- Joined
- Dec 29, 2011
- Messages
- 961
You may not be stressing him out as much as you think. The sound you are hearing is not him being fearful or upset. I found this explanitation about the "hissing" sound on the sulcata station website (they are much better at explaining then I am )
"Why does my tortoise hiss at me when I approach him or pick him up?
Sulcata Station's response: Tortoises instinctively pull into their shells whenever they feel threatened. The action of pulling in its head and front legs compresses the tortoise's lungs, which causes them to exhale suddenly -- that's the hiss you hear. It doesn't necessarily mean that the tortoise is angry or upset; it's just following its instinct for self-preservation.
Once the tortoise realizes that you're not a predator, you're just its Human (and that you may have food!), it will often come right back out to see what's up. Shyer tortoises may take longer to lose that instinctive fear of being approached or picked up, but eventually most of them do learn to relax a bit."
Hope that helps
Keep the spring mix and powder but also add in some other greens.
Kale
Collard
dandilion
to name a few. some of us notice that our torts dont like collards but my greeks love it.
"Why does my tortoise hiss at me when I approach him or pick him up?
Sulcata Station's response: Tortoises instinctively pull into their shells whenever they feel threatened. The action of pulling in its head and front legs compresses the tortoise's lungs, which causes them to exhale suddenly -- that's the hiss you hear. It doesn't necessarily mean that the tortoise is angry or upset; it's just following its instinct for self-preservation.
Once the tortoise realizes that you're not a predator, you're just its Human (and that you may have food!), it will often come right back out to see what's up. Shyer tortoises may take longer to lose that instinctive fear of being approached or picked up, but eventually most of them do learn to relax a bit."
Hope that helps
Keep the spring mix and powder but also add in some other greens.
Kale
Collard
dandilion
to name a few. some of us notice that our torts dont like collards but my greeks love it.