Picture courtesy of
Albrecht Fietz
We like to consider tortoise shells as armor, and they’re. But it surely’s not the identical as a medieval knight sporting plate mail. Tortoises truly do have nerve endings of their shells, as I’ve talked about in a earlier article on this weblog.
(Click on right here to learn that article, “
The Prime 5 Misconceptions About Holding a Tortoise”.)
And what which means is that tortoises completely can really feel it when their shell is touched. In fact, feeling a factor and liking it are two totally different issues. So this text takes a have a look at whether or not tortoises truly like having their shells petted and scratched.
The quick reply
The quick reply is that sure, in lots of instances tortoises do like their shells to be scratched or petted. However that is not true throughout the board, so this is the longer reply:
There is not essentially a sure or no reply to this query as a result of all tortoises are people. Identical to some individuals prefer to hug their mates and different individuals do not like hugs, some tortoises actually get pleasure from having their shells scratched and different tortoises do not prefer it a lot.
Nonetheless, we have now fairly good proof that many tortoises get pleasure from being touched and getting consideration. In actual fact, this is some proof for it.
Check out this tortoise
It is a video that was shot at our retailer over the summer season throughout our Tye-Dyed Iguana summer season camp for youths. On the summer season camp children get to fulfill and work together with a number of several types of unique pets in our retailer, and so they be taught loads in regards to the animals, what they eat, the place they dwell, and the best way to deal with them.
Within the video, you possibly can see that the newborn crimson foot tortoise actually enjoys getting its shell scratched. It truly does just a little dance and tries to lean nearer to somebody’s hand whereas being petted.
What to learn about tortoise dealing with
Now that you realize that tortoises can really feel even mild contact on their shell, that ought to affect the way you deal with your tortoise. What it means is that your tortoise can really feel ache by means of its shell as properly. Petting and scratching to indicate affectionately are tremendous, however knocking in your tortoise’s shell or hitting its shell should not cool.
In the event you’re getting a tortoise in your child, be sure they perceive these dealing with pointers for tortoises and that they know they’ll trigger their pet ache or damage if they do not deal with it accurately. They need to by no means drop a tortoise on its shell.
That is true for all of the styles of tortoises:
- Russian tortoises
- Greek tortoises
- Purple foot tortoises
- Sulcata tortoises
- And others
In the event you or your loved ones wish to be taught extra about tortoises, we host academic occasions all year long at The Tye-Dyed Iguana, and all of our occasions are kid-friendly. Contemplating a shelled pet in your residence? Are available in and pet considered one of our tortoises to see what you suppose.
