Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i've read that tortoises are rather intelligent reptiles. i'm certain that the iguana i owned in high school recognized different people, and if she was me walking into the room with a bowl or plate, she'd go nuts wanting food before she could possibly have smelled what i had (i kept her "people food" intake at a minimun, but ye gods, was she crazy for spaghettios).

so i'm wondering what i can look to as junior, my roughly-2-month-old redfoot, gets older and knows me better. he seems to react differently to different people, but i'm not sure. also, he remembers things... i gave him a blackberry once, and he hated it, and he'll totally disregard one if i put one in front of him now. he'll also nose through his greens looking for blueberries (his favorite) if i'd fed them to him, say, the day before.

just wondering what kinds of possible displays of learning or intelligence you guys/gals have experiences with your torts!

I had a friend when I was a kid who had a tortoise in his backyard along with some ducks and a pond. The tortoise tried to reach the ducks out of curiosity while they were in the pond at least a dozen times. My buddy fished the tortoise out of the water before he drown each time until one day he found him too late. End of tortoise. I think that sums up the intellegence of tortoises pretty well.

On the other hand, it doesn't say too much about the intelligence of humans if he couldn't figure out a way to keep the tortoise out of the pond, does it?
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

It said alot about this particular guy's intellegence.

np
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

no offense, but it doesn't sound like your friend was a very good "parent." -_-

You're right. All joking aside, it's really frustrating when you're a responsible pet owner/collector to see people who just don't think when it comes to caring for their animals. Our neighbor's dog just got hit by a car because they didn't bother to have him neutered or do obedience training, and they never take him out for exercise, so he's neurotic and always trying to get out. At least they were willing to pay for the surgery that the poor dog should never have needed in the first place.
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

No, he wasn't a good parent. We were both about 13 or 14 years old at the time, and he didn't seem able to put two and two together and predict what was obvious to just about anyone who saw the situation. I had conned him out of the tortoise a year or so earlier to prevent just such a tragedy, but I had to give him back because he fought constantly with mine and was in danger of getting badly injured. My mom saw them fighting and made me return him.