# Do torts like to get petted?



## Spoonman (Apr 22, 2012)

I noticed that my hermmi comes up to me (to my hand) even though she just eat and she doesn't want any more food.She comes and pushes her self to my hand more and more i pet her but her hear is so small am afraid of hurting her.

She does that alot too every time i put my hand near her she comes up to it.


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## wellington (Apr 22, 2012)

Some do some not so much. You won't hurt her by petting her, just don't bang/pat on her I some times will lightly scratch his shell towards his back side as that is where I will see him rub his shell on rocks and logs. So, I say, pet her as long as she seems to like it


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## Spoonman (Apr 22, 2012)

So they can feel ther shell?


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## NudistApple (Apr 22, 2012)

Spoonman said:


> So they can feel ther shell?



Well, it's sort of attached to their bone, right? I imagine that they don't feel through it the way they do when you directly touch their skin, but more how we feel when someone touches our hair or nails. Pressure.


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## JoesMum (Apr 22, 2012)

They have no nerve endings in their shell, so they won't feel you as such through that. They will feel the movement/vibration from the shell being touched though. Joe was out in a hail storm last week and marching round in it. the hail stones were huge and it must have been so noisy, but he seemed to be enjoying it!

Joe seems to like being rubbed gently under his chin... he would definitely feel you touching directly there.


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## Katherine (Apr 22, 2012)

Some of my tortoises are indifferent to human touch, some prefer to be left alone and will get irritated if you pet them, and some appear to really enjoy the attention. I have quite a few adult tortoises that will run over to me when I am on out there and extend their necks for a rub, but I have even more who would like food from me or nothing at all. I believe it depends on your tortoises personality as well as their level of comfort with humans, they are allowing you to touch a vulnerable area when you pet them.


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## Lisa Anne (Apr 22, 2012)

I always stroke their shells' before I pick them up so I don't surprise them. Two of mine are fairly new to me and at first they always retreated and hissed when I touched them. They are used to it now and I have noticed they don't startle as much before I pick them up. So even if they don't ask to be petted I would to it as a courtesy.


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## ALDABRAMAN (Apr 22, 2012)

Ours like to be scratched.


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## Laurie (Apr 22, 2012)

ALDABRAMAN said:


> Ours like to be scratched.



Yours can probably pet you!


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## Oogway (Apr 22, 2012)

My hermanni does the exact same thing. she follows my hand, and eventually crawls up and rests on my hand (possibly because of the heat). She also wriggles her shell when i scratch her back.
Video of the wriggling below 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH6taqeeUdU


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## ALDABRAMAN (Apr 22, 2012)

Laurie said:


> ALDABRAMAN said:
> 
> 
> > Ours like to be scratched.
> ...


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## Tom (Apr 22, 2012)

Mine just sort of tolerate it. They don't seem to seek it out or enjoy it, but they will let me.


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## slowpoke (Apr 22, 2012)

slowpoke likes it when i rub his chin , stretches out and closes his eyes like, aawww feels so good , sassy not so much she just comes around if i have food, if no food she goes away, sammi loves any kind of attention, she loves the top of her heat rubbed...


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## Zamric (Apr 22, 2012)

WalkingRock with let CATHIE rub his head and face and stick his neck out to be rubbed and scrached all thay way back to his shoulders... but only Cathie gets that privledge... me, I get to scratch his head and rub his neck ...a little!

My 2 Hatchlings...I don't think they care one way or the other!


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## GeoTerraTestudo (Apr 22, 2012)

It seems like very large tortoises (adult Galapagos, Aldabra, and perhaps sulcata, too) do enjoy getting petted on the neck or behind the head. Smaller ones may not mind being petted while waiting to be fed or let out, but I don't think they actually seek it out. Other individuals, of course, are frightened by it, so it depends.


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## DvotedMOMMY (Apr 22, 2012)

Laurie said:


> Yours can probably pet you!



LMBO!! xD



Oogway said:


> My hermanni does the exact same thing. she follows my hand, and eventually crawls up and rests on my hand (possibly because of the heat). She also wriggles her shell when i scratch her back.
> Video of the wriggling below
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH6taqeeUdU



Wow!! Looks to me like she feels it! As light as your are running your fingers on her, she seems to be ticklish! 
Too cute!


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