Tortoise throwing a temper tantrum

[Alith7]

i just thought I'd share.

So after a strange mid-summer 2 month hibernation, Penny finally started eating the day before we left for a 10-day vacation. She ate really well while we were gone according to our house sitter, and seemed fine and back to her normal crabby self when we got back last Sunday night.

Until yesterday.

We got home and found that she had shoved her plate into her pool. Not just accidentally. I mean calculated that plate is just the right size to fit in my pool out of spite. Ok. Fine. Cleaned it up and didn't think much of it.

Tonight. Got home and she did it again. With a turd for good measure. (See picture).

So. Now comes the guessing game of what it is she's protesting. I'm thinking maybe too much spinach (which she hates) in her lettuce mix. While she wasn't eating we had switched to loose leaf lettuces since she wasn't going through it fast enough to buy head lettuces. Organic spring mix. No spinach when I could find some, but this last container has a fair amount. We were going to switch back to head lettuce tomorrow anyways.

Anyways, if you made it this far. Thank you for reading my post. I don't know if anyone else's Russian is this.... I don't even know what to call it. Special? But I thought I would share the laugh my husband and I had.

 

[Tom]

I can't tell if you are joking, or if you really believe the tortoise is demonstrating spite toward you.

 

[Alith7]

I can't tell if you are joking, or if you really believe the tortoise is demonstrating spite toward you.

Lmao!!
To be honest. A little of both. We have been feeding her with paper plates for over 6 months and it's never been a problem until yesterday. Her food is a good foot or more away from her pool. So this took actual effort.

Also, I'm not allowed to have normal pets. This is not by my choice. Just the way things are. My pets are always extra weird.

 

[Tom]

Lmao!!
To be honest. A little of both. We have been feeding her with paper plates for over 6 months and it's never been a problem until yesterday. Her food is a good foot or more away from her pool. So this took actual effort.

Also, I'm not allowed to have normal pets. This is not by my choice. Just the way things are. My pets are always extra weird.

I love "weird" pets! Always have. Nothing wrong with that!

 

[leigti]

Russians love to rearrange their furniture. A paper plate doesn't stand a chance. Try to heavy plant saucer. She may still move it but it will take a little more effort. My Russians have never liked spinach either.
Just FYI, lettuce doesn't really give your Russian much nutrition at all. Check out the care sheet and there's a huge list of things to feed such as weeds, endive, escarole, radicchio, dandelion greens etc.

 

[leigti]

And where is the picture of your tortoise? I love Russians, they may not be the prettiest tortoises but they have a ton of personality.

 

[Alith7]

We had a terra-cotta pot base for a while, but she started leaving presents after she ate and I was getting concerned about not being able to clean it well enough so we switched to the paper plates.

And yes, when I say "lettuce" I don't mean iceburgh or even romaine. We get red leaf, green leaf, radicchio, escarole, and endive for her daily mix. Fill in with turnip greens and mustard greens along with what we can scavenge from the yard in season. We also add a sprinkle of shredded yellow squash on top as a treat. In the summer, feeding her is easy. But living in the US Midwest, in the winter we have to feed her what we can find and infortunately supplement with pet store stuff if we just can't find anything good.

And, for your viewing pleasure, Penny. Taking her morning heat bath and stretch.
And I think Russians are beautiful. Maybe not as amazing as some of the more exotic breeds, but she's certainly not lacking in personality. Lol

 

[Gillian M]

I love "weird" pets! Always have. Nothing wrong with that!

Oh no Tom! Not expecting YOU to say that.

 

[Momagn36]

Lmao!!
To be honest. A little of both. We have been feeding her with paper plates for over 6 months and it's never been a problem until yesterday. Her food is a good foot or more away from her pool. So this took actual effort.

Also, I'm not allowed to have normal pets. This is not by my choice. Just the way things are. My pets are always extra weird.

I have the same curse with pets. My dog has epilepsy and cant stand to be 2 ft from me. My one cat hates for anything to be on a table. She throws everything in the floor, methodically, one by one and watches them fall. And my other cat will attack anything or anyone I raise my voice to, including my kid. She doesn't bring her claws out, just hits them like 30 times. She will run from another room to hit. My husband says I'm not allowed to pick out anymore animals.

