Anonymous:

Hey what’s up? alright so you know how when you scratch (gently) a tort’s shell and they do the little butt wiggle dance, why do they do this? is it just that it feels nice? is it a body language thing? what’s going on?

tort-time:

Hey Anon!

That’s a great question. You should know that, until recently, research on turtle and tortoise behavior has been lacking. From what I’ve read, and from my experience, It seems that that is a shell’s sweet spot. Dirt gets stuck around there, they can’t exactly scratch it, so it just feels sooooo nice! like scratching that spot on your back you can’t reach.  

basically this:

is a lot like

This: 

rudescience

nope, they display that behaviour also when going under stuff or coming out of stuff that is tighter than they can fit in. It’s their way to move the stuff over them out of the way.

Thanks for chiming in @rudescience ! They definitely know how to wiggle their way to freedom! Agreed! when they respond to stimuli, like a butt scratch, is that behavior related to movement too?? I haven’t read anything about that connection. sharing is caring! Add your thoughts/knowledge/etc!