r/aww • u/abhitchc • 9d 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/TheAJGman 9d ago edited 9d 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/Proglamer 9d ago

Unexpectedly great memory AND keen sense of time!

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u/TheAJGman 9d ago

I always wondered if he could smell them or if he'd check in at night. He would always be there when the strawberry patch was at its peak, didn't matter if it was May or July.

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u/AnotherReddit415 9d ago

“Time to go pick em, tortoise says they’re ripe”

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u/TheAJGman 9d ago

Pretty much. There would be plenty of ripe berries before and after he showed, but I swear they always tasted best the week before and after his visit.

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u/AnotherReddit415 9d ago

They’re a lot smarter than we think. My Snapper fattens his fish for a bit and will wait to eat em. Recognizes me and all that too🤣😭🫶

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u/myasterism 9d ago

So many animals are much, much more than we humans are willing to give them credit for.

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u/RememberCitadel 9d ago

Well, not me. I assume they all understand everything I say to them. I enjoy holding one way conversations with any one I meet.

One of my cats meows back to anything said to her. Although she prefers talking to my wife more than me.

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u/myasterism 8d ago

Ya know… a lot of critters probably understand more than we think they do

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u/RememberCitadel 8d ago

My cats all understand all of the 700 nicknames my wife gives them and will specifically show up when they are called, but only the one with the associated name.