rectified by switching off the lights in the room where your pet’s enclosure is. Making sure that the room is quiet is also a good idea.
Incorrect tank temperature:
Your tortoise’s tank environment should be kept constant and should be optimal for the animal to live normally at all times.
If the temperature in your tortoise’s tank is too high then this can cause the animal to not fall asleep and be restless at night.
What to do:
Check that the heater in your pet’s enclosure is correct and make sure that the heater heating your pet’s enclosure is not malfunctioning.
Also, check that the thermometer in your pet’s enclosure is working as it should be.
A female about to lay eggs:
Mating and reproducing will change the behavior of many animals, tortoises included.
Your female tortoise may be awake and more active at night because it is about to lay eggs.
This is a survival instinct that these animals have from when they lived in the wild.
These animals would usually stay up at night to dig holes and lay eggs to minimize the risk of being seen by predators who would swoop in and eat the eggs.
This may have been a good way for tortoises to keep their eggs safe from predators like snakes, ravens, and crows.
What to do:
If you know that you’re raising a female tortoise, and you know that it is about to lay eggs, then you can let the animal be and dig its holes during the nighttime.
This behavior isn’t something that you should worry about.
It’s the type of tortoise:
Most tortoises will be up during the day but some species of tortoise will be up later in the day when it’s cooler.
These animals will be up around dawn and dusk and may sleep when it’s hotter towards the middle of the day.
The Russian tortoise is an example of a tortoise that behaves this way.
What to do:
This behavior is quite normal for these types of animals.
You don’t have to worry, there isn’t anything wrong with these animals in this case, it is simply their nature.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other turtle/tortoise related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Why Does My Tortoise Keep Hitting The Glass?, White Spots On Turtle Head, Turtle With White Spots On Head, White Spots On Turtle Feet, Can A Tortoise Go Into Shock?, Why Does My Turtle Follow Me?, Turtle Biting Shell, Why Is My Turtle Biting Everything?, Tortoise Skin Rot