00crashtest
New Member
I sometimes place red-footed tortoises, Russian tortoises, and an ornate box turtle (limited to 1 individual each time or else they'll slide off) on the sternum of my my chest below the 5th costal notch, where the slope is low enough to prevent them from sliding down to my neck when I'm lying down facing up on a mattress topper/folding mattress/Japanese futon placed on a board placed on the ground. The bed setup is intentional to totally prevent any chance of injury to my tortoises when they accidentally leave the bed by minimizing the fall distance, which would be 2 inches or less.
I do that because it psychologically feels good, is not physiologically uncomfortable, and I know it's safe because they are small animals and thus lightweight. My Russians really enjoy it, as to even fall asleep on me, literally!
When I have enough money years later, I plan to get a pair of Aldabra giant tortoise hatchlings or juveniles, who will preferably turn out to be a breeding pair of a male and a female once they get big enough to be sexed. I have read literate from research papers that the chest of a normal human male body can safely withstand 400 pounds for hours when spread evenly across the chest while being able to breathe without causing any measurable or noticeable effects to health once the weight is removed. That figure is realistic because 300-pound obese humans routinely have sex in bed. Fully-grown female adult Aldabras typically weigh around 350 pounds and have their entire plastron to evenly spread the weight on the ventral side of the human torso, so they are probably perfectly safe to put on a human body, even a female one, even if all of the weight rested on the chest alone. However, male adult aldabras can sometimes grow to 550 pounds. 550 pounds spread over the chest alone would probably cause moderately serious injuries. Even 480 pounds spread over the chest would probably cause minor injuries. However, would it be safe to put a, say, typical 480-pound male adult Aldabra on the torso with the weight spread across both the chest and the belly of the body of a typical human male for one hour without harming his health? How about 30 minutes, or even 15 minutes?
Figure 7 from The anatomy of the ribs and the sternum and their relationship to chest wall structure and function. | Semantic Scholar
Fig. 7. The parts of the sternum (A) from the anterior projection and (B) from the lateral projection. Note where the costal cartilages articulate with the sternum. - "The anatomy of the ribs and the sternum and their relationship to chest wall structure and function."
www.semanticscholar.org
When I have enough money years later, I plan to get a pair of Aldabra giant tortoise hatchlings or juveniles, who will preferably turn out to be a breeding pair of a male and a female once they get big enough to be sexed. I have read literate from research papers that the chest of a normal human male body can safely withstand 400 pounds for hours when spread evenly across the chest while being able to breathe without causing any measurable or noticeable effects to health once the weight is removed. That figure is realistic because 300-pound obese humans routinely have sex in bed. Fully-grown female adult Aldabras typically weigh around 350 pounds and have their entire plastron to evenly spread the weight on the ventral side of the human torso, so they are probably perfectly safe to put on a human body, even a female one, even if all of the weight rested on the chest alone. However, male adult aldabras can sometimes grow to 550 pounds. 550 pounds spread over the chest alone would probably cause moderately serious injuries. Even 480 pounds spread over the chest would probably cause minor injuries. However, would it be safe to put a, say, typical 480-pound male adult Aldabra on the torso with the weight spread across both the chest and the belly of the body of a typical human male for one hour without harming his health? How about 30 minutes, or even 15 minutes?
Last edited: