Dig permanent sleeping burrows, which may be shared by two or more tortoises. Sides slant steeply down at 45-degree angles. Adult males hiss when approached too closely and retreat into their shell or burrow, where they wedge themselves in. Females may raise their shell up off the ground and drop it with a thud. This may have been challenge or threat behavior.
Males are frequently aggressive, ramming and biting each other.
Breeding males fight among themselves for access to females. May be repeated several times in one day, each contact lasting approximately 15 minutes. Female is immobilized by the weight of the male, who presses down on the anterior part of her carapace with his forelimbs. He utters low-pitched rhythmic sounds like muffled rattling groans. She digs with front legs and pushes dirt out with hind legs.