About a month ago, we adopted a few tortoises. One of them is a Sri Lankan star tortoise. He was very skittish for the first 2-3 weeks. Always pulling back into his shell at the first sign of movement. This past week or so, he seemed to be getting much better. Every time I go up to his enclosure he would walk towards me - I assumed he was begging for food, but he would still try to get to me even after I set the food down. I started scratching the bottom of his neck and he seems to enjoy it.
I'm always the one feeding and taking the tortoises out for walks. My wife usually doesn't do much with them. She didn't care for the Star much because he was so skittish. So yesterday I wanted to show her how much better he's doing. So I took her over to the enclosure and the Star started to walk towards us, but as soon as she tried to scratch his neck he pulled right back into his shell.
He seems to recognize my voice as well as my face. When he hears my voice he peaks his head out to see if everything is ok. When he sees my face he comes all the way out and starts walking around. But if he sees that it's my wife there, he'll just keep peaking until she moves away. Then he slowly comes out to see if the coast is clear. So now I'm thinking - hey, you're making me look bad.
I assume that he's comfortable with me now because I'm always around and am a familiar face/sound. I just didn't realize before that a tortoise could recognize people. Or was it just a coincidence and I am just imagining it?
I'm always the one feeding and taking the tortoises out for walks. My wife usually doesn't do much with them. She didn't care for the Star much because he was so skittish. So yesterday I wanted to show her how much better he's doing. So I took her over to the enclosure and the Star started to walk towards us, but as soon as she tried to scratch his neck he pulled right back into his shell.
He seems to recognize my voice as well as my face. When he hears my voice he peaks his head out to see if everything is ok. When he sees my face he comes all the way out and starts walking around. But if he sees that it's my wife there, he'll just keep peaking until she moves away. Then he slowly comes out to see if the coast is clear. So now I'm thinking - hey, you're making me look bad.
I assume that he's comfortable with me now because I'm always around and am a familiar face/sound. I just didn't realize before that a tortoise could recognize people. Or was it just a coincidence and I am just imagining it?