# Why do some tortoises dance when their shell is scrachted or squirted with water?



## Dr Darwin

I do not know why tortoises dance. Mine (Darwin) does not dance when scratched but raises his butt when I squirt him but does not dance. If anyone knows why they do it or how to make them do it please respond. PS this s is Darwin after eating a strawberry.


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## Yvonne G

Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

We call that the "Hootchy Kootchy Dance." They evidently like to be scratched/rubbed on the back part of the carapace right over the hip area. I have caught my big Aldabran tortoises under the bush, rubbing back and forth on the branches.


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## Dr Darwin

Thank you. But is this why Darwin likes getting squirted?


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## Yvonne G

Water or your hand - makes no difference to your tortoise. He just enjoys the area to be scratched.


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## Dr Darwin

Thank you.


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## MPRC

Only one of mine has ever done the little dance and it was right after we got her and she was really dry. She would walk under things and stand up and scratch her behind. Since we started soaking and monitoring humidity she hasn't done it.


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## Grandpa Turtle 144

Hello


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## ZEROPILOT

About a year ago I posted about having mounted brush heads to my outdoors enclosures and several of my tortoises would come and scratch themselves on them.
Strangely, they have stopped, but they still dance if I spray them on the butt.


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## surfergirl

My sully does this water or touching the rear of his shell. Cracks me up every time.


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## ZEROPILOT

There are lots of videos on youtube


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## Speedy-1

*Hi and welcome ! *


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## MPRC

Quick question for you, does your little tort have an underbite?


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## Razan

Tortoises give us a lot to laugh about. New owner of a giant sulcata and seeing this hootcy cootchy for the first time I thought I was making my tortoise go into a seizure. Then thought maybe his leg was injured and he just can't walk right. The epiphany of knowing I did not cause him permanent damage...tortoise owning has it's moments.


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## ZEROPILOT

This topic has come up before.
I once started a thread about it (not the first to do so) and the jury is still out on if the reaction means that the tortoises enjoy the stimulation or is it an other type of reaction. It is further compounded by the fact that not every tortoise reacts to this at all.
Personally, it looks like enjoyment to me. But it seems to go against everything else I think I know about tortoise behavior....


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## keepergale

My nickels worth of opinion thinks we see a similar response to a couple totally different reactions. They stand and move their "hips" around due to pleasant stimulation. They also stand and do a more violent shake if the are pissed about a stimulation they didn't want. I have seen quite some tantrums involving shell banging when their path to the chow line is blocked. The other day one thought another tortoise was bumping its shell and started violently shaking its shell. What actually happened was it walked near another tortoise but under a branch that bumped the ol"carapace.


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## RosemaryDW

Razan said:


> New owner of a giant sulcata and seeing this hootcy cootchy for the first time I thought I was making my tortoise go into a seizure.



My little girl backed up to a clump of twigs last week and shook her little tail half off. If I hadn't read about such behavior here, I also would have thought she was having a seizure!

For the record, she does not like me to scratch her shell at all. *"No thanks," *she says. "I'll do it myself."


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## Guzboss

My sulcata does the hokey pokey . It puts its right foot in and then it puts it out. Every now and then it shakes it all about.


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## Douglas Yardley

My Red-Foot, Chili, does a dance when I rub the rear quarter of her shell.


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## Cheryl Hills

Someone told me if you scratch a torts back end and it danced, that meant it was a girl! Must be the stimulation. I have not seen mine do this yet.


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## keepergale

Where do you scratch them to find out if they are a male?


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## ZEROPILOT

Cheryl Hills said:


> Someone told me if you scratch a torts back end and it danced, that meant it was a girl! Must be the stimulation. I have not seen mine do this yet.


My most energetic dancer was a male Redfoot. I still have a video of it, but it wont post here.


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## NDevon

keepergale said:


> Where do you scratch them to find out if they are a male?



Ha! I'm not going to answer that...


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## Tom

Dr Darwin said:


> I do not know why tortoises dance. Mine (Darwin) does not dance when scratched but raises his butt when I squirt him but does not dance. If anyone knows why they do it or how to make them do it please respond. PS this s is Darwin after eating a strawberry.
> View attachment 169349



They do this to tell you to leave them alone. Its their expression of irritation. Its the equivalent of a male toad or frog croaking when you encircle their waist with your thumb and forefinger. The toad is saying, "Hey Dummy. I'm a male. Let go." Your tortoise is saying, "Hey Dummy. That annoys me. Knock it off."

And I would not feed your tortoise strawberries. They are not good for them. Some people recommend small amounts of fruit once in a while as a "treat". Why? If its so bad for them that they should only get a little bit, once in a whir, why give it to them at all? Tortoises don't need treats. They need a varied, balanced diet. Sugary treats disturb the delicate balance of their intestinal flora and fauna.


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## SamuelM

Here is a different take on this. I don't believe our Tortoises like to be sprayed by water, at all. They look a little agitated when this happens. They do the swivel dance. Isn't this a defense mechanism? These are large reptiles and being brushed up by the relatively sharp edges of the shells may cause a little discomfort. There is a lot of weight and strength to back up this movement. The motion seems to lack a differentiation between an actual predator touching it.This is not a reference to rubbing against an inanimate object. That's is most likely a whole different scenario. PS: There were a couple of Skunks out back, and I believe one put his nose or foot in the wrong place. We heard this squeal. My guess is that a skunk got a pinching of his life. I once received quite a blood blister, trying to lift one of them. Don't underestimate their strength. Have a good one. I'm new here also and haven't even written an introduction yet - browsing and saw this post.


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## motero

I think it is quite similar to when a female is trying to shake of a male. I spray them anyways it is funny. I don't think it is the water they don't like it is the feeling of something on the back of their shell where they cant see. If i am spraying out water dishes or watering plant or grass they they will try and walk through the water. Its so hot and dry in AZ, they love the water.


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## ZEROPILOT

That doesn't seem to mesh with them self scratching against branches, etc and doing the same wiggle movement against the branch and stream of water and not away from it. Otherwise it would seem to make sense.


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## annabell.the.sulcata

My sulcata tortoise will dance to music, she bobs her head and moves her legs


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## SarahChelonoidis

I have seen my male elongated occasionally scratch his hind shell on overhanging branches. It's possible he wasn't seeking out a scratch though, and instead just walked under it, it touched him, and he did a little shimmy to get it off. It looks like he's having an itch though - he could just walk away otherwise? He also raises up tall on his back legs if I rub the new growth on his shell but he doesn't do the little 'dance'. I don't know how involuntary it is or if it's associated with positive or negative sensations for him.

It would be interesting to keep a document of this behaviour in sex confirmed specimens to see if there are differences there.


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## ZEROPILOT

This is very interesting.


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## motero

SarahChelonoidis said:


> I have seen my male elongated occasionally scratch his hind shell on overhanging branches. It's possible he wasn't seeking out a scratch though, and instead just walked under it, it touched him, and he did a little shimmy to get it off. It looks like he's having an itch though - he could just walk away otherwise? He also raises up tall on his back legs if I rub the new growth on his shell but he doesn't do the little 'dance'. I don't know how involuntary it is or if it's associated with positive or negative sensations for him.
> 
> It would be interesting to keep a document of this behaviour in sex confirmed specimens to see if there are differences there.




Exactly what I was thinking, the branch touched them first, then they shimmy.


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## Gattu N'Coco

annabell.the.sulcata said:


> My sulcata tortoise will dance to music, she bobs her head and moves her legs


She's just breathing


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## enchilada

I remember someone actually wrote a paper about radiata tortoise dances when sprayed water on butt


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