Bonding with a tortoise

TheLastGreen

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Now I know torts are more of a give food, give water, give the right environment type of animal, and you just leave them alone, but I do sometimes feel bad that I don't interact with them enough. I do pick them up when moving them about etc. but I was wondering how you guys interact with your torts?20220504_140447.jpg
(I'm also busy transitioning Zvezda over to a more hay filled diet in the meantime)
 

wellington

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I will pick mine (leopards and Russian) up and look them over. Touch their legs and check their shells give a scratch/run in their heads and then leave them be. I have always handled them a lot when smaller and touched and even pulled/held onto their legs/feet and rubbed their heads and necks. Easier to check things when they don't pull inside.
 

Pebbles Roberts

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Hello, I’m Angela from England and my Hermann is 8 months old. I’ve had him for five months and he is adorable. Extremely curious and friendly. I pick him up for a long cuddle every single day. He loves to be stroked and rests his head on me while I stroke him. I’ve been told that tortoises don’t like being handled, in which case my baby is an exception.
 

zolasmum

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Hello, I’m Angela from England and my Hermann is 8 months old. I’ve had him for five months and he is adorable. Extremely curious and friendly. I pick him up for a long cuddle every single day. He loves to be stroked and rests his head on me while I stroke him. I’ve been told that tortoises don’t like being handled, in which case my baby is an exception.
Hello- I'm Angie from England too (Devon) - I have a Hermann who is nearly 22, and who we have had since he was a baby. We handle him a lot - cuddles at home, sitting on my lap in the car - and every day my husband takes him for a walk - carried in his hand. He accepts this very well, and he also gets to be held by local human friends too. I think this is unusual, but it seems to suit him, and we have no family or other pets, so he gets lots of attention from us. We find that people are often extremely happy to have the experience of holding him (we make sure he has peed recently first). We wouldn't do anything he didn't like . Actually, we take him to the vet twice a year to have his beak trimmed, and the vet loves dealing with him as he is so relaxed about it !
So your little chap is not the only one - I hope he stays as friendly to you as he is now.
Best wishes from Angie
 

Avuwyy

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My tortoise despises being touched and will immediately retreat into his shell if I reach out to him, but I sometimes sit by his enclosure and have a chat with him whilst he basks.

I think he’s assigned me sitting and chatting with him to him receiving food, as often mid bask he will waddle up to the side of the enclosure thinking he’s being fed. Telling him silly things such as what I’ll feed him tomorrow, or how moody he is, or even some of the stupid things I had read in the news and how he doesn’t have to deal with the idiocy. This is the only way I can interact with my tortoise without startling him.

Last night I had maybe a half hour conversation with him about my being able to source spring greens locally and how he can start eating spring greens again (For some reason my local supermarkets just… Haven’t had them in stock, so he’s gone without for a while). Obviously he doesn’t know what this means, but he seemed pretty pleased with his greens when I fed him this morning. Wasn’t a green left when I returned to clear his slate.

I don’t mind it too much, he is a young tortoise and he may open up to being handled or pet as he grows. It wouldn’t matter to me if he never likes being handled, I’m quite fine with just having little conversations with him.
 

Pebbles Roberts

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Hello- I'm Angie from England too (Devon) - I have a Hermann who is nearly 22, and who we have had since he was a baby. We handle him a lot - cuddles at home, sitting on my lap in the car - and every day my husband takes him for a walk - carried in his hand. He accepts this very well, and he also gets to be held by local human friends too. I think this is unusual, but it seems to suit him, and we have no family or other pets, so he gets lots of attention from us. We find that people are often extremely happy to have the experience of holding him (we make sure he has peed recently first). We wouldn't do anything he didn't like . Actually, we take him to the vet twice a year to have his beak trimmed, and the vet loves dealing with him as he is so relaxed about it !
So your little chap is not the only one - I hope he stays as friendly to you as he is now.
Best wishes from Angie
Thank you Angie, that’s so reassuring to read. Everyone who meets Pebbles wants to stroke him, although I admit to being careful who and when! I’m making a journal of him for my granddaughters to enjoy. They love to write in it about him. We even have a photo of him emerging from the egg and of his mum and two siblings.
 

