Arriving Home to my FRIENDLY hatchling :)

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EchoTheLeoTort

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In this video I arrive home from vacation this weekend, went to check on Echo, and he came over in an instant, nudged my hand to let me know he wanted a head rub, and then came to crawl into my hand for more attention. ( No I was NOT pressing hard on his head, however I am left handed, and was using my right hand to do the petting, With how gentle I have to be my hand was a little shaky cause its not my dominant hand. Don't worry he is perfectly fine, and it just seems a little rough at the beginning)
~ Please copy the link, and then paste it into your address bar, I hope the video is ready to be viewed, I just uploaded it half an hour ago

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF95RIP1b-g

I wanted to kind of cover the topic of this video and how I got Echo to be this way. Ever since I got Echo (Plus 3 days letting him settle into his home) I have made the effort to get him out of his enclosure and to get around me. He was some what shy but he never would show being scared when i picked him up (like going potty on my hand, which can be common for other torts and owners) although he would hide in his shell if i moved to fast or grabbed him without coming from the front. To be honest, a lot of tortoises that come up to you want food, but actually in our case, I have never tried hand feeding Echo, and when I put food in his enclosure, he is out soaking, so he still has never registered my hand as food. We are now here on June 9th, and from what i've witnessed the past month, my tortoise is really friendly and loves being interacted with. He loves to get his head rubbed, he loves to come crawl into my hand, he is starting to slowly recognize his name (although it might be my imagination), he comes up to the glass of his cage and just stares out and waits until i go over and open up the door and pet him, then he saunters off to eat more. This is My opinion, but I think people don't give tortoises enough credit. Echo has never seemed stressed out by being handled. He is held securely, but he has never stopped eating or drinking, or gotten sick, or anything of the sort. He is very healthy (even with the first 2 months of no UV, I know, terrible on my part, but don't worry he has a MVB bulb and gets outside every day this summer) and is growing, he is a loving tortoise. :)
 

theelectraco

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That was too cute lol. I can't believe he crawled in your hand.


0.1.0 Dachshund
0.0.1 Redfoot
1.0.0 Greek
0.0.1 Crested Gecko
 

anm1221

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Awww what kind of tort is echo. And very cute video by the way

Sent from my LG-C800 using TortForum mobile app
 

thatrebecca

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I love when he crawls into your hand. So sweet. Sometimes my juvenile CDTs walk up and sniff me and sit on my hand or foot, but it seems more like they see me as a tree or a boulder to climb than as a creature who loves them. But I still love the contact and connection. Even when it tickles!
 

EchoTheLeoTort

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anm1221 said:
Awww what kind of tort is echo. And very cute video by the way

Sent from my LG-C800 using TortForum mobile app

Echo is a leopard tortoise. The Babcocki subspecies :)


thatrebecca said:
I love when he crawls into your hand. So sweet. Sometimes my juvenile CDTs walk up and sniff me and sit on my hand or foot, but it seems more like they see me as a tree or a boulder to climb than as a creature who loves them. But I still love the contact and connection. Even when it tickles!

One of the (somewhat) fun thing about Echo is that he loves to climb things. He tries to scale my pillows on my bed, or climb on top of his log hide. He isn't afraid of anything. But a lot of times he goes exploring and then comes back and falls asleep in my hand or where my arm bends at my elbow. The downside to his climbing is that I have found him a few times tipped over in his cage on his back. I had to decide to take his log hide out so there isn't much to climb on except a little rock pile. gotta keep an eye out for those climbers :D
 

gieseygirly

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So cute! I agree with you, Marissa - I handle and interact with all my torts on a daily basis. And it seems to me that they are starting to recognize my voice, as well as my hand when I place it in their tables.
 

Kathy Coles

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Thank you for sharing that video and your experiences. I agree with your title, tortoises make great pets.
 

Dar's mum

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Awwwww, how sweet!! This is like my dream!
I hope my Darwin would be like your Echo one day...
 

