General Care Discussion :: mental well-being and behavior...

[kate.mueller]

this is the real reason i wanted to join this forum! i have about a jillion questions on turtle behavior and their mental life. now i know that a turtle's mental life is, at best, just projected from their behavior but i'm still curious. i asked my vet when i had snapper checked out and he didn't seem to know a whole lot about anything beyond my res's anatomy. so i went up to the local university to find out if anyone in their zoology department might have an interest in turtles and be able to answer some of my questions. not so much. so i came here. help me?
i have lots of questions but i'll just throw out a few. with only one turtle, i never know if something snapper does is normal or peculiar so with all the smart turtle owners HERE i figure i can get a better understanding.
1. snapper loves to be held high up in the air at a 45 degree angle, she trails her back legs and front arms behind her and can stay like this for as long as you can hold her. normal? why does she do this?
2. snapper can't get enough of climbing: piles of laundry, cat bellies, my shoes. and she never concerns herself with whether she will fall when she tries to climb down. does she forget she isn't in water or does she just not worry about injury?
3. snapper loves grape tomatoes more than anything else in the whole world. is this a personal thing?
4. snapper walks to the fridge and sits there. she knows that's where her vegetables come from right? she's smart right? are all turtles so smart?
5. snapper never bites people or other animals but she loves to smell them at close range. is she just a really nice turtle? are turtles empathetic?
6. i open the sliding glass door so snapper and my 6 cats can have the run of the house and the backyard too but snapper rarely wants to go outside no matter how nice the weather is, rather she prefers to sit in a puddle of sunshine on the interior side of the sliding glass doors. why doesn't she like the outdoors very much?
7. snapper spent 21 years in a 20 gallon tank that was rarely cleaned. no one paid her ANY attention and she was only fed every four days. i think she is smaller than the normal female (8 inches of shell). will she grow bigger now that she has a 100 gallon tank and lots more food? why is she so sociable and friendly after this isolated life? are turtles all so awesome?
any answers are MUCH appreciated! even answers to questions i haven't asked...thanks in advance!

[steve]

These are just my opinions, so take what you want from them.

1. This is just based on her individual personality.
2. Some people have said that they'll easily fall off ledges and heights because they are used to their perception in the water. I think there is some truth to that. As for climbing, they are very good at it. Some will shell up when out of their environment, some love to explore.
3. It's a personal thing.
4. I think she knows.
5. I think that's pretty normal behavior but remember behavior can change.
6. If I had a nice basking spot, I'd want to stay there too.
7. 8 is within the normal range. She might grow a bit more, though not all RES get to the dinner plate mark. Captive RES have great personalities, they usually interact very well with people.

[kate.mueller]

so cool of you to answer! i've tried hard to find information on turtles but i guess i've been looking in the wrong places. i even tried doing a little research into the 'reptilian' brain as it were but that quickly strayed from empirical data to kind-of ridiculous sounding theories. i love animals and i feel rather obtuse for never paying any attention to cold-blooded creatures. now i'm trying to catch up.

[steve]

A lot of my information is from initial research, my (limited) experience with RES and the wealth of information that's been posted on this forum

[apondfortimmy]

This is a great thread. I love those questions and they made me very happy because I can just see a cute turtle doing that kind of stuff and I have to smile.
I also think it's cool that you went to the local zoology department to ask.

[camee1991]

This site is great for information!!!
My girls only 9 years old and a foot long, lol It seems the older she gets, the smarter and nicer she gets Its pretty cool!!

[dora]

Kate!!!
I was so happy to read your post.
Dora, my, I believe, 16 year old female RES does exactly what you are describing!!!
She loves to hang around my feet, she get so excited when I get close to the fridge, she loves tomatoes and we think she loves to be pet. When I lie on the floor she likes to climb and doesn't seam to be aware/concern of hurting herself when climbing down.

I'd love to know how much you feed her, how and how often! I'd love to see a picture too!

I feed every other day... on feeding days I take her our of her aquarium 4 to 6 hours to walk around my apartment before feeding her in a separate plastic container.
I feed her a variety of fresh vegetables, the veggy jelly-shots and repto-min turtle pellets.

When she is walking around the apartment before feeding she likes to be around wherever I am.
Usually around my feet.

Just like you, I am very interested to know the intelligence of my turtle. I like to think, Dora is very happy... but annoyed that I will never know for certain

Looking forward to your reply!

[cheezu]

This is a great post.
To the original OP and Dora, how long did it take you to "tame" your turtle?
How old was she when you started to let her walk around the apartment?
My turtles are still very small and quite scared of us. I take them out of their tank on a daily basis for a few minutes and keep them on my lap and pet them but at this point, I'm sure they pretty much hate it.
I don't want my turtles to be mere decorations that are nice to look at, I want to be able to interact with them as well, but there's some conflicting information available in regards to how reptiles respond to humans and what kind of bonds they are able to form with them.

[dora]

cheezu...
I started doing when she was about 4"... but back then she would always hide and not interact... then, when she was about 6" I left her for six years with my parents.... during those six years, it was not great for her... she was only fed pellets and no one ever took her out to walk around the house... Then a year ago, when I took her back, i gave her better food, build an awesome aquarium... and now I take her out every other day and, i feel, i hope, she loves it!