Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We've had Charity the very large box turtle for 4 years now and to this day she's still terrified of humans, even me.
I've wondered could it be that like an abused or mistreated dog, would she remember poor treatment if that had happened to her?
When I take food out or go out to freshen their water dish if she sees me she takes off like she thinks I'm going to kill her.

I know for a fact that someone had her because she had nail polish on her shell when she got here. She behaved as if she was starving to death, she ate everything in sight for about 3 months before she tapered off & started eating like a normal turtle who gets regular meals.
I knew being skittish was normal then but after 4 years of this I feel terrible when I go outside & scare her just by being there.
I've found a way to feed her without scaring the heck out of her, I have to approach her slowly and directly while I show her that I have food in my hands and I tell her I have food for her.
She knows my voice but that doesn't stop her from fearing me.
When I do approach her this way she won't run away, she'll come for the food but any other time she's running for her life when she sees a human.

Have any of you had or do any of you have a turtle who's this skittish?
How do you handle it?
Even Hobo the wild boy isn't this skittish.. none of them are so I often do wonder if someone has hurt her in the past.. I'll never know.
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PHRatz

Ratz, as a group, the females I have here are more skittish than the males, and there is one female in particular that will head in the opposite direction when she sees me coming. She calms down a *little* this time of year (post-nesting season), but not much. She has been here for several years now.

My solution is to just not handle her any more than I absolutely have to. I don't really mind, because I would prefer that mine remain at least semi-wild in their behaviors. I have put a lot of effort into making sure that they have plenty of cover in their pen and that they can hide and feel secure there. When I feed them, I put their food in spots where they won't feel too exposed while they are eating.

They all have their own personalities. Yours may just be more shy than some.

I think it's just personality too. A few of my yearlings are very skittish, to the point they won't eat if they see me. While the other four will chase my fingers in an attempt to eat them. But only one will actually follow me around their pen and try to climb on my shoes. They all had the same amount of handling for their first year.

My adult male was originally wild caught, I've had him for a little over four years now. The person that had him before me had kept him for a couple years. He's still slightly skittish and hisses at me if startled, but recognizes when I have something in my hand for him to eat. I've let his pen go wild this year and don't spend as much time out there with him as I did in previous summers, so that might attribute to his skittishness some.

I have a cherry tomato patch at one end of the yard that's constantly being raided by the local wild ornates. There's a female that's used to me, a male that always clamps his shell up tight, and just the other day I found a yearling (interestingly enough around 3pm -in the hot afternoon).

I have a female orante named Hobs. She is the least social of all my boxies. If I have a worm for her that's okay, she'll tolerate my presence, other than that she takes cover. I've had her since 1989 and she has been in captivity since 1984. She is healthy as a horse, strong as an ox, and anti-social. It took about 15 years for her to stop hissing at me when I had to pick her up.

She will nip at me if I get anywhere near her mouth, but when I had to deworm her last year she was the easiest to medicate!! In Hobs's case I think her anti-social behavior is personality combined with very strong independant insticts.

Stangely enough, she is my escape artist, but has returned after her two episodes of being AWOL. The gal that had her before me said that she was got lost in her yard for 3 weeks and appeared one day looking quite irritated. It was as if she was saying, "Alright, WHERE is my food!" She doesn't seem afraid. It is more like she is the queen and expects her mind to be read by me. She graces me with her presence when it suits her, otherwise she has better things to do. Perhaps I'm interrupting her beauty sleep?

Hobs is the exact opposite of my 3 toe, Trish. Who, upon seeing me comes running. She will sit up and beg if she thinks I have earthworms. Trish will also follow me around and seems to think I am the greatest, most intersting, supplier of food, long warm soaking water, back rubs, and what ever else a boxies could desire. It is so nice to be appreciated by at least one of them.

Ok thanks for all the input everyone!
Hobs being in captivity since 1984 & still behaving this way.... WOW!
Ok I'll stop worrying about scaring her & just remember this is the way she is & that's that.
It doesn't bother her to be fed by me, her 'tude seems to be just don't do anything else.
Maybe in her mind she is the queen, she is the largest after all.
Thanks a bunch, your comments really do help.
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PHRatz

I have a Western Pond turtle that I can only observe through binoculars If I even crack the sliding glass door(~50 feet from the pond)...SPLASH! I raised it from a hatchling. Inside, it was very personable. Outdoors, though, its natural instincts have kicked in. They are skittish turtles by nature.

I have had the same experience, I raised them from hatchling and they were never affraid of me and in fact would run to me and beg for food for their first five years, like puppies. I dramatically increased their outdoor pen size this year and they are behaving more wildly this summer, they run from me when I come outside, but then when I put food in their dish they come over to the dish, but they keep a constant watch and if I move they take off. They will however come to my hand if I have a nightcrawler, so maybe part of it is that I don't hand feed them nightcrawlers very often anymore, because they have been gaining weight better with the turle food as a main diet, and since my boxies hibernate 6-7 months of the year they need to be as fat as possible by fall, they will stop eating in the next week or so in preparation for hibernation next month and then I won't see them again till April

The behavior in relation to my presence of my aquatic red-eared slider, in a tank inside, varies greatly. I got her from a pet store - I'm sure she's wild-caught. Well, when I first had her, she would stay under the rock most of the time. It took few months before she would bask while I was in the same room with her. But today her response to my presence varies a lot. When I come home and open the door, and sometimes she waits until I have made a few steps inside, then bolts, in almost violently (and in no time), from the basking into the water. My painted, on the other hand, I first got when he was younger. He never bolts like that, but depending on the direction I am coming from toward their tank, he slowly increase his distance from me if on the rock. Both of them, at least at times, will eat from my hand if I hold it above.

(I keep thinking I should call my red-eared slider my "red-eared bolter".)