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Yesterday around 6-6:30pm I had him outside to soak up some rays & get his walking exercise outdoors. Our yard is so large that I'll lose track of him if I don't follow him. Since he's not fully healed I can't lose him.
He started walking toward Hobo's house and he can't go there, Hobo is bigger and they just can't meet up. At the same time DH pulled up in the driveway so I had to move Chip and open the gate.
A few minutes later I put Chip on the porch then we decided to let him stay a while longer so we sat on the steps to watch him. He walked down the dog ramp, then walked all the way over by the girl's pen then this is the odd part:
He turned around walked very fast, almost a run. He came back around the tree almost all the way to the steps and looked at us, he stared at us for about a mintue then he slowly went walking again.
I wondered.. is he just checking to see if we're still here?
What in the world was all that about?
I have no idea but checking to see if we were still there is the only thing I could think of, and it was kind of funny.
Anyone have any thoughts on what he may have been thinking?
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PHRatz

Yesterday, Sat. evening I saw Hobo out so I went out to feed him because he wasn't out for food in the morning. I was on the driveway, Wallinda was on the other side of the pen, she saw me then walked the 54 feet toward me. When she got close to me her mouth was open.
Somebody has spoiled her rotten. She expected me to put food in her mouth, I didn't have anything handy so I picked up a few mulberries off the ground & put them in front of her. That made her happy.
Walking all that way to me then holding her mouth open... that was something to see! LOL
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PHRatz

I've got a big boy in my pen that will follow me around because he associates me with food now...he has a HUGE appetite, is bigger than any of the other males I have here, and he's apparently still growing!
Anyway, today I was in the pen today looking around, and felt an insistent pecking on the side of my foot: there he was, getting ready to chomp.... Good thing he got my attention when he did, LOL!

Steph I hope you had shoes on at the time LOL!
How big is that boy who's still growing? He sounds like a fun guy to have around.

I learned years ago that if you are going to be barefoot or are wearing sandals around a box turtle, you'd better not have nail polish on your toenails!
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PHRatz

Only thing I can thing of is maybe he thought he heard something that sounded like food? When my turtles hear me with a box of scrabbling superworms-they all come running to me!
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Tess
Kingsnake.com Forum Host

Meant to write earlier and say this was a really cute story!

I think there is more to boxies then we know.

You know I would've thought that maybe this was food related but Chip doesn't hear food coming and he doesn't eat outdoors yet.
I feed him different things every day & we don't have a particular sound for him to get used to because I don't know from one feeding to the next what I'm going to decide on for his dinner.
He's been a very protected turtle since I took him in.. he's the one who had the horrible injury so he doesn't get out much.
Being outside for him is a big treat.. that's why I wondered why he would run to look at us the way he did.
I'll never know but it was an interesting moment for us all.
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PHRatz