Giant South African with Babcocki (Bullying)

[Badkneesbond]

I know it's well documented on this site but the aggression of the Pardalis Pardalis has been really surprising for me. I recently purchased one from a breeder and it's been really active (like twice as active as my babcocki), eats a ton and doesn't seem to fear me much.

I thought i would try and see how well he would interact with the other leos and was blown away. After about an hour, the south African began to bully the others. This blew me away as it is just over a month old. Check out the vid. If you watch till the end you will see my wife remove the south african for those that were worried. No torts were hurt from the making of this video.

 

[ascott]

I know it's well documented on this site but the aggression of the Pardalis Pardalis has been really surprising for me. I recently purchased one from a breeder and it's been really active (like twice as active as my babcocki), eats a ton and doesn't seem to fear me much.

I thought i would try and see how well he would interact with the other leos and was blown away. After about an hour, the south African began to bully the others. This blew me away as it is just over a month old. Check out the vid. If you watch till the end you will see my wife remove the south african for those that were worried. No torts were hurt from the making of this video.

Awesome, that was a great display of the process...I especially laughed at the assertive tort spotting, moving in, tapping, test biting and then purposely laying itself directly in the path, the subtle raise of the head, along with slow blinking.....all the while the third guy just sitting back waiting to see what is going to happen....good stuff....

 

[Badkneesbond]

Awesome, that was a great display of the process...I especially laughed at the assertive tort spotting, moving in, tapping, test biting and then purposely laying itself directly in the path, the subtle raise of the head, along with slow blinking.....all the while the third guy just sitting back waiting to see what is going to happen....good stuff....

I felt like I was watching the Discovery Channel and then I freaked out and my wife had to run in and pull him out. I expected some shoving or something but the biting threw me for a loop. It was awesome to see. A bit before this footage the one that gets pecked at raised his head and opened his mouth really wide. It was almost like a challenge, I think that got the big guy mad and started this whole thing. I never thought hatchlings would do this sort of thing.

Another interesting thing was that when i was at the breeders, there was no activity like this when it was a box full of only South Africans.

 

[ascott]

I felt like I was watching the Discovery Channel and then I freaked out and my wife had to run in and pull him out. I expected some shoving or something but the biting threw me for a loop. It was awesome to see. A bit before this footage the one that gets pecked at raised his head and opened his mouth really wide. It was almost like a challenge, I think that got the big guy mad and started this whole thing. I never thought hatchlings would do this sort of thing.

Another interesting thing was that when i was at the breeders, there was no activity like this when it was a box full of only South Africans.

Most times a creep of tortoise don't do the direct pecking order as you observed....when there is a smaller number it seems to work better...and there are absolute common traits among species and sub species...as well as a hatchling is simply a little version of the adult, so it would make perfect sense that they "hit the ground running" in regards to taking on the world, so to speak

 

[BeeBee*BeeLeaves]

Wow, must see tortoise TV. There it is. Bullying happens. These guys are so little. Talk about species DNA, or birth right! Oh them GPPs!

 

[Tom]

I'm glad they are separated now.

It can be so subtle. How many people would even notice all of that?