Cathie G

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My tortoise doesn't mind being around people and will actually stand up as tall as he can if someone is petting his carapace. He's probably hoping they'll take him outside but that also means he trusts people enough to ask. I've handled him enough to take care of him and pet him now and then. I check on him through out the day and watch him like you. I think Tortoises have more problems with other animals rather than people. Especially with other Tortoises and turtles though or predators. They can become really aggressive with other torts or turtles or vice versa. Predators are another story.
 

Pebbles Roberts

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Thank you Angie, that’s so reassuring to read. Everyone who meets Pebbles wants to stroke him, although I admit to being careful who and when! I’m making a journal of him for my granddaughters to enjoy. They love to write in it about him. We even have a photo of him emerging from the egg and of his mum and two siblings.
My tortoise doesn't mind being around people and will actually stand up as tall as he can if someone is petting his carapace. He's probably hoping they'll take him outside but that also means he trusts people enough to ask. I've handled him enough to take care of him and pet him now and then. I check on him through out the day and watch him like you. I think Tortoises have more problems with other animals rather than people. Especially with other Tortoises and turtles though or predators. They can become really aggressive with other torts or turtles or vice versa. Predators are another story.
Hi Cathie, your tortoise sounds lovely. I agree about predators although we also have a small dog and they are quite happy around each other. My dog is extremely affectionate to everyone, including other dogs. My tortoise seems quite happy around Daisy, but I still wouldn’t leave them alone.
 

zolasmum

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Thank you Angie, that’s so reassuring to read. Everyone who meets Pebbles wants to stroke him, although I admit to being careful who and when! I’m making a journal of him for my granddaughters to enjoy. They love to write in it about him. We even have a photo of him emerging from the egg and of his mum and two siblings.
I really like your idea of keeping a journal about Pebbles - we started a diary about Zola, but didn't keep it very well.It must also be lovely to have photos of him hatching.
Zola was hatched in Holland, and passed through the care of several people before he came to us. At that time it had only been legal to get young tortoises very recently - there were very few breeders in this country - the few that were available were all imported. Anyway, it was love at first sight when we met Zola !
Actually, I wrote a longish introduction about Zola, when I first dared to write on this forum - it was on 26 October, 2020 - titled " Please welcome Zola," and it explains how he became so friendly, if you are interested.
Angie
 

Cathie G

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Hi Cathie, your tortoise sounds lovely. I agree about predators although we also have a small dog and they are quite happy around each other. My dog is extremely affectionate to everyone, including other dogs. My tortoise seems quite happy around Daisy, but I still wouldn’t leave them alone.
Yes. I agree totally about the dog. We used to have a cat like that that wasn't aggressive at all. Dilly the cat we have now isn't either but he will play and use his claws so he absolutely isn't allowed around my tortoise. He does live with a house rabbit though. I think he thinks he's a rabbit because he was raised with one. He's still not allowed to be alone with her. When I'm gone the rabbit is in her den. I don't trust either one 😂
 

Pebbles Roberts

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I really like your idea of keeping a journal about Pebbles - we started a diary about Zola, but didn't keep it very well.It must also be lovely to have photos of him hatching.
Zola was hatched in Holland, and passed through the care of several people before he came to us. At that time it had only been legal to get young tortoises very recently - there were very few breeders in this country - the few that were available were all imported. Anyway, it was love at first sight when we met Zola !
Actually, I wrote a longish introduction about Zola, when I first dared to write on this forum - it was on 26 October, 2020 - titled " Please welcome Zola," and it explains how he became so friendly, if you are interested.
Angie
Hello again,
I decided to write the journal because Pebbles will be around long after I am gone and he will belong to my granddaughters, who already adore him. We were very lucky to get him; it wasn’t planned. A family member had two tortoises since she was a child (she is now 23). Unexpectedly the female laid three eggs. Luckily my relative had trained in animal husbandry so knew how to care for them. All three hatched so she gave one to me and has kept the other two.

