My Tortoise just rammed into me...

[HollyH8]

I've had Hera since last Christmas and have recently found out she is indeed a he. Today when I went to feed him (like always) I was standing over his "plate" as I like to call it with his food but before I could even get the food on his plate he rammed me at full tortoise speed. What does this mean? Is he trying to show me he's the alpha tortoise or what? It didn't hurt at all but I don't like him doing that, he's done it once before but not ramming into my legs but my hand when I was also feeding him. Anyone else's sully do that? Thanks!

 

[Maggie Cummings]

It sounds to me like he is trying to show dominance. Bob has rammed me several times. He weighs 120 pounds. I am not sure if this is the correct thing to do, but I smack his face, I stand over him and yell NO NO NO. I would never hit him hard enough to hurt him. I DO smack him enough that he is startled. Twice he has knocked me off balance, one time he basically snuck up behind me and rammed the back of my knee which knocked my leg out from under me. I am very careful now because I can see that he CAN hurt me and he does not care one whit. You cannot train a male Sulcata the same way you could train a dog. So as his keeper I am very aware and observant when I am in his pen.
I can tell that if he knocked me down and I stayed down he could/would hurt me.
I am interested in opinions from more experienced keepers...anybody???

 

[dustee35]

yes my male has rammed me a couple of times. The first time he did it I was squatted down talking to him and he rammed me and knocked me on my ***. I was so shocked I just sat there. Then I got mad and yelled at him and he just sat there. It has only happened a couple of times and there was always food involved. I have learned to keep an eye on him and stay to the side of him so he has to turn and I get more warning. My husband saw it and thought it was really funny. Me, not so much.
Deanna

 

[shellysmom]

Yeah, sounds like he was telling you in no uncertain terms to get away from his plate. Although, one would hope he'd be nice about it since you're the one giving him the food. Neither of my male sullies have rammed me, and I hope they never do.

I honestly can't say what a proper reaction would be... ignore it, or smack them, or what. It would have to be something that made sense to them, though, so maybe push them like you're ramming them back to show that you don't put up with that kind of crap? Either that, or drop the food and run, lol. I have no idea...

 

[knechtion53]

I have 2 Sulcatas, one is 12 yrs and the other is about 2 yrs. Elvis, the older one, used to try to ram when he was younger but now he just rushes up to me in anticipation of food or shell rub. I think it just took him a while to be more socialized. Ziggy2, the younger one, is still very small but is definitely more social @ a younger age because he was originally in a science classroom and was handled often. My Sulcatas are not housed together.

 

[EricIvins]

Flip them over and leave them there for 10 or 15 minutes.......Some get the point right away, others may take a few times but it usually works for the most part.........

 

[dustee35]

Believe me, after landing on my butt, the food bowl went flying and there was food everywhere. Like I said, I always stand to the side of him. No one else has ever did that. He certainly had the suprise factor in his favor! Deanna

 

[shellysmom]

Flip them over and leave them there for 10 or 15 minutes.......Some get the point right away, others may take a few times but it usually works for the most part.........

ooooooo, yes, they would definitely understand that.

 

[leonardo the tmnt]

It must hurt getting hit by 100 pound tortoise!

 

[lovelyrosepetal]

EricIvins, that is what I thought,too. I don't know if some are strong enough to flip a 120lb tortoise onto its back and then several minutes later help them up, but it would probably get the point.
I also thought that ramming was a sign of affection. I read that somewhere.
Maggie3fan, when I read about the more experienced keepers, I knew that you weren't talking about me You are pretty darn experienced so you would have to wait for quite a few keepers to chime in before getting someone who knew more than you!

 

[HollyH8]

Thanks everyone! It seems I did the right thing. I smacked him on his shell (just hard to enough to scare him) and told him no! I really hope this doesn't become a habit.

 

[sibi]

I don't know if flipping them over is too cruel, but if it isn't, then it makes sense that you show him that he isn't stronger than you. Once they understand that, the ramming will have to stop--unless your tort is senseless...

