Hi EchoTheLeoTort!
My little Russian Tort Darwin walked up to me, climbed my hand by his own choice for the first time and had a nap in my hands today!!!
I've been gently rubbing Darwin's head and neck every so often, let him sleep on my lap etc every day as you suggested and he has become used to be petted recently, but never actively interacted with me.
However, when he was walking around in our conservatory this afternoon, I was sitting on the floor, quietly talking to him (I must have been super suspicious, if someone saw me from outside...), he walked up closer to me so I put my right hand down to his level. At first he sniffed my finger tips, so I thought "ahh, he'll bite my fingers again..." as he has bitten my finger tips a couple of times, probably he thought my fingers were food, although I don't hand-feed him.
But he didn't bite at all this time! Then sniff other finger, sniff another went on... I added my left hand down next to my right hand, then he rest his head on my finger tip... then he started climbing into my palms!
I almost started crying as I was watching him climbing up my hands! As he reached to the centre of the palms, he yawned and started having a nap!
I couldn't move, as both hands were underneath sleeping Darwin, so I was patiently waiting for my husband to realise that I was laying down on the floor for a while... after almost an hour later, hubby came round to check on me so I asked him to take photo of Darwin in my palms!
It was the best moment in my life, apart from my own wedding!!!
Thank you sooooo much EchoTheLeoTort, for your advice earlier on how to get closer to your baby tort! Darwin's still nowhere near as friendly as Echo, and it might have been just a beginner's luck, but I'll keep working on and try to get his trust!
My little Russian Tort Darwin walked up to me, climbed my hand by his own choice for the first time and had a nap in my hands today!!!
I've been gently rubbing Darwin's head and neck every so often, let him sleep on my lap etc every day as you suggested and he has become used to be petted recently, but never actively interacted with me.
However, when he was walking around in our conservatory this afternoon, I was sitting on the floor, quietly talking to him (I must have been super suspicious, if someone saw me from outside...), he walked up closer to me so I put my right hand down to his level. At first he sniffed my finger tips, so I thought "ahh, he'll bite my fingers again..." as he has bitten my finger tips a couple of times, probably he thought my fingers were food, although I don't hand-feed him.
But he didn't bite at all this time! Then sniff other finger, sniff another went on... I added my left hand down next to my right hand, then he rest his head on my finger tip... then he started climbing into my palms!
I almost started crying as I was watching him climbing up my hands! As he reached to the centre of the palms, he yawned and started having a nap!
I couldn't move, as both hands were underneath sleeping Darwin, so I was patiently waiting for my husband to realise that I was laying down on the floor for a while... after almost an hour later, hubby came round to check on me so I asked him to take photo of Darwin in my palms!
It was the best moment in my life, apart from my own wedding!!!
Thank you sooooo much EchoTheLeoTort, for your advice earlier on how to get closer to your baby tort! Darwin's still nowhere near as friendly as Echo, and it might have been just a beginner's luck, but I'll keep working on and try to get his trust!
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