Adventure continued

KarenSoCal

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I love seeing critters getting the opportunity to do the things they are meant to do!

But aren't you afraid of losing her? She could vanish in a heartbeat!
 

Barber25

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I love seeing critters getting the opportunity to do the things they are meant to do!

But aren't you afraid of losing her? She could vanish in a heartbeat!
It's very interesting--she "freezes" and just sits there for several minutes....then she either slowly plods into the stream, or moves a few feet and then burrows partway into the leaves. She never just "runs" away...I'm hoping she gets more used to me over time. Today, I found about 10 earthworms, placed her in a tub, and plopped the worms in. She quickly ate them! I'm hoping she sees me soon as the Worm God.? even though I sit a few feet away, I am amazed how she blends in, so I am very respectful of her elusiveness..camoflauge wise, if not speed wise...but she might be setting me up!
 

Barber25

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I love seeing critters getting the opportunity to do the things they are meant to do!

But aren't you afraid of losing her? She could vanish in a heartbeat!
How true! I learned a hard lesson today. I've been taking her outside for a routine over the last few weeks....soaking in water for about a half hour, then putting her in her pen for a few hours. So far she just crawls under her log and has not explored the pen, but it allows me the chance to get some other work done! Then I take her into the woods, where I get to sit, relax, and observe, while she gets to explore the little stream and the surrounding terrain. There are literally thousands of worms as well....some days she feasts, other days shes not interested...she usually crawls around a bit, never going more than 10 or 15 feet...and then hunkers down and partially buries herself. Little did I know it was all a set up! Today, she crawled about 2 feet , and then planted herself into the mud. I had to make a quick trip to the house and I thought to myself ...hmmmm...she's so comfortably planted, she probably wont budge an inch...I probably was gone 5 or 10 minutes.......and when I returned, she was nowhere to be found! I had been outsmarted! I was just about to give give up when I noticed a subtle trail of vegetation that appeared out of place. Sure enough the escapee had zigzagged and headed for the water...there she was, wedged under a root in the stream. Alas....I am seen not as the Worm God, but only as a ruthless Warden. I had momentarily taken solace, (when I thought she was gone for good) in knowing that it should have been a great, natural range for a box turtle...and she being so sneaky, stealthful, and shrewd, she would have a great chance of survival in the wild. I do wonder if a wild caught specimen would be more likely to try to escape?
 

KarenSoCal

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I am so glad you found her! Maybe she decided on an excursion because spring is in the air? You know, that time when a girl pines for a love so sweet...?:tort:...

Or perhaps, since she had already finagled the Worm God into satisfying her cravings, she pondered the sheer pleasure of watching the Warden, soggy shod, traipsing about in the stream with eyes cast downward.

I know I would have picked option # 2. LOL!
 

Relic

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I suspect some folks overthink box turtles and "escape." Box turtles always want to find out what's around the corner, over the rock, in the grass, behind the fence, etc. I don't really think they have the mental capacity to understand confinement. They see an obstacle and want to go past it - whatever that entails. They don't know if they are inside an enclosure, heading out...or outside an enclosure, heading in. I don't believe the turtle you observed was trying to "get away," he was just exploring to see what else was out there. Some will
"get used to you" and tolerate your presence without panic. Others, even after DECADES of human contact, will still scamper for cover when a human approaches. I've been married nearly 50 years and my wife STILL scampers herself when I approach...yet she calmly interacts with the make-up salesperson behind the counter at Sephora. Go figure...
 

Maggie3fan

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I suspect some folks overthink box turtles and "escape." Box turtles always want to find out what's around the corner, over the rock, in the grass, behind the fence, etc. I don't really think they have the mental capacity to understand confinement. They see an obstacle and want to go past it - whatever that entails. They don't know if they are inside an enclosure, heading out...or outside an enclosure, heading in. I don't believe the turtle you observed was trying to "get away," he was just exploring to see what else was out there. Some will
"get used to you" and tolerate your presence without panic. Others, even after DECADES of human contact, will still scamper for cover when a human approaches. I've been married nearly 50 years and my wife STILL scampers herself when I approach...yet she calmly interacts with the make-up salesperson behind the counter at Sephora. Go figure...
I just started using this Chromebook a few days ago as my laptop died...but now this screen has coffee all over it...laughing made me spit coffee all over...you are too funny and now I will try and make my escape...lololol
 

Barber25

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I am so glad you found her! Maybe she decided on an excursion because spring is in the air? You know, that time when a girl pines for a love so sweet...?:tort:...

