Fashionista tortoise HATES when people wear black shoes

By Adam Wareing via SWNS

This fashionista tortoise refuses to let people wear black shoes at the house - scaring his owner's baffled grandson into wearing other colors or face a painful attack.

Tommy Shellby lives up to his thuggish but impeccably-dressed namesake and will make a bee-line for anyone who dares set foot on the property in black shoes and barrage them with painful disapproving headbutts.

Harry Vines says he's forced to either walk around his 82-year-old grandmother Daphne Woodcock's yard bare-footed or in white shoes to avoid the reptile's attacks.

The 24-year-old believes the fashion-conscious reptile may react angrily as he thinks the civil servant "looks better in white."

Fascinating footage shows Harry wearing one black and one grey shoe, and Tommy walks over to forcefully bash his shell against the black one.

Others show him clambering over a pile of white shoes to do the same, while in another experiment Harry lines up black and non-black shoes for Tommy to only bash black ones.

Harry admits it feels strange to be getting fashion advice from a tortoise and even concedes he's stopped buying black shoes to please the assertive pet.

Tommy, who is estimated to be at least 15 years old, has gone viral for his bizarre antics, earning almost one million followers since his first appearance in December 2021.

Harry, from Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK, said: "Tommy has a hatred for my black shoes. It's strange to feel like I'm getting fashion tips from a tortoise.

"He's a little fashionista. Maybe he's trying to tell me I look good in white shoes, so don't be wearing black ones.

"When I do the gardening for my nan, he'll come over, headbutt them and attack you. I'm scared to go into the garden with black shoes on. I'll only be buying white shoes now.

"If he gets your ankle bone, it does hurt quite a bit. It's more like a shell-bash because he pushes himself forward and tucks his head in. He knows how to make it hurt.

"It's a nightmare because sometimes I forget and I go to my nan's in black shoes, so I have to take my black shoes and socks off and walk around with bare feet.

"At first I thought it was all shoes, then I realized it was just black ones and he doesn't mind white ones. It started because I did an experiment to find out.

Harry began posting videos of Tommy shell-bashing black shoes after friends loved one clip and suggested he share more.

His videos have now been liked more than 39 million times and owner Daphne can't believe how viral her pet has become.

Even YouTuber-turned-boxer KSI commented to joke 'well I know who my next opponent is now.'

One user said: "I've never seen a [tortoise] this violent, man."

A second says: "He literally checks to make sure the white one is okay then goes for the black one "

Another said: "His aim is better than Hawkeye."