I shall read your article on Zola. I’m sure it will be useful.
 

Pebbles Roberts

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Hello- I'm Angie from England too (Devon) - I have a Hermann who is nearly 22, and who we have had since he was a baby. We handle him a lot - cuddles at home, sitting on my lap in the car - and every day my husband takes him for a walk - carried in his hand. He accepts this very well, and he also gets to be held by local human friends too. I think this is unusual, but it seems to suit him, and we have no family or other pets, so he gets lots of attention from us. We find that people are often extremely happy to have the experience of holding him (we make sure he has peed recently first). We wouldn't do anything he didn't like . Actually, we take him to the vet twice a year to have his beak trimmed, and the vet loves dealing with him as he is so relaxed about it !
So your little chap is not the only one - I hope he stays as friendly to you as he is now.
Best wishes from Angie
Hello Angie, I’ve just managed to find your thread from 2020 and I’m so impressed! How wonderful you and Richard are to have nursed Zola so lovingly. I have already found an excellent vet who can care for Pebbles. I’m inspired to take him out with me. He already has a pet carrier. I thought he was supposed to be under his basking lamp for much of the time though? Your advice would be most helpful.
 

TammyJ

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This is all very nice and good, so it's OK to handle your tortoise and talk to it and it's good for humans too to have this "friendship", one sided though it may be. But we are not dogs. Do not EVER leave ANY dog alone with a tortoise. Period. There is much evidence and sad stories to support this statement!
 

Pebbles Roberts

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I agree “it’s all very nice and good “. I think any caring and loving interaction with any animal is good. However, if you read my thread carefully you will see that I have already made the point you raise; I have a sweet-tempered dog but I still wouldn’t leave her alone with my tortoise.
 

zolasmum

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Hello Angie, I’ve just managed to find your thread from 2020 and I’m so impressed! How wonderful you and Richard are to have nursed Zola so lovingly. I have already found an excellent vet who can care for Pebbles. I’m inspired to take him out with me. He already has a pet carrier. I thought he was supposed to be under his basking lamp for much of the time though? Your advice would be most helpful.
I'm glad you liked it - I was a bit worried when I wrote it that people would criticise us, but in fact we have had a lot of positive response - the thing is that we have, all along, been trying to do what Zola seemed to enjoy, and we get a lot of pleasure from his company - also I think that over the years, we have probably made a lot of people realise what interesting creatures tortoises are, and that must surely be a good thing.
Zola has lots of time under his basking lamp - you are right, they do need it, of course, especially a young tortoise like Pebbles. We try to be consistent with Zola - basking - car ride and cuddle on my lap - look at something different, e.g. waves moving, flowers, seeing his human friends - back for lunch - maybe walk carried by Richard along the cliffs, or among trees - come home to his conservatory, often with me in attendance - bask, sleep, eat, etc.,.
Angie
 

Pebbles Roberts

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I'm glad you liked it - I was a bit worried when I wrote it that people would criticise us, but in fact we have had a lot of positive response - the thing is that we have, all along, been trying to do what Zola seemed to enjoy, and we get a lot of pleasure from his company - also I think that over the years, we have probably made a lot of people realise what interesting creatures tortoises are, and that must surely be a good thing.
Zola has lots of time under his basking lamp - you are right, they do need it, of course, especially a young tortoise like Pebbles. We try to be consistent with Zola - basking - car ride and cuddle on my lap - look at something different, e.g. waves moving, flowers, seeing his human friends - back for lunch - maybe walk carried by Richard along the cliffs, or among trees - come home to his conservatory, often with me in attendance - bask, sleep, eat, etc.,.
Angie
What a wonderful life. 😍
 
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