Vickie

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Oh wow HOW adorable! Boy makes me want one all the more. Some people look at me like I am odd saying turtles and tortoises have such great personalities......though I would say they are also more then likely the ones that never owned or have been around them for any amount of time.
 

gieseygirly

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Vickie said:
Oh wow HOW adorable! Boy makes me want one all the more. Some people look at me like I am odd saying turtles and tortoises have such great personalities......though I would say they are also more then likely the ones that never owned or have been around them for any amount of time.

LOL - people think I'm strange too for being so obsessed with turtles n torts. I hear things like "they're boring" or "they're slow", blah blah blah. And I think how obvious it is that they've never spent time with a turtle or tortoise :p
 

EchoTheLeoTort

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Dar said:
Awwwww, how sweet!! This is like my dream!
I hope my Darwin would be like your Echo one day...

If Darwin is the little Russian in your picture I think he will come around. To some extent I find that when people adopt or bring home adult tortoises, it would be harder to get them to learn to trust you and to be interested in you. I'm not saying it wouldn't happen because all torts are different, but if they had a rough past and very little human interaction, it would be harder to adjust. But when I got Echo he was most likely under a month old. I think if you get your tort as a hatchling or 1-2 years even, and you take time every day, even only 5 minutes to just pick them up and try petting them and interacting with them, they get used to it and some enjoy it. Of course there will be tortoises that won't have anything to do with it, just like cats for example, some cats hide in your house and you rarely see them, and other ones are cuddly and like to hang around. it all just depends on the personality and the time you spend trying to interact. I wouldn't count soaking as interaction either because I handle Echo maybe 5 seconds before he gets in his soaker, but after he soaks I let him hang out with me while i eat breakfast and he tries to climb my feet and do crazy things, and when I'm done eating i stick my hand down and he climbs up and i give him a good head and neck rub. Then he goes in his enclosure for awhile, and later in the afternoon he goes outside, then at night we hang out and watch tv together. He gets a lot of exercise with this routine, which is good. His enclosure is big for him (for now :p) and stuff but i love my pets so he gets to get petted as much as my dogs. Just keep working daily with Darwin and he will warm up to you :) You can always hand feed too, so he associates you as the bringer of food and he will come up to you, but I don't do that with Echo. I don't have a reason why I just put his food in his dish so he knows where it is :) Good luck!
 

Dar's mum

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EchoTheLeoTort said:
Dar said:
Awwwww, how sweet!! This is like my dream!
I hope my Darwin would be like your Echo one day...

If Darwin is the little Russian in your picture I think he will come around. To some extent I find that when people adopt or bring home adult tortoises, it would be harder to get them to learn to trust you and to be interested in you. I'm not saying it wouldn't happen because all torts are different, but if they had a rough past and very little human interaction, it would be harder to adjust. But when I got Echo he was most likely under a month old. I think if you get your tort as a hatchling or 1-2 years even, and you take time every day, even only 5 minutes to just pick them up and try petting them and interacting with them, they get used to it and some enjoy it. Of course there will be tortoises that won't have anything to do with it, just like cats for example, some cats hide in your house and you rarely see them, and other ones are cuddly and like to hang around. it all just depends on the personality and the time you spend trying to interact. I wouldn't count soaking as interaction either because I handle Echo maybe 5 seconds before he gets in his soaker, but after he soaks I let him hang out with me while i eat breakfast and he tries to climb my feet and do crazy things, and when I'm done eating i stick my hand down and he climbs up and i give him a good head and neck rub. Then he goes in his enclosure for awhile, and later in the afternoon he goes outside, then at night we hang out and watch tv together. He gets a lot of exercise with this routine, which is good. His enclosure is big for him (for now :p) and stuff but i love my pets so he gets to get petted as much as my dogs. Just keep working daily with Darwin and he will warm up to you :) You can always hand feed too, so he associates you as the bringer of food and he will come up to you, but I don't do that with Echo. I don't have a reason why I just put his food in his dish so he knows where it is :) Good luck!

Awww, so encouraging to hear that my Darwin can become as friendly as your Echo!
I'll spend a time everyday with Darwin and try to get his heart opened to me! :)
Thank you very much for lots of advices, I'll print your suggestions out and practice everyday! :)
 
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