Moving Patio Furniture...

[You Me and Mr T]

Today when I got home from work I noticed that four of my patio chairs that were stacked on each other had been moved about 8 feet from where I had left them this morning. They were originally next to a wall and ended up in my grass. These patio chairs are made of metal and weigh ~10 pounds each. When they are stacked on top of each other they weigh ~40 pounds total.

Nobody else was at my house today. So, either I had a burglar come into my backyard and move my stacked chairs four feet, not break into anything, and not move anything else, OR my 80-100 pound sulcata, Mr. T. moved them.

In addition, two weeks ago my granite 42" diameter patio table that weighs ~100 pounds was moved about 4 feet. I just figured I had moved it and not remembered, but I know for a fact that today the chairs were moved while I was at work.

Can a large sulcata move (push) 100 pound table, that isn't easy to move by pushing, and 4 stacked chairs? Am I crazy? Is Mr. T trying to send me a message?

~Jason

 

[chadk]

YES!

They have a low center of gravity and are very strong and stubborn. Just be sure the chairs can't fall and hurt it.

 

[DAC8671]

hehehehe, I'm waiting for Maggie's & Yvonne's replies.

Just so you know, my Ralph, who is 18 pounds, moves our patio chairs all over the place. They weigh about 10 lbs or so as well. He's also moved my tomato planter that weighs about 25-30 pounds. So they can do things like this even at a smaller size.

 

[dmmj]

They will move furniture, take out any plants they do not like, they can even rub the stucco off of the side of a house if the whim strikes them. Also in my turtle club we always hear the story of the sulc that tore up a expsensive watering system out of the ground for no reason.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I think it's obvious the tortoise is moving your furniture. There is a story, long famous in the big tort world, about the 120 pound Sulcata who walked under an old Volkswagen bus and got stuck. So he just pushed and pushed until he moved that bus. He was stuck underneath it and moved it several feet.
I know a woman on a tortoise list I am also on and her tort got under an Adirondack chair and moved it across the yard. Yvonne's Dudley continually breaks thru her fence. My Bob just climbs up stairs...
Sulcata are very famous bulldozers...no doubt!!!

 

[You Me and Mr T]

So do they do it for fun, or do they just get stuck and have to move the furniture to get free? I vote for fun.

 

[Yvonne G]

They just go in a straight line. If something happens to be in the way, they just push it out of the way. If they go under a chair and the chair gets stuck on their carapace, they just continue walking until the chair falls away. I had about 6 real nice rose bushes in my flower bed in the back yard. When I first got Dudley I put him in the back yard. He was only about 35lbs at that time. He did laps around the perimeter of the back yard. Only problem is, the flower bed with the roses was one wall of the perimeter. He plowed right through those rose bushes, tipping them all over. I would stand them back up and he would push them back down. I finally made him a new pen out front with no plants on the perimeter for him to have to worry about. They can't go around anything. "Go Around" is not in their vocabulary.

Yvonne

 

[Shelly]

My 15 pound DT likes to push my barbeque around.

 

[Stephanie Logan]

This thread is just too funny. More Sulcata-as-moving-van stories, please!

 

[Laura]

Its not always funny. they can and do , do extensive damage. They can also push thru and break glass windows on patios. This is one reason why education is SO important with these guys. Lots of people will not put up with the damage they do and get rid of them. If people get mad at the family dog and leave the gate open or dump them. whos to think they wont do that or worse with a tort?

 

[murdocjunior]

Yea they can do some expensive damage and also my 2 older sulcatas move my patio set sometimes to. Just never have sulcatas where you have something you dont want broken hee hee.

 

[Stazz]

Hahahahah how classic ! He's moving your furniture around hahaha, wow. Yeah I guess its not so funny when they're actually damaging your property.

 

[tortoisenerd]

He's rearranging it to his liking. Agree to make sure he can't get hurt and otherwise keep things out of his way if you don't want them messed up.