 

[Maggie Cummings]

There's a lot of members here that are more experienced than I. And I disagree in tipping one over. Especially a larger tort. His lungs are in the top of his carapace and I believe they could be squished in 15 minutes. I came home one day to find Bob on his back and there was a lot of evidence that he had struggled for a while before he stopped struggling. I had a heck of a time trying to tip him back over. He fought me, he didn't help.
That's just my experience...we all have them...
This is what it looks like when he rams while I was on the ground not paying attention to him

 

[dmmj]

I don't think flipping them over is the right thing to do.

 

[Adua]

I agree that flipping them over is cruel, too. But there must be a way to show them who the ruler is.

 

[lovelyrosepetal]

Wow, Maggie, that looks so painful! When you tell your funny stories of Bob I never pictured you looking like that afterwards I am sorry.
I don't have any personal experience with flipping tortoises over, so I could not say, I just have heard that it works. Maybe if you flipped it over for five minutes no harm would be done? I heard that if you flip them it shows that you are the alpha male type thing, so they will stop fighting.

 

[EricIvins]

I've flipped ove big Males in excess of 120 punds for an hour with no issues. Of course they flail and struggle. This is what these animals do - They flip each other over to establish dominance. Who ever walks away is the winner. Simple idea, that works........

If you cannot move a big Sulcata, you really should not be keeping them in my opinion. Ramming is not done for affection. You myswell curb that kind of behavior, otherwise risk nerve/tendon damage, even as far a broken ankle if a Adult decides to catch your ankle right. Cruel? Yeah okay.......I'd like to try and see any Tortoise wisperer try to stop this by slapping or yelling at the animal. Instead, why not use the behavior that they know and understand?

 

[shellysmom]

I've flipped ove big Males in excess of 120 punds for an hour with no issues. Of course they flail and struggle. This is what these animals do - They flip each other over to establish dominance. Who ever walks away is the winner. Simple idea, that works........

If you cannot move a big Sulcata, you really should not be keeping them in my opinion. Ramming is not done for affection. You myswell curb that kind of behavior, otherwise risk nerve/tendon damage, even as far a broken ankle if a Adult decides to catch your ankle right. Cruel? Yeah okay.......I'd like to try and see any Tortoise wisperer try to stop this by slapping or yelling at the animal. Instead, why not use the behavior that they know and understand?

I agree here that the flipping would be the most direct way to get the message to them properly, because it mimics exactly what happens in the wild. I don't think it's cruel if you stay with them and help them back over after a couple of minutes, and you'd probably only have to do it one time for them to understand. You may be slapping shells and yelling no for the rest of your days, otherwise. I just don't see that as being effective, but I could be completely wrong, and I'd be interested to hear if it curbs the behavior. And, of course, if your tort is giant and you don't have someone to help you handle it, then flipping is obviously not going to work. I think smacking it on the head is mean, though. First of all, it probably won't understand why it is getting smacked on the head, because that is a person action, not a tortoise action. Secondly, if you feel the need to smack an animal, it should never, never, never be on the face. I don't know about tortoises, but with other animals, that's a great way to make them more upset/aggressive.

 

[Anastasia]

I'm worried about this with Pepper! She is only 9 inches right now, but she rams my hand when I'm feeding her, or if my hand is in her cage for any reason, without delay. But she only does this indoors. Generally when she's outside she doesn't get testy like this. She is going to be a real problem when she's full grown if she doesn't get her attitude in check!

 

[laney]

My 15month old Russian rams me a little sometimes but it's usually because she is trying to mug me for my wooly cardigan! or for snuggles <3 she is so gentle normally and very placid so I think it's not a problem in my case. Although I understand that with bigger torts and more frequent rammers it could be a real problem.
I'm not experienced compared to the people here who have raised torts for years, but i personally would not be comfortable smacking my tort, maybe the flipping for a minute if it became a big problem. I think I would try keeping something hard next to me like a piece of wood or something that I could use to hold against myself to shield and put back some force whenever it happened. Maybe that would let the tort know its wasting it's time, it can't win.
Dunno if that would work but worth a try?!