Reptile & Amphibian Forums

If you have read the posts below you know I have been having "chipmunks in the turtle pen" issues. I borrowed a live trap, baited it with seeds and set it up in the turtle pen. I caught several chipmunks and one day, ol' Sparky (female) was found in the trap patiently waiting for me to release her! (Which of course I did). A few days later there was Spike (male) in the trap.

Now, the chipmunks keep burrowing in and getting trapped again and again. The "danger" doesn't seem to sink in. However, neither Spark or Spike have been caught more than once!

Does this say something about animal intellegence?
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0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
1.0.0 Yellow belly slider
0.1.0 Red belly cooter
0.1.0 Australian shepard
1.12.0 chickens
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

>>Now, the chipmunks keep burrowing in and getting trapped again and again. The "danger" doesn't seem to sink in. However, neither Spark or Spike have been caught more than once!
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>>Does this say something about animal intellegence?

Rodents tend to be very intelligent but... it really does depend on the species. The rat species I keep as pets are descended from laboratory rats which are descended from the wild Norway rat, the brown rat. As pets and in the wild they have test animals in their colonies. They will shy away from foods until the test animal has eaten it & the rest see if it's ok. Chipmunks are a totally different type of rodent so maybe they aren't so intelligent as a rat?
LOL
Turtles and tortoises seem to have long memories though. We have mulberry trees which didn't bear fruit this year thanks to the weather but in the years they do I find wild turtles on the other side of the fence where one of the trees hangs over & drops fruit for them. Our sulcata tortoise isn't supposed to eat fruit, the first year that she found mulberries she ate some before I could pick them up then they made her stomach horribly upset. She remembers that, she won't eat them when she sees them now. That's intelligent!

Here's a girl I found last year on the other side of the fence after the mulberries started falling off the tree:

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PHRatz