How shy are everyone's hingebacks?

[chairman]

I've seen a lot of references to shy hingebacks on here and I have to say that my experience seems to differ. The hingeback I've had the longest, Simon, is is always out of his shell, even when picked up, and will walk over to see what I'm up to if he notices me near his enclosure (inside or out). He interacts with my 2 year old daughter even better, I think because she doesn't loom over him as much as I do. My second oldest male, Sam, took a lot longer to get acclimated (1.5 years), but is now fairly outgoing as well. For example, his beak ended up getting a really weird wear pattern, kinda looks like he only chews using the sides of his mouth, so I wanted to do a little dremmeling on the front. (He wasn't having any problems with it, but it really bugged me to see it that way.) I didn't even have to hold his head- he stuck it right out and let me slowly remove material for a 5-10 minutes. He did stop cooperating before I finished removing everything I wanted to, but I can't blame him. I was working really slow and getting a little bored myself. One of the new girls I just got, Chew Toy, is also fairly adventurous. She's right on track with Simon's socialization. Helen is my only stereotypically shy tort. Now, that isn't to say that they can't be spooked, because it does happen, but they usually recover pretty quickly.

How about everyone else?

 

[Jacqui]

All of my Bells are friendly, but not as outgoing as my original two Erosas. These girls actively will beg for food and it gets hard to even try to take pictures, because they are always hurrying over to see what's going on. I have had them for several years and when they first came, they were the very typical shy ones. Took them about two years to get friendly and to eat well. With them was a third much smaller (and weightless) fellow. This guy is still shy and reclusive.

The group of Erosa I got last year (from the same shipment as Terry/Nerd) are and have always from day one, been friendly. I also have a single Erosa by itself. She is one of the shy very ones.

With the Homes, I have one trio which is very friendly. A group of six which are some what friendly, but not to the point of rushing up whenever your in the area working. Another group is very shy.

My Speks are more toward the shy side.

With all of mine, it seems the level of shyness is usually an indicator of how well they also eat for me. The friendliest ones eat more, a wider variety of food, eat in front of me, and start rushing to food as it is given. The really shy ones are poor eaters, like few foods, and rarely are seen actually eating.

 

[Scooter]

I actually picked Scoot because she was the only one out moving around and I could pick her up and she stayed out of her shell. Once I got her home she became very shy. It has taken almost a year for her to warm up to me. She is still kind of shy but not nearly as much as she was a year ago.

 

[Kristina]

Most of mine were very shy at first, but are now very outgoing. The baby never was shy, really, and neither was Homer.

 

[gerrod]

I've had my forest hingeback (ralph) for just two weeks or so and I think he's very cool. However he's very shy with not very much activity. I think his temp and humidity is pretty good so I'm hoping he's just getting used to his new home.

 

[Itort]

My H omes are anything but shy. As long as they have shelter they're right out there to see.

 

[chrisjackson]

My Leonard is very antisocial, I have him since last September, and when I eventually got his house (a terrarium suitably 'furnished') in order (it took me a while, he was sold to me as a pet I could keep in the garden and I believed it!) he settled and started eating. He loves to soak in his 'pool' but as soon as anyone comes into the room, he goes and hides back in his den (a modified upturned plant-pot). He tolerates being handled, but prefers not to be. And he hates his stuff being moved around, can get quite aggressive (for a tortoise) - he sometimes 'hisses' at me - anybody else experience this?

 

[chairman]

My tortoises hiss occasionally, but it usually a surprise/fear response. If I make sure to talk to them when I'm about to bother them they don't hiss. Two of them do whistle when they want something, usually food. Or if I whistle at them first they'll start whistling back.