Does she like being touched?

Jeff Shin

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When I patted backside(her shell close to tail or butt) of my leopard, she just stops and then just sat there.

Then she urinated there.

I've seen this several times.

Does she like it?
 

Yvonne G

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I've never seen that, with the urinating.

Some tortoises like their shells rubbed, some don't.
 

eric joranson

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If I startle or anger my sulcata; it urinates; some kind of defense response would be my guess. But if I softly scatch the back area of shell; it does a little wiggle dance; and doesn't try and move away from it; so am assuming it feels good.
 

Jeff Shin

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If I startle or anger my sulcata; it urinates; some kind of defense response would be my guess. But if I softly scatch the back area of shell; it does a little wiggle dance; and doesn't try and move away from it; so am assuming it feels good.
I think the same
 

wellington

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If it is a female, my guess is no, she doesn't like being touched or bothered. If it were a male, I would say he wouldn't mind. My experience with my leopards, the females would rather I never bother them, while the males will come right to me. Males are much more personable then females, at least within my leopard group.
 

ZEROPILOT

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There are several videos of tortoises wiggling their butt to being scratched or from water squirted on the shell on Youtube.
There was a while that I noticed three of my Redfoot seemed to enjoy getting their shells rubbed with a brush. They wiggled and actually pushed back into it.
I ended up mounting brush heads to the inside wall of my pens and I still see one or two of them stop and rub back and forth on the brushes.
Some do seem to like being scratched or rubbed. Though I can't say why.
 

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Slow and steady

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There are several videos of tortoises wiggling their butt to being scratched or from water squirted on the shell on Youtube.
There was a while that I noticed three of my Redfoot seemed to enjoy getting their shells rubbed with a brush. They wiggled and actually pushed back into it.
I ended up mounting brush heads to the inside wall of my pens and I still see one or two of them stop and rub back and forth on the brushes.
Some do seem to like being scratched or rubbed. Though I can't say why.

Too funny, Ed. I get visions of a drive-thru car wash. I know you're a hands-off kind of tort owner, but that you'd be willing to mount a self-service scratching device in their pen just goes to show how much you love your critters. Well done, I'm going to have to try this one.
I've seen two of my leopards standing up high and wiggling their back ends in the bushes, apparently scratching themselves. It's pretty funny to see, really.
 

Jeff Shin

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If it is a female, my guess is no, she doesn't like being touched or bothered. If it were a male, I would say he wouldn't mind. My experience with my leopards, the females would rather I never bother them, while the males will come right to me. Males are much more personable then females, at least within my leopard group.
That's interesting! thank you.
 

Jeff Shin

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There are several videos of tortoises wiggling their butt to being scratched or from water squirted on the shell on Youtube.
There was a while that I noticed three of my Redfoot seemed to enjoy getting their shells rubbed with a brush. They wiggled and actually pushed back into it.
I ended up mounting brush heads to the inside wall of my pens and I still see one or two of them stop and rub back and forth on the brushes.
Some do seem to like being scratched or rubbed. Though I can't say why.
LOL I like your brush idea. I'm gonna try it
 

Ramsey

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I've always read that urinating while handling is a sign of being afraid or even a defense mechanism.

I held a baby Galapagos last week and it 'urinated' on me nonstop. I could not believe how "much" it was able to excrete.
 
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