So, if your tortoise is acting depressed – they may well be depressed and that means they aren’t happy. Hermann’s Tortoise Indoor Enclosures . By Stacey Venzel A turtle’s tail houses its reproductive organs, so without it, a turtle [...] Article by Super Fins. Species. It's perfectly normal for some tortoise species to have a penis that is half the length, or more, of the plastron. I mess with all my chelonia. Ar$e-pipe losers? A female’s tail is usually shorter than the end of a cotton swab. Found in the southeastern U.S., the gopher tortoise is critical to keeping its ecosystem healthy. “I don't know if it is love,” says Dr. Hoppes, “but lizards and tortoises appear to like some people more than The Russian Tortoise is native to more countries than just Russia. Firstly owners need to remember that tortoises cannot swim, unlike turtles and terrapins. Why do 'people' like Dianne like to trash questions if they're made to look like Cnuts? Aldabras are one of the world's largest land tortoises. In the UK, all chelonians are "tortoises". Males are slightly larger than females and have a longer gular horn; a male's plastron (lower shell) is concave compared to a female tortoise. So heres the question don't females walk with there tails down ??? The tortoise tail hosts these two functions in one hole known as the cloaca. One of the other unusual properties that a tortoise’s tail is said to possess is the ability to help the tortoise owner determine whether their tortoise is a little boy or a little girl. The eggs are left unattended, and depending on the species, take from 60 to 120 days to incubate. A tortoise has four legs and a shell that is joined down the sides. Do tortoises drink? But of course, that's not the purpose of the tails. What would you do if you found a poisonous snake on your door step? Unlike tortoises, who spend most of their time on land, turtles like to spend a lot of . Do Cardigan Corgis Have Tails? How do you think about the answers? Your tortoise is not a dog and, as such, its motivations for tail wagging are a little more complex. We can kind of understand why owners might think that pooping was a reason for tail wagging. Yes, all tortoises have tails. However, most reptiles do seem to recognize people who frequently handle and feed them. Most species of tortoises lay small clutch sizes, seldom exceeding 20 eggs, and many species have clutch sizes of only 1–2 eggs. So why does a tortoise wag its tail? However, this doesn’t mean that long tails wouldn’t, and we think there’s probably some truth in this explanation for many tortoises. Hibernation is an important part of the life cycle of many species of tortoise, but you do need to ensure that you have a species which does hibernate, and also that the tortoise is healthy and a good weight. This is not a perfect measure of happiness. A tortoise’s sex can only be seen when it reaches a certain size. The most likely explanation is that it’s simply a function of how your tortoise normally walks. Instead, stick to the coaxing method and only handle them when you absolutely have to. In the US, they are all "turtles". The act of ascribing human emotional traits to animals is known as anthropomorphisation and many people consider it to be quite an unforgivable act. I do have a desert tort that likes the top of his head rubbed, Bob hated it, but this guy will stick his head out as far as he can when I rub. Hermann’s Tortoise Care . More information... People also love these ideas . To do it right you have to pick them up directly under the thorax. Turtles are very shy creatures, and when you see them in the wild they will usually be retracted in their shells, and you don’t usually see the entirety of their bodies, so what about their tails, do they have a tail that they hide? There are a lot of people out there who feel that the tortoise’s tail wagging is simply a function of its gait. The Russian tortoise are usually always imported into the United States as young adults between 4 and 5 inches. Sadly, tail wagging is not one of those signs. Pinterest. These tails come in very handy for humans when we want to know the sex of the turtle. While it can also be part of the courtship ritual, tortoises do not wag their tail out of happiness (like dogs do). So let’s have a look at what these are, what science knows, and we’ll briefly touch on the actual behaviours that suggest our tortoises are indeed happy! You can sign in to vote the answer. Egg-laying typically occurs at night, after which the mother tortoise covers her clutchwith sand, soil, and organic material. ? Another feature that is unique to cardigans, is their rounded ears. My male sulcata walks with his tail to the side. Can't they take the heat? However, there are other ways to tell if a tortoise is male or female: by their shells and by their tails. But there have been recorded instances of tortoiseshell cats being male, caused by a genetic mutation. There is no set length of a tortoise’s tail. Surely, it’s just your tortoise getting its tail out the way of its poop? They may go off their food, they may be sluggish, they may take very little interest in the world around them, that kind of thing. Related article: How to tell if your tortoise is happy and healthy. A group of tortoises is called a creep. Still have questions? So this ones for you Tom . So, it’s simply not the case. Tortoises have stubby, elephant-like feet and heavier, domed shells. In simple terms, short tails probably wouldn’t wag no matter how much the body rocks back and forth. Well, not exactly. Turtles, like tortoises, have shells that they are born with, and that grow with them over the course of their lives. The tails of the male tortoises are longer than that of the female tortoises. However, there are ivory and albino morphs that are much lighter in color. - The Super Fins. He also found that one type of tortoise the Gopherus agassizi used its tail in a rather unusual manner during mating. Males are considerably larger than females and have longer, thicker tails. You may be wondering why and if this is something akin to when a dog wags its tail at a human being? The way that the tortoise moves kind of rocks its body back and forth as it moves forward and thus, the tail wags in harmony with this rocking motion. Though, as we shall see in a little while, there are some signs which it is agreed that happy tortoises exhibit. Near the base of the tail is the cloaca, also called a vent. So, we would note that while we believe tortoises can be happy – we can’t prove that they can be happy. Thus, a tortoise’s tail wagging might be an attempt to get close to a prospective mate and give them a little love stroke with their tail. 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