Heidi bullying Frosty

[jmu114]

When Heidi was still a sickling, I separated her from Frosty and Frank because I thought Frosty bullied Heidi during meal time. Heidi is still in a separate enclosure all by herself. Occasionally, on a sunny day, I would have all 3 out for sunbathing/family reunion.

I noticed something odd this weekend. A much healthier Heidi (2.7") had locked her sight on Frosty as soon as I put her down on the lawn (about 3 inches from Frosty). She chased after Frosty (4.2") and nudge his sides with her nose. She then went towards Frosty's face and "bumped heads" with him a few times before she rammed into him. Frosty almost seemed scared and ran away....

She left Frank alone.

Does anyone here know whey she is behaving this way?

 

[dmmj]

I personally think she is a little young for sexual bullying (puberty), I hate to say it but she could just be a jerk, no offense intended, some tortoises are just like that. Keep an eye out it could be temporary, or it could be a permanent thing.

 

[Tom]

That's just what tortoises do sometimes. CDTs have very limited resources in the wild, so it pays to have no other CDTs around using up your resources. This is one of the main reasons that those of us who have kept multiple tortoise over many years usually recommend keeping them alone.

 

[Madortoise]

I personally think she is a little young for sexual bullying (puberty), I hate to say it but she could just be a jerk, no offense intended, some tortoises are just like that. Keep an eye out it could be temporary, or it could be a permanent thing.

Are you trying to be funny again, dmmj? Well, you made me laugh. I can hardly think of any tortoise as a jerk. That's such an anthropomorphic way to describe natural behaviors of the tort.
In any event, this really proves Heidi is coming back strong, isn't she? Congrats.

 

[jmu114]

I personally think she is a little young for sexual bullying (puberty), I hate to say it but she could just be a jerk, no offense intended, some tortoises are just like that. Keep an eye out it could be temporary, or it could be a permanent thing.

Are you trying to be funny again, dmmj? Well, you made me laugh. I can hardly think of any tortoise as a jerk. That's such an anthropomorphic way to describe natural behaviors of the tort.
In any event, this really proves Heidi is coming back strong, isn't she? Congrats.

dmmj made me laugh too. I surely hope Heidi will not be a permanent jerk.

I had to look up "anthropomorphic."
For those who are interested...Dictionary.com's definition is: ascribing human form or attributes to a being or thing not human.