Vrtra is in A Mood™ this morning. As soon as I opened his door to say good morning and swap out his salad bowl he was doing the defensive flapjack maneuver and hissing. He'll usually take some pieces of his veggies by hand, but this morning he just kept hissing at me when I put a few pieces of cilantro near him. I bribed him with a couple slices of freeze dried banana and he seems to be back to his normal mostly agreeable self now. 😂
He's not in a mood, just give him everything instead not just a piece hahaha. He doesn't want cilantro if it don't have other thing on it?
He likes cilantro just fine... he was just mad at me so he didn't want to take it when I offered it to him. Banana is a rarer treat, so he won't pass it up even if he's mad at me. 😂
Is it Vrtra's natural defense when he feels herself threatened?
It is, yes. He flattens himself out, shifts to keep his spiky back to the threat so his belly is protected, and will puff out his beard and open his mouth to make himself look bigger than he is. Most of the time he hisses while doing it, too.