Bob (my female) has a habit of sort of doing this little front leg/shoulder pumping/bobbing action. She tends to do it when she's not that warm, or when she's just been put down somewhere (e.g. returned to her indoor enclosure). It's almost like she's pumping herself up! Her front legs stay sort of half tucked in and the elbow/shoulder region (hard to tell!) sort of moves in an out in small motions. I wondered if it was something to do with respiration, or perhaps a way she enhances her circulation? She's always done it - ever since she was little.
Has anyone else noticed this behaviour and any ideas of it's function (and also what the correct name for it is!!)
thanks
Nancy
Hi Nancy,
Thats just Bob's reaction to stress. Picking up a tortoise is always stressful as it's unnatural for a tortoise to be off the ground. Some tortoises never get used to being picked up. I transport my tortoises from inside to outside in a cardboard box. That way all 4 feet are on a surface and not dangling in the air. I find this works great.
Danny
Hi Nancy,
Thats just Bob's reaction to stress. Picking up a tortoise is always stressful as it's unnatural for a tortoise to be off the ground. Some tortoises never get used to being picked up. I transport my tortoises from inside to outside in a cardboard box. That way all 4 feet are on a surface and not dangling in the air. I find this works great.
Danny
Thanks I do use a cardboard box - like you, to move them from indoors to out, but she still does it. She does it in the morning too when she's colder, even if I've not touched her. I even tried spying on her to see if she did it without me near and she did!
Do you have any idea if it has a function - I mean if it's a stress response does it serve a purpose in terms of anti-predator strategies or any biological function?
He's breathing, that's all. They don't have a diaphragm like we do and frequently pump their front legs for breathing.
From the book "Pet owner's guide to the Tortoise" by Dr. Simon Girling, an exotic species vet from Scotland, "They use their head, neck, and limbs as bellows, moving them in and out of the shell, even during sleep, to push air in and out of the lungs."
Mine does it when he sleeps. No stress there unless the little guy is having a nightmare!