Picking up a tortoise

[monkmonkey]

I have been watching alot of youtube tortise videos. I often see baby torts being picked up or moved quickly. I am trying to describe it from the torts point of view.

My concern is this...would picking up a tortise be the equivalent to riding the Power Tower at Cedar Point or close to it. What do you believe the tort feels when being picked up/moved?

 

[ascott]

RE: Picking up a tortise

I have one guy that use to be able to handle any speed of motion as long as he was snugged against me when he travelled...well, he has now been outside for the last two seasons (except for brumation) and has regained his tortness....so no longer need to bring him indoors each night....so now when I move him I have to do it at tortoise speed as all of the other men folk here...

I never approach a tort to move it unless it can see me coming and has a line of sight on me....

I will never grab at him at human speed, but do so in tortoise speed...this is when no close neighbors is a good thing...lol...

And when I am actually in motion with the tort --it is in slow motion....

Now just before brumation there is a week or two when I do a wind down and they all come in at night and back out in the early am---when this time is here and there is so much back and forth--I have a few baskets around that they travel in so they have a much sturdier ride...

The little ones in side (the redfoot torts) travel slowly in my hands when ever there is a need for them to be moved about...

 

[Tom]

RE: Picking up a tortise

I move mine in tubs most of the time.

Of course, one should make the effort to be gentle, but I believe in just going about your business, and letting the tortoises get used to the routine over time. I don't think the tortoises care much about this or are very bothered by it. At least mine aren't. One way to assess stress level in an animal is appetite. When I pick up babies, put them in tubs, jostle them around while carrying the tubs to the outside enclosure and then pick them up out of the tub to put them in their outdoor enclosure, they bee line it over to the food and start munching. Their "ride" can't be worrying them all that much if they its not suppressing their appetite in the least.

 

[wellington]

RE: Picking up a tortise

Good question. I have never thought about it myself. I do the same as Tom, except I just use my hand, I only have two torts so no basket needed.

 

[harris]

RE: Picking up a tortise

I never approach a tort to move it unless it can see me coming and has a line of sight on me....

I will never grab at him at human speed, but do so in tortoise speed...this is when no close neighbors is a good thing...lol...

And when I am actually in motion with the tort --it is in slow motion....

Exact same way here.

 

[gesha]

Interesting .. never gav much thought to this aspect . Just used to pick them up randomlu n move at my speed indoors . Outdoors I use a shoe box to take them in my car ... but now I will make sure I dont shock them while lifting n moving around ..poor things .. just imagined how it wud b for them....

Come to think of it .. I just realised tht one of my torts doesnt move for about 30-40 mins once he has been picked n placed...... I must b scaring him so much ...:huh:

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[peasinapod]

I try to always come from the front, so he can see me and keep the trips as short as possible. If it is more than a few meters I get a tub. Especially because he is a master at digging his claws into the soft parts of your hands and that hurts.

He's used to being handled a bit, but it doesn't mean he likes it. He tries to get down, but doesn't seem terrified, I think I've never seen him hide completely inside his shell because somebody tried to touch him or pick him up.

 

[gieseygirly]

I always use my hands. I move at my speed, but try to "cup" my hands around them to make them feel safe. My baby leopard actually eats right off his tray while I walk with him. He also eats from my hand when I hold him. And just this morning, for the first time, my box turtle ate from my hand while being held in my other hand.

My Russian will just hang out in my hands (he requires both hands because he's bigger).

 

[TommyZ]

I found my little guy was startled by essentially everything when i first got him. Now, he seems ok with basically everything. I carry him in my hand a few times a week to his outside play pen, i rinse him off right under faucet before i put him in his viv, and hes never phased by anything any more. I think like Tom alluded, its probably just a matter of them getting used to things, which mine seems to have done nicely.

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[vernie]

I always make sure my tortoise Ernie can see me I try not to startled him but he knows the drill. We've had him over 23 yrs ! He has a attitude this summer...

 

[johnsonnboswell]

I usually talk to them ... if i'm not actually humming or singing softly ... So that's another way to warn them that I'm around instead of sneaking up on them.

 

[EKLC]

The intensity a tortoise feels from being picked up depends on its acceleration when picked up, not its size. So what the tortoise feels is probably similar to you or me standing up from a chair, and does not scale up to a roller coaster feeling.