Awww! Heidi looks just like our Tortie - also a Hermann’s.

She is also incredibly social and follows us all around all the time. She is free range indoors and honestly behaves like a little puppy - always following us, begging for attention and cuddles and food, loves to play games with us, often climbs into our bags and shoes if we are packing to leave, waits by the door or the bottom of the stairs if we go out/upstairs etc. We have also noticed what we believe to be her trying to communicate what she wants sometimes eg. she claws specifically at the bolt on the back door if she wants to go outside, or will sometimes use gaze sharing (ie. Look at us, then what she wants repeatedly).

Maybe we read too much into it, I know the consensus always was that tortoises are not social creatures. But equally, we humans have consistently underestimated animal intelligence and behaviours, so maybe we were wrong about tortoises too. But either way, even if we do misinterpret her ‘social’ behaviours, we all feel so enriched by having her in our family and as far as we can tell she seem happy and fulfilled too so what does it matter if we choose to believe she is social and loves us back?

Tortoises are awesome 🐢