Hello, That's Duncan in my avatar picture

[Kenno]

... And Alex the climber:

 

[Kenno]

I've been reading posts about the benefits of soaking a tort.
I'll bet that Duncan, at age 65ish, has never been soaked. He likes runoff water from my bonsai trees, and he takes long drinks without any prompting.
May I get some other opinions about soaking adult desert torts?

 

[leigti]

I'm no expert, but I would say just to make sure he has the water available, maybe turn on the sprinklers once in a while to make more run off for him. you could put a shallow pan out there for him to get into if he wants to. I doubt he would tolerate formal soaking just because he's never done it.

 

[ChloeCrull]

Hi there, Kenno! Welcome to our lovely little community!

I'm Chloe. I was born in Canada, but I currently reside in Fresno, California. I am currently the young mother of two Russian tortoises, a male named Harold and a female named Hazel.

Your tortoises are beautiful and I sincerely hope that you show us some more pictures! The photo of Alex the Climber made me smile; he's very adventurous! My female Russian tortoise, Hazel, is pretty troublesome in similar ways! She adores climbing and exploring; I could sit and watch her all day.


This little one is my 1-2 year-old female, Hazel.




This little one is my 5-10 year-old male, Harold.

 

[Prairie Mom]

I think @leigti 's post about putting out a shallow pan and letting the tortoise decide to try it out on his own sounds really reasonable to me. I love the photos you are posting (Alex the climber! What a monkey!). You're torts seem to have a lot of character.

 

[Kenno]

Hi there, Kenno! Welcome to our lovely little community!



Your tortoises are beautiful and I sincerely hope that you show us some more pictures! The photo of Alex the Climber made me smile; he's very adventurous! My female Russian tortoise, Hazel, is pretty troublesome in similar ways! She adores climbing and exploring; I could sit and watch her all day.

Thanks, Chloe!!

Sure, I'll put up more pictures, and I'd enjoy seeing more pictures of yoyur russians!

 

[Kenno]

I'm no expert, but I would say just to make sure he has the water available, maybe turn on the sprinklers once in a while to make more run off for him. you could put a shallow pan out there for him to get into if he wants to. I doubt he would tolerate formal soaking just because he's never done it.

Thanks, Leigti.

I agree. That has been my approach. Duncan really likes to drink runoff water from my bonsai trees, and he seems to hear the splashing sound of the water. I've used the splashing to draw these torts to the drinking pan with good success - especially to encourage good hycration before hibernation.

I did soak the teenager last week, and he drank a surprising amount!

Generally, my approach has been to avoid handling them or picking them up as much as possible.

They seem to be able to hear some things, and they all like to make noise. They will rattle the iron gates to the yard, walk back and forth over aluminum pans crunching them, and scrape against downspouts to make them echo loudly.

Are there any more opinions or anecdotes about tortoise hearing?

 

[leigti]

I have heard from one person that they will take a shoe and slap it against the ground outside the enclosure to get there tortoises to come up out of there boroughs. Tortoises can definitely hear maybe not as well or in the same way that humans do though. I have a cute little video of me hand feeding my little Russian, and when I said her name she stops looks up at me tilts her head for a second then goes back to eating. She definitely heard that.

 

[tortadise]

Welcome

 

[DutchieAmanda]

I've read somewhere that they cannot hear but feel vibrations. In that way they can sense people walking by etc.

 

[Alaskamike]

I've read somewhere that they cannot hear but feel vibrations. In that way they can sense people walking by etc.

Hearing is vibrations on the eardrum interpreted by our brain. Torts do hear , in fact have "ears" Tortoise ears don't look like ours. - there is no ear on the outside of a tortoise's body. But under the scales on the side of the head or neck behind the eyes is an eardrum. You can often tell where by looking for a dark spot.

The eardrum is covered with scales.

The otic capsule is a bony box around the tortoise's ear. No other animal has an otic capsule. We don't know what it " sounds like" to our torts. But it's likely they hear low sounds better than high ones.

Great desert torts btw. Love to see the old ones.

 

[Kenno]

Hearing is vibrations on the eardrum interpreted by our brain. Torts do hear , in fact have "ears" ....

Thanks, Mike. I've read some of that info, but my observation leads me to believe that they like to do things that make noise. Stomping back and forth across an aluminum serving tray was my first clue, but I don't want to jump to conclusions.

 

[the_newzie]

Welcome!

 

[Kenno]

Alex the Climber again:


Garden variety tortoise!! Lettuce and pumpkins must be irresistible!

 

[Prairie Mom]

Alex the Climber again:
View attachment 104705View attachment 104706View attachment 104707

Garden variety tortoise!! Lettuce and pumpkins must be irresistible!

Man! I started laughing before the first picture finished loading! What a crazy tortoise

 

[Kenno]

He has really long back legs! I can't believe he got over that little fence - he had been trying for months!

I wish he would just settle down and brumate. He was down for about four days, then we found him eating grass.
Well, it has been pretty warm here.