Hissing?

[Augustus]

I got my first tortoise Gus a little over a week ago. I've been reading a million tortoise forums since to try to get as much information as I can to make sure he is a happy and healthy little guy. So far, he seems to be doing great: really friendly and energetic. But he does "hiss" pretty often. I know its just him moving his head back into his shell quickly and not really hissing, but is this bad? Sometimes its when I let him out of his enclosure to explore my room, so maybe I'm scaring him, though its often when he's far away from me.

 

[wellington]

Nothing to worry about.

 

[Eduardo Hernandez]

Nothing to be worried about. It’s pretty natural, especially when in new environments.

However, you should not let your tort walk around your room. The floor is no place for a tort, and they will eat anything they can fit in their mouths, which can lead to some pretty serious events. Not only that, but they’re cold on the floor and away from the UVB and security they get in their enclosure.

 

[Bee62]

I got my first tortoise Gus a little over a week ago. I've been reading a million tortoise forums since to try to get as much information as I can to make sure he is a happy and healthy little guy. So far, he seems to be doing great: really friendly and energetic. But he does "hiss" pretty often. I know its just him moving his head back into his shell quickly and not really hissing, but is this bad? Sometimes its when I let him out of his enclosure to explore my room, so maybe I'm scaring him, though its often when he's far away from me.

Hello and welcome to the forum.
Hissing is pretty normal for a tortoise when they are scared by anything and fast retracting the head into the shell.
Let the tortoise walk free in the house is no good idea. To many dangerous things for them and it is too cold as it was already said.
Living in a large enclosure is safe for your tort and you can also interact with him when he is in his enclosure.