Tortoises can express pretty bizarre behavior from time to time, behavior like liking feet.
If your pet seems to have a thing for feet then you’d understandably wonder why, this article looks into it
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Why do tortoises like feet?
Watching your tortoise go around sniffing and trying to bite feet can be quite perplexing, any tortoise raiser will want to know why their pets are doing this
Here is why your tortoise may like feet:
Looking for food:
Your tortoise may go around sniffing and biting bare feet not because the animal likes feet per se, the animal may simply do this because they are looking for something to eat
These animals, just like many others, will try to find and eat what’s edible, your tortoise sniffing at your feet is them simply trying to figure out if your feet are a tasty meal.
These animals are used to finding and eating live bait so if your pet sees wiggling toes then the animal may assume that your toes are live bait.
Grubs are one of the things that tortoises eat, and your toes may simply look like grubs to these reptiles
Your pet won’t be interested in your feet if you have socks and/or shoes on because socks and shoes don’t look like food to your pet
What to do:
This is normal behavior, don’t worry if your pet thinks that your feet are food, this is normal. In addition, these animals are opportunistic feeders and will try to eat anything even, if they have already eaten
Put some shoes on and your pet should stop wanting to bite and eat your feet
It’s hormonal:
If your tortoise isn’t trying to eat at your feet, but is rather trying to get on top of your feet and mate with them, then your pet may be maturing and going through normal hormonal changes that make it want to mate
Not only will your pet try to mate with your feet, it may try to mate with your shoes, stones, and anything else that can get on top of and possibly mate with.
What to do:
This is normal and it isn’t something that you can stop or do anything about. The animal will snap out of it once their hormones go back to normal.
Your pet will stop trying to get on top of your feet once their hormones have gone back to normal.
The wanting to be around feet and climb on them is typical male tortoise behavior, he is just doing what comes naturally to him
This behavior will continue every mating season, which usually starts after hibernation in early springtime, it will continue into summer.
Your pet will continue with this mating behavior even into their old age. All you can do is create a barrier between you and the animal so it doesn’t have access to you.
You can also choose to get a larger tortoise table, leave your pet on the table, and not let him free roam around your floor space.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other turtle/tortoise related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Why Is My Tortoise’s Mouth Black?, Why Is My Tortoise Frothing At The Mouth?, Why Is My Turtle’s Mouth Green?, Why Is My Tortoise’s Mouth Green?, Why Do Tortoises Like Corners?, Why Do Tortoises Like Shoes?, Why Are My Turtle’s Feet White?, Why Is My Turtle’s Mouth Foaming?, Why Are My Turtle’s Eyes Red?