Tank'sMom
Well-Known Member
Yes, it's me with yet another question.
I keep reading about how some of your torts love to be pet, follow you around, come up to you when they see you. What can I do to "bond" with Tank?
His backstory:
About 6 months ago, I had a patient (I'm an RN) and I don't remember how we got on the topic, but we ended up talking about tortoises. I told her I had a Sulcata for about 6 years before she was stolen. And about my other experience with exotic animals (I was a professional breeder, mostly Burmese Pythons, in the mid-late 90's and quit when my first son was born) So she ended up telling me that she was "stuck" with her son's tort. Her son got Tank as a baby when he was 13, then left for college and was supposed to come back for him. Well, now he's 30 with a family and still hadn't wanted Tank back. She told me that the tort was getting too big and her health wasn't allowing her to take proper care of him. I told her I have a huge yard and a huge heart and would LOVE to take him! She said she'd talk to her son and let me know. I gave her my number and waited for a call. That was 6 months ago.
So a couple months ago I get a text asking if I still wanted Tank and could I pick him up tomorrow? I said absolutely yes! And that's exactly what I did.
That night, I stopped at Lowe's on my way home from work and got what I needed to make a temporary pen. When I picked him up, I saw that he was living far from the house, in an area about 5 ft wide and 20 ft long on the side of an old garage that was used for storage. He had a small box in there and had dug a 6 ft burrow underneath it (he had to get though the concrete foundation to get in it and scraped up the top of his shell). She confessed the only interaction he had with people was her throwing scraps of food in his pen and the occasional visit from the neighborhood kids. His life was very solitary.
He was extremely shy initially. Cautious. He slowly "came out of his shell" and stopped retreating every time he saw me. He has been getting used to me. He will come up to the gate at feeding time, and now will eat out of my hand. He let's me rub his nose a tiny bit and I try to "pet" him a lot. Mostly we just sit together. And enjoy feeding time. I let him out of his pen and check on him frequently, talk to him. He seems happy.
So…. is there anything I can do to get him to "like" me better, so to speak? Is there a particular way they like to be rubbed? Things they don't like? I've realized food does the trick. So does going for "walks". He likes to go across the street with me to the "Sulcata Buffet" (see pic below), but that's just because he likes it there.
Any suggestions???
I keep reading about how some of your torts love to be pet, follow you around, come up to you when they see you. What can I do to "bond" with Tank?
His backstory:
About 6 months ago, I had a patient (I'm an RN) and I don't remember how we got on the topic, but we ended up talking about tortoises. I told her I had a Sulcata for about 6 years before she was stolen. And about my other experience with exotic animals (I was a professional breeder, mostly Burmese Pythons, in the mid-late 90's and quit when my first son was born) So she ended up telling me that she was "stuck" with her son's tort. Her son got Tank as a baby when he was 13, then left for college and was supposed to come back for him. Well, now he's 30 with a family and still hadn't wanted Tank back. She told me that the tort was getting too big and her health wasn't allowing her to take proper care of him. I told her I have a huge yard and a huge heart and would LOVE to take him! She said she'd talk to her son and let me know. I gave her my number and waited for a call. That was 6 months ago.
So a couple months ago I get a text asking if I still wanted Tank and could I pick him up tomorrow? I said absolutely yes! And that's exactly what I did.
That night, I stopped at Lowe's on my way home from work and got what I needed to make a temporary pen. When I picked him up, I saw that he was living far from the house, in an area about 5 ft wide and 20 ft long on the side of an old garage that was used for storage. He had a small box in there and had dug a 6 ft burrow underneath it (he had to get though the concrete foundation to get in it and scraped up the top of his shell). She confessed the only interaction he had with people was her throwing scraps of food in his pen and the occasional visit from the neighborhood kids. His life was very solitary.
He was extremely shy initially. Cautious. He slowly "came out of his shell" and stopped retreating every time he saw me. He has been getting used to me. He will come up to the gate at feeding time, and now will eat out of my hand. He let's me rub his nose a tiny bit and I try to "pet" him a lot. Mostly we just sit together. And enjoy feeding time. I let him out of his pen and check on him frequently, talk to him. He seems happy.
So…. is there anything I can do to get him to "like" me better, so to speak? Is there a particular way they like to be rubbed? Things they don't like? I've realized food does the trick. So does going for "walks". He likes to go across the street with me to the "Sulcata Buffet" (see pic below), but that's just because he likes it there.
Any suggestions???