What Is the Behavior of a Turtle?

Video Transcript

"Hello. I'm James Dix from Reptile Rescue Service in Salt Lake City, Utah. We're still discussing some more issues about turtles. Some of the behavior habits of turtles and tortoises, and land turtles, they vary but a lot of them are the same thing. In my years, I've had turtles since I was twelve, and when I was twelve it was legal to own desert tortoises. Now you have to have permits for 'em. But turtles actually have their own little personality. After awhile, if you have 'em, they will depend on you for their food, they'll start to recognize who you are, and their behavior will start to be where they will start coming to you at a certain time, if they fed everyday at that same time. They do get little personalities of their own. A lot of people disagree with that. But I've raised a lot of turtles over the years, and tortoises in my life. And I've had 'em come up and actually nip on my toes to let me know, in the house, that they want some food or something. They do have their own, like I said, unique personalities. Roaming around foraging for food is a common thing for 'em. They like to climb and exercise a lot. Very important that you have a pen or a cage big enough to stimulate 'em, because if they don't get enough stimulation, their appetite won't be persistent to actually make 'em survive."