I was vacuuming today and being the crazy worried person I am about getting my new baby tort, I was curious - do loud noises such as vacuuming scare your tortoise like it would scare a dog or cat?
Just curious.
While they do "hear"...they feel vibrations and percussion more than hear like we do....so the vacum cleaner likely does not affect the same as if the vacum cleaner bonked the furniture the tort is living in/on....or really bassy music...sudden dog barking....and the like...
This is based on the design of their ear....being different than we are designed....
I have a couple of the CDTs here that will feel EQ's coming a few moments before they hit---they will suddenly book to go under something just moments before an EQ hits....very cool stuff...