Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This year Hobo (he's the wild boy who was almost hurt by a dog)
seems to have settled in very well here at our house.
At first I thought this could be a coincidence but I know it's not.
I won't see him for 2-3 days in a row then when he wants food from me he comes looking for me. The first time this happened I'd been concerned because I hadn't seen him for a few days so I went outside, walked around calling him.
I didn't see him so I stood on the driveway leaning on a vehicle when suddenly I spotted him coming right at me. I got him some food.
The next time on a weekend we'd been gone all day, we got home unloaded stuff from the car then by the time we were at the door unlocking I saw something out of the corner of my eye, it was Hobo coming right at me. I got him some food.
Then same thing, I hadn't seen him so I went out calling him but I didn't see him so I yanked up some weeds from around a tree, then suddenly he was standing right next to me.
So I got him some food.
He's so smart I think it's just awesome. I know turtles are really much more intelligent than most people know but he's not a dog, dogs come to you when you call them.
Most people who don't know anything about turtles just can't believe he does this.
I know all of you will believe it.

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PHRatz

I agree, they almost seem dog or catlike to me,
they are so personable. One would think that turtles
would be the most popular reptile pet, but I don't
get that impression.

>>
>>I agree, they almost seem dog or catlike to me,
>>they are so personable. One would think that turtles
>>would be the most popular reptile pet, but I don't
>>get that impression.

It seems to me that snakes are the most popular pet reptile but I'd much rather have a turtle, that's for sure.
I think of mine as dog and cat-like both but at different times.
I read this one time:
Call a dog he'll come to you
Call a cat he'll take a message then get back to you, when he feels like it.

My turtles & tortoise seem to fit both at times. Sometimes they come when I call sometimes they take a message.

The tortoise loves a good robust shell rub. We give her a rub down the way we'd do it for a big dog. She just loves that.
Some of the box turtles like to have a nice shell rub too, not quite as robust as the tortoise (she's 60lbs now) but my boxies Charity & Janie both seem to like to have a light shell rub.
If they're in the mood for it they'll stay for it & then "dance" but when they aren't in the mood for that they'll just walk away.
You can't do any of this with a snake!
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PHRatz

Mine do this too, come when they're called. I think it's a food thing mainly, but one of them we call Bashful (because he was always shutting up tight in his shell whenever we came near) we've had for two years now and this year he's finally not bashfull anymore. When we go out to feed he's first in line and take's food out of our hands. Nobody belives me when I tell them they respond to our voices until they come over and see it firsthand.

I think it's a food thing too. It's not that a turtle is coming to me because he wants my company, no he wants my food. lol
That's neat about your Bashful not being bashful anymore. But I've noticed that they do tend to be a "monkey see, monkey do" type of animal. They open up when they see how others around them behave.
My Shell E wouldn't eat a June bug until she saw another turtle do it, then she acted like how dare you have something I don't have. They do learn from one another.
Smart!
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PHRatz

yep, they can become quite friendly. Our routinely comes over to see us when we have food and will happily take food right out of our hands.

You can almost see Rex saying, "uh, is that juicy strawberry for me?"

That is a great photo!
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PHRatz