My Tort is Smarter than Yours!

[BrianWI]

My chacos I had as a kid were smart, but they were adults when I got them. This little hatchling seems to have brains as well, probably because she is the smartest tortoise in the world (ok, I know each of us thinks the same way).

She learned to sleep in her hide after 3 or 4 nights of being placed there, runs to her food dish when she hears me in the kitchen washing greens and comes to the side of her tank to greet me when I come home from work. If I have her on the couch, she will walk to the edge but never fall off. All around very curious and loves to explore but handles herself well.

Now, I know your tortoise isn't as special as she is (big grin), but I'd love to hear more "smart" things your tortoises do.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I believe it!
Mine are all MORONS.

 

[BrianWI]

I worked to get some redfoots donated to a local youth nature education center. One seemed pretty intelligent. The other, smaller one (who the original owners kept with the bigger one, both males) did nothing but try to crawl under items it could not fit in. Once separated to stop the bullying, it seemed to act more intelligently.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I have a male and three females.

 

[Maro2Bear]

We have an automatic plant mister that comes on daily at 11:00 for 15 mins. Our Sully has learned to come out of his heated hut at just the right time to crawl over to a spot right beneath the mist. Mister stops, Sully back to his hut... Pretty smart!

 

[Tortoisefanatic88]

I guess my sulcata might be pretty smart then. I never had to place him in his hide. Took him 1 day to get use to it and now he is in there right before his lights go out like clock work every night. While he is soaking and I drop mazuri pellets in his bowl to soak them in the mean time. Well he hears that sound of the pellets hitting the bowl and immediately sticks his head out high to see. Some tortoises definitely seem know when they will be fed.

 

[Linhdan Nguyen]

My russians arent smart. They do seem to know to not walk off the edge of balcony (i do NOT leave them unsupervised though. Dont trust them that much). And i guess they run to their food dish when they see me but almost all torts do that.

 

[dmmj]

I'm pretty sure it's more conditioned response than intelligence, but who am I to argue?

 

[Jodie]

My Sulcata was trying to get into his night box while we were building it. I have never had to put him away. I have a male leopard who Will move planted pot over next to his hide, so he can get in top of it. He likes to them slide off. The face plant diminishes my opinion of his intelligence. I built him a safe slide, and removed pots. Lol