Or perhaps, since she had already finagled the Worm God into satisfying her cravings, she pondered the sheer pleasure of watching the Warden, soggy shod, traipsing about in the stream with eyes cast downward.

I know I would have picked option # 2. LOL!
Like you said previously, half the fun is observing them "doing what they are meant to do"..it seems though that I will have to hide in a blind to really see what they are up to!
 

Barber25

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Like you said previously, half the fun is observing them "doing what they are meant to do"..it seems though that I will have to hide in a blind to really see what they are up to!
I did hear from someone that sometimes people attach balloons to their turtles to find them after they scamper off....after seeing her evasive maneuvers involving crawling under roots and her underwater exploits, I dont think that would be a good idea
 

Barber25

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I suspect some folks overthink box turtles and "escape." Box turtles always want to find out what's around the corner, over the rock, in the grass, behind the fence, etc. I don't really think they have the mental capacity to understand confinement. They see an obstacle and want to go past it - whatever that entails. They don't know if they are inside an enclosure, heading out...or outside an enclosure, heading in. I don't believe the turtle you observed was trying to "get away," he was just exploring to see what else was out there. Some will
"get used to you" and tolerate your presence without panic. Others, even after DECADES of human contact, will still scamper for cover when a human approaches. I've been married nearly 50 years and my wife STILL scampers herself when I approach...yet she calmly interacts with the make-up salesperson behind the counter at Sephora. Go figure...
Good information--makes sense...it would be interesting to know which of these behaviors is "personality" vs. "Instinct" vs"Learned" from some "bad previous experience"...or of course some combination of all.....the apparent "sneakiness" of decoying me into letting down my guard, and then taking off after I left is what surprised me-- definitely some form of intelligence there..or maybe just seems smart....like a kildeer feigning a broken wing to lure you away from its nest.....on the other hand, it could just be a coincidence when your wife waits til you're napping to run off and buy cosmetics??
 

ZenHerper

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I did hear from someone that sometimes people attach balloons to their turtles to find them after they scamper off....after seeing her evasive maneuvers involving crawling under roots and her underwater exploits, I dont think that would be a good idea

(That's usually the sort of thing people do with larger animals that are set loose to graze for a few hours in an overgrown cow pasture.)
 

Relic

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I honestly believe if I attached a "SALE! 50% OFF!" sticker to the shell of a tortoise and released it along the banks of the Amazon river way back in the jungle, my wife could sniff it out in 20 minutes - in the dark.

True story: Back in the day my wife was a flight attendant and as she traveled around the country she began acquiring charge cards at stores from coast to coast - places I had never even heard of. The monthly bills began rolling in and I felt I needed to nip this in the bud. So I snuck into her purse, grabbed at least a dozen credit cards and cleverly hid them inside the doorbell housing in our hallway - a little plastic box hardly even noticeable. Ha! I thought...I'm a genius.

But the bills kept rolling in. I checked the doorbell housing and all the cards were still there??? I finally confronted my wife and she just laughed. "You're such a buffoon. I just called all the stores and had them issue new cards."

Lesson? Some things just can't be stopped: typhoons, gravity, and a woman and her shopping habits...
 

Maggie3fan

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I honestly believe if I attached a "SALE! 50% OFF!" sticker to the shell of a tortoise and released it along the banks of the Amazon river way back in the jungle, my wife could sniff it out in 20 minutes - in the dark.

True story: Back in the day my wife was a flight attendant and as she traveled around the country she began acquiring charge cards at stores from coast to coast - places I had never even heard of. The monthly bills began rolling in and I felt I needed to nip this in the bud. So I snuck into her purse, grabbed at least a dozen credit cards and cleverly hid them inside the doorbell housing in our hallway - a little plastic box hardly even noticeable. Ha! I thought...I'm a genius.

But the bills kept rolling in. I checked the doorbell housing and all the cards were still there??? I finally confronted my wife and she just laughed. "You're such a buffoon. I just called all the stores and had them issue new cards."

Lesson? Some things just can't be stopped: typhoons, gravity, and a woman and her shopping habits...
you are too damn funny...I am learning not to have a mouth full of anything when I read your posts...
 

