nipping

[bluejen1313]

Ok, so Stella is literally crawling all over Ally, is edging her away from the food, and took a nip at her face today. What is going on? Jennifer

 

[RTfanatic]

That sounds kind of like the tortoise equivalent of a boy pulling the pigtails of a girl he likes...

 

[bluejen1313]

I wonder. So far, people have told me they are too young to sex, but that's what I was thinking too. At least I was hoping this was normal behavior.

That sounds kind of like the tortoise equivalent of a boy pulling the pigtails of a girl he likes...

 

[Itort]

This sounds like a dominating behaviuor. Try two feeding stations seperated. One is saying this is my food.

 

[bluejen1313]

I have tried that. I've even taken them out to feed them at separate times, then when I put them back in I put their dishes on separate sides of their habitat. Stella eats his/hers and then crosses to the other side and that's when I saw the behavior I mentioned. Jennifer

This sounds like a dominating behaviuor. Try two feeding stations seperated. One is saying this is my food.

 

[ArkansasKelly]

Are they the same size or is one bigger than the other?

ARKelly

 

[bluejen1313]

Actually they are pretty close in size. Stella the one who was doing the nipping, is a little smaller. Today they ate out of the same bowl and didn't fuss at all. I wonder if that day Ally had food on her face and Stella smelled it and tried to eat it.

Are they the same size or is one bigger than the other?

ARKelly

 

[ArkansasKelly]

Actually they are pretty close in size. Stella the one who was doing the nipping, is a little smaller. Today they ate out of the same bowl and didn't fuss at all. I wonder if that day Ally had food on her face and Stella smelled it and tried to eat it.

There is probably alot of reasons a tortoise does that. Size difference is normally the #1 reason, that is why I asked.

Maybe Ally ate all the food at one point and Stella was hungry.

I wish I could help more but sometimes we are all just dumbfounded.

Keep us posted on how it goes.

ARKelly