Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Janie did something yesterday that I've never seen a box turtle or any turtle do, not even Shell E who's been here 5 years and shows no fear towards humans at all.

Charity & Shell E are still living inside but I let them go out in the evenings for walks. Charity was walking on the driveway, she needed to eat because I've fed everyone else this week but she's been picky & didn't eat much this week, she needed to eat.
I took food to her & sat crosslegged on the driveway feeding her.
Janie had just woken up for the evening & saw me so she headed towards me because I'm sure she knew I had food. So she walked up & ate with Charity, ok no big deal.
Charity got full & walked away, Hobo came along & I decided to hand him a little food too but as I gathered it in my hand he was walking away. I had to catch up to him, throw the food down & get out of his way because he won't eat anything unless I get away from him.
I sat back down after feeding him. Janie kept moving closer to me as she ate, then she finished eating, looked up at me & then climbed up into my lap. She stood on my knee (the high point) looked around, then turned around & moved lower then settled down into my lap & sat for a long time as if she belonged there.
Freaked me out! A lap turtle, I've never seen that!!

The longer she's here the more convinced I am that she'd been someone's lost or thrown away pet.
To think the day we almost ran her over ourselves on that highway, I stood there for a minute contemplating whether I should just move her to the other side but didn't do it because so much traffic was whizzing by at 70 MPH.

Her behavior is bizarre, I've never seen any turtle like her in my life.
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PHRatz

Too cute!

If I pick Morris up and put him on my lap he'll stay there but I don't recall him ever climbing up on his own.

Same here Laure, Shell E has sat in my lap before when I put her in it but I've never had one just climb up & sit on me.
Janie just blows me away. I can't get over how much she likes to interact with me like the tortoise does.
I've just never seen that in turtles. Good thing Destiny doesn't want to sit in my lap lol.
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PHRatz

OMG! It's bad enought Destiny wants to eat your socks.

ROFL!! Yeah I forgot about the socks LOL
Gotta watch out & not wear red, green, or pink socks in front of her.
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PHRatz

That doesn't surprise me at all. I've never been in a situation where one could crawl in my lap, but I often work in my pen in a squatting position, rebuilding their hiding areas, looking for eggs, planting dandilions, etc., and it isn't unusual for one of mine to come up and just sit on my foot.
They're not begging for food, they just come up and rest on my foot while I'm working on whatever.

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking for some eggs that I suspected had been layed (and I did find them) and "Neon" just came up and watched me dig around for the eggs.

Turtles are far more personable than many people give them credit for. Some more than others.....just like people.

Lisa,
That's so neat about them sitting on your foot. How cute.
You are so right, they are more personable than they get credit for.
I think as years pass with them there is more to it than the turtles just simply recognizing the human.
Shell E the one who's been here 5 years won't sit in my lap but when I feed her, I don't have to do anything special. I just give her the food & she trusts me to do that without flinching, trying to close up, or running away. In the beginning she wouldn't eat if she could still see me, I'd have to leave the room.
She'll take food from my hands now, which is another reason why Janie freaks me out she'll do the same thing but she's only been here for 2 months.
Charity has only been here a little over a year, I can't hand feed her. I can get close to her with food but she doesn't want me to watch her eat so I have to get behind her so that she'll feel comfortable or like Hobo she'll run away. Lately though Charity is changing, she's less likely to run but she's still nervous so I generally feed her then leave her alone.
Hobo I just can't get close to period but he'll learn over time.

Such individuals they are!
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PHRatz