r/aww • u/abhitchc • 5d ago

I fed this female box tortoise some raspberries at the beginning of the summer. Now, she follows me all over the garden, and visits me almost daily looking for handouts.

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u/abhitchc 5d ago

https://preview.redd.it/yh49716inr8d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0a432a233298f12c64bf9702eef9c608f52a3a2e

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u/TheAJGman 5d ago edited 5d ago

You might have just made a long lived friend.

My grandfather had a turtle that came back every year for 20 odd years after he fed him once. He'd show up one day during peak strawberry season, patiently wait at the fence gate for his quart of berries, gorge himself until he couldn't move, lay in the sun for a few hours, and then venture back into the woods for the rest of the year. Knew it was the same turtle each year because it had a chipped shell from a run in with someone's lawnmower.

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u/MarkHirsbrunner 5d ago

My grandmother had a pet box turtle named Toby for years.  She had a pond on her property and she would go down there to feed the fish in it, and she noticed several times that, when she went there, this same turtle would come out of the underbrush and watch her.  She started bringing tomatoes for the turtle when she went to the pond.  He would try to follow her home after a while and she was afraid he'd get run over looking for her, so she brought him home.  He outlived her and I'm not sure what was done about Toby after she died.  The whole family loves animals and loved Toby so I'm sure that, if he wasn't rehomed, he would have been released into the wild somewhere safe.

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u/Havoc325 5d ago

I had no idea turtles were so capable of becoming human companions at their own volition. What an incredible story

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u/michelle032499 5d ago

I had a tortoise as a neighbor for years. He'd come out of we cut the grass and would eat a banana whole, peel and all. I still miss him :(

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u/AquaticAntibiotic 4d ago

I miss your tortoise after reading this.

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u/Boogascoop 5d ago

he might of left his turtle wife at home with 25 eggs for those tomato's

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u/WeightLossGinger 4d ago

The Tortoise Distribution System isn't quite as popular as it's cat counterpart, but damn if it isn't equally as effective when it kicks in!