 

[Jodie]

Lol. Animals are great. I have a male leopard who throws fits. If I change his enclosure, especially when I bring him inside for winter, he will destroy everything for a few days. He will not eat, and fills his water dish with nastiness. He will do this for several days to a couple of weeks. He is sensitive, and I make every effort to not cause him stress if I don't have to.

 

[leigti]

I had a Russian who would throw a mini temper tantrum if I gave her new food and she didn't like it. She would sniff around it for a little bit, look up at me, look back at the food, sweep it away with her little foot, look back up at me, then walk away. And I swear if tortoises can stomp she was stomping. And she almost always left a little present in the food bowl at the end of the day.
This was the same tortoise that would purposely jump off The end of her log hide then run around climb back up onto it and jump off again.

 

[Alith7]

I had a Russian who would throw a mini temper tantrum if I gave her new food and she didn't like it. She would sniff around it for a little bit, look up at me, look back at the food, sweep it away with her little foot, look back up at me, then walk away. And I swear if tortoises can stomp she was stomping. And she almost always left a little present in the food bowl at the end of the day.
This was the same tortoise that would purposely jump off The end of her log hide then run around climb back up onto it and jump off again.

That's funny! Penny does the same things. After her bath she "stomps" into her log. If she were a cat, her tail would be straight up and full poof. She also climbs her logs to slide down the other side. And if you walk in on her doing this, she freezes and gives you this look of "wtf do you want. You see nothing here. Carry on."

 

[christykindness]

i just thought I'd share.

So after a strange mid-summer 2 month hibernation, Penny finally started eating the day before we left for a 10-day vacation. She ate really well while we were gone according to our house sitter, and seemed fine and back to her normal crabby self when we got back last Sunday night.

Until yesterday.

We got home and found that she had shoved her plate into her pool. Not just accidentally. I mean calculated that plate is just the right size to fit in my pool out of spite. Ok. Fine. Cleaned it up and didn't think much of it.

Tonight. Got home and she did it again. With a turd for good measure. (See picture).

So. Now comes the guessing game of what it is she's protesting. I'm thinking maybe too much spinach (which she hates) in her lettuce mix. While she wasn't eating we had switched to loose leaf lettuces since she wasn't going through it fast enough to buy head lettuces. Organic spring mix. No spinach when I could find some, but this last container has a fair amount. We were going to switch back to head lettuce tomorrow anyways.

Anyways, if you made it this far. Thank you for reading my post. I don't know if anyone else's Russian is this.... I don't even know what to call it. Special? But I thought I would share the laugh my husband and I had.

View attachment 217171

My Russian pitches temper fits. If she wants something, doesn't want something... she protests the cats, a lizard that came into her outdoor enclosure and took up residency.... and she will literally toss the whole enclosure until I correct whatever grand injustice has been thrust upon out tortoise queen. We joke that she's a Russian with an Irish temper!

 

[LeoTheTortoise]

I thought my tort was the only one who does that with the log! He'll

That's funny! Penny does the same things. After her bath she "stomps" into her log. If she were a cat, her tail would be straight up and full poof. She also climbs her logs to slide down the other side. And if you walk in on her doing this, she freezes and gives you this look of "wtf do you want. You see nothing here. Carry on."

I though my tort was the only one who does that with the log! Once I counted how many consecutive times he did that, falling intentionally on his face, and it was five. Is it boredom or do they find it fun? Tortoises are weird.

 

[Alith7]

I thought my tort was the only one who does that with the log! He'll

I though my tort was the only one who does that with the log! Once I counted how many consecutive times he did that, falling intentionally on his face, and it was five. Is it boredom or do they find it fun? Tortoises are weird.

I'm going to go with "fun".
Kind of like kids going down a slide even though they thump on their butt at the end.
And maybe boredom...

Penny also has this habit of digging in the corners of her table all the way to the bottom, then continuing to dig at the walls, then after a while, she turns around and takes a nap. They are definitely NOT boring.

 

[Digger&Blinky]

Something tends to trigger my torties tantrums its either me placing a new item of food or re arranging the enclosure. For some reason they find it fun to diliberately run through the water bowl all through the fresh and exspensive lettuces and then into the substrate. I normally clean my torts cage about 1 or 2 times a week but now i have to clean it everyday i bathed him but he took that as an exscuse to get messy again.

 

[Alith7]

Speaking of throwing fits. Came home tonight to this mess.

That was her pool. This is definitely a new one.