Maggie3fan

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I suspect some folks overthink box turtles and "escape." Box turtles always want to find out what's around the corner, over the rock, in the grass, behind the fence, etc. I don't really think they have the mental capacity to understand confinement. They see an obstacle and want to go past it - whatever that entails. They don't know if they are inside an enclosure, heading out...or outside an enclosure, heading in. I don't believe the turtle you observed was trying to "get away," he was just exploring to see what else was out there. Some will
"get used to you" and tolerate your presence without panic. Others, even after DECADES of human contact, will still scamper for cover when a human approaches. I've been married nearly 50 years and my wife STILL scampers herself when I approach...yet she calmly interacts with the make-up salesperson behind the counter at Sephora. Go figure...

Tell your wife I think Ultra is better than Sephora...
I realize that Knobby is not a box turtle, however...yesterday he was put into his new almost forever pen...he looked it over very interested...the pen is not finished on one side so I blocked it off using my favorite building material...cinder block. As he went about inspecting, he got to the closed off end and he immediately started trying to climb over the blocks...(stacked 2 high)...I watched for a while, then distracted him and soon left. Inside I am standing in my bedroom window talking to my sister on the phone...and watching Knobby messing at the closed cinder block end...when damned if he didn't knock over the top blocks and climb out of the finished pen right onto the pile of blackberry vines as big as my wrist...holy crap! Bye to Y and I ran (well, not really) out to this big pile of thorns...Knobby had froze...was not moving but his face was pleading...so I got him up...(35+lbs)...and off the vines...he had a couple of blood drops on his neck but he was ok...so I settled him and went back in the house and a while later looked out the window...and Knobby was no where to be seen...again shuffling outside and damned if he wasn't completely out of any tortoise pen and on Bob's grave eating grass...
all my life I have wanted to see what was on that next hiway...and I'm thinking tortoises just want to see what's over that next obstacle...
 

Relic

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Tell your wife I think Ultra is better than Sephora...
I realize that Knobby is not a box turtle, however...yesterday he was put into his new almost forever pen...he looked it over very interested...the pen is not finished on one side so I blocked it off using my favorite building material...cinder block. As he went about inspecting, he got to the closed off end and he immediately started trying to climb over the blocks...(stacked 2 high)...I watched for a while, then distracted him and soon left. Inside I am standing in my bedroom window talking to my sister on the phone...and watching Knobby messing at the closed cinder block end...when damned if he didn't knock over the top blocks and climb out of the finished pen right onto the pile of blackberry vines as big as my wrist...holy crap! Bye to Y and I ran (well, not really) out to this big pile of thorns...Knobby had froze...was not moving but his face was pleading...so I got him up...(35+lbs)...and off the vines...he had a couple of blood drops on his neck but he was ok...so I settled him and went back in the house and a while later looked out the window...and Knobby was no where to be seen...again shuffling outside and damned if he wasn't completely out of any tortoise pen and on Bob's grave eating grass...
all my life I have wanted to see what was on that next hiway...and I'm thinking tortoises just want to see what's over that next obstacle...
Trust me, the wife spends tons at Ulta as well. Your story is spot-on. It's like every tortoise has a 3-year-old toddler inside them pulling the levers and turning the knobs that make them go. I think the perfect tortoise pen wall would be those massive concrete wall sections they place alongside freeway construction areas - the kind that have to be forklifted into place.
 

Barber25

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(That's usually the sort of thing people do with larger animals that are set loose to graze for a few hours in an overgrown cow pasture.)
Interesting....I guess if you attached enough helium balloons to the turtle's shell it would really end up being an adventure, similar to that guy many years ago who ended up on radar as he floated away on his lounge chair?
 

Barber25

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Well, the adventures continue with many twists and turns.... I removed this 2 sets of boards that divided the enclosure into 3 squares, so now it's one rectangle approximately 7 by 21'. I put the Box turtle, Kiwi, in the enclosure as much as possible (so I can get a little work done-- especially after the escape attempt about a month ago)..I knew she was pretty sneaky, but she never seemed to be much of a climber. I'm a little paranoid after I almost lost her, so carefully plugged some spots where I thought she could dig under the boards. I've ordered some foot long edging I'm going to run along the perimeter. Yesterday, out of the blue she scrambled to the top of the log hide, when I momentarily had left the top open. The big faker had always pretended to struggle clambering up over anything over an inch tall.? I noticed a chipmunk had burrowed a hole in the enclosure, but I figure they wouldnt bother each other....a few days later, the chipmunk had managed to ensnare himself, intertwined in some vicious thorns on some wild roses.
 
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