seemingly aggresive sulcata, is this normal?

[bigdaddynichos]

About a week ago our friend rescued a medium size sulcata that was wandering her neighborhood. We have two smaller sulcata's already, so we took this tortoise in when no one claimed her. She has been happily renovating my backyard for a few days now and seems to really like my wife and daughter.
Today I was working on a smaller enclosure for the two small guys so I could finally move them outside. About 20 minutes after the little guys got moved outside the larger, new tortoise starting dang near running around the yard. Then she (we were told it's a girl and the underside is not concave) started following me around, I thought she was checking out my bright yellow sandals. My wife came out and she was sniffing her toes..... Then she bit her. Fairly hard and drew blood. We cleaned it very well with antibacterial soap immediately and put ointment on it. My question is why the sudden "aggression"? Is this normal? Could she smell the others in their enclosure 4 feet off the ground? Any ideas out there?? Thanks!

 

[Yvonne G]

In my opinion, this was not an aggressive act. It was merely a sulcata thinking toes were food. This happens all the time.

 

[lynnedit]

I do think that toes and fingers look similar to them, and since we provide food with our fingers...

I also notice that my tortoises are really drawn to yellow (your sandals) as well as red. If there is a bag of gravel with a bit of yellow writing on it, the will run over and sniff.

Now it is possible that she could detect they were out there as well (thus, the running around).

 

[Sulcata_Sandy]

I have a friend that can't wear nail polish to another friends house who has a 40 lb Sulcata. He always bites her toes. Foot fettish? LOL


Sandy
.......................................
Oregon Tortoise Rescue

 

[Teodora'sDAD]

Gotta love those sullys!

 

[Tom]

In this case I think Yvonne is correct. I just had visitors to the ranch the other day who both commented on the speed with which sulcatas move. On a warm day when they are well fed and hydrated, they can boogie. The biting thing is normal and its because they associate us with food, as was already stated. When they start ramming, then you likely have a territorial animal.

Sulcatas can be a very aggressive species. It is not uncommon for them to kill each other, so use caution as you go along. Pairs seldom work out, and while your other two might have gotten along okay up to this point, it could change in a single day. Be ready for that day and have a plan to separate them. That day comes for nearly everyone who keeps them in a pair. And it's not just the males either. I have a hyper aggressive female that wants to kill every other tortoise she sees. Years of therapy (putting her little 4 pound butt with 80 pound adults) have settled her a little bit, but she is still fiery and now that she's getting bigger, I have to keep a close eye on her. If I ever put her with a male, he'll need to be twice her size and VERY dominant.

 

[sibi]

Be sure to keep the area that you have for your new found sully as separated from the others for at least 3-6 months until you are convinced that she's free of a y parasites, worms, or other illnesses. You wouldn't want to contaminate the others.

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm only ever right in this case, Tom?

 

[AnnV]

Wow. OUCH!

Ann from CT

 

[Tom]

I'm only ever right in this case, Tom?

Whoops. Didn't mean it that way.

Note to everyone: Yvonne ROCKS and is almost always right about everything!

 

[Yvonne G]

LOL! Good save, Tom.

 

[bigdaddynichos]

Thanks everyone!! Good things to know. We are definitely still learning about these guys and have learned more from the "new" one in the past week than 2 years with the little guys.

 

[tglazie]

Yvonne and Tom are both always right, especially about sulcatas. It is true, they tend to be bitey around people they associate with food (they being sulcatas, not Yvonne and Tom; I couldn't speak to their bitey-ness or lack thereof). I remember when I kept sulcatas, my biggest, Jerry, was always very eager to bite. He is the reason my mother started wearing closed toed sandals when working in the garden, because she would always straddle the brick wall separating Jerry from the vegetable garden, and Jerry would always stay close on the off chance my mother dropped some thinned out zuchini vine or some other plant trash he could claim his treasure. If she didn't drop something, his impatience would get the better of him, and from the way he figured, it couldn't hurt to bite this creature that always seems to produce food when he was effective at expressing how hungry he was. And what better way for a tortoise to express his hunger than to bite something seemingly edible?

And yeah, Tom is right about the aggression. Aggression comes in the form of pushing, shoving, striking and ramming, and the sheer viciousness and brutality of the action will make it completely unmistakeable. Lucky for me, Jerry was something of a sweetie. I raised him alongside a female, Camilla, that was two years his junior; they lived together for five years without incident. But one day, Camilla just decided she'd seen enough of Jerry's goofy face, and she just started violently ramming him. Trouble was that Jerry had fifteen pounds on her, so in simply attempting to defend himself, they would lock gulars and she would innevitably succumb to the laws of physics and suffer a carapacial tumble. When I first saw this, I took the following day off work, bought sixty five cinder blocks, and set up the foundation to what would eventually become a massive, three foot high dividing wall. Sulcatas are brutally agressive, and their sheer size means that they can do some serious damage, so yes, be ready to separate them, because unless you've won the sulcata lottery, at least one of your beasts is going to be at least somewhat aggressive, and that's all it takes.

T.G.

 

[Sulcata_Sandy]

Anyone? Suggestions? Behavior insight?


Sandy
.......................................
Oregon Tortoise Rescue