Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering if anyone could respond to how their tortoises respond to being near a ledge. I have noticed that mine will approach it, but not walk off it. Is this really the case, or will they eventually try and walk off? just wondering

Grape

My russians are fairly adventurous, and persistent, about climbing things, but I haven't had them near any type of drop off.

On the other hand, I did have a box turtle for awhile that showed an unusual fascination with a 6" dropoff on my patio. He was a temporary adoptee, waiting for a new home, and one day I decided to let him roam around on the concrete patio. At one end there was a step that dropped down to another concrete slab. Several times he walked up to the edge, looked over, and then walked back. Finally, he turned toward the edge, built up some steam, and threw himself off of it, doing a mid-air roll before landing on his feet (plastron, acutally).

It seemed completely intentional.

My Russian has gotten really daring in the past year when it comes to ledges. There are a set of steps in our backyard that lead down from a terrace level and he will go down each and every step until he reaches the bottom. Sometimes he ends up flipped over but that doesn't stop him from marching off of the next step. He's even pushed himself off a ledge at least two feet high (if I had known he would do it I would never have let him near it). He usually gauges the distance before deciding if it's worth it but I think he has bad depth perception.

I took a herp class a few years ago, and the proffesor said that tortoises have excellent depth perception. To prove his point he left his gopher tort on a table for the majority of the three hour class unatended. The tort would look over the edge and then back up. My russian does the same thing. He'll take a plunge of under a foot (steps, curbs, etc.) but I can put him on the coffee table and not worry.

Beorn