red - eared- slider

Question
Hi,  We've had a red-eared-slider for 14 years.  He has lived in a 55 gallon tank for many of those years.  Recently my husband was cleaning the tank and put "Patrick" in our back garden, he looked away for about one minute and the turtle was gone, poof!  He was gone for a little over 3 weeks and then came back into our yard, right up to the screen porch.  We were wondering since he has lived inside all of his life how would he know where to come back?  This happened just this evening.  We are to say the least thrilled but a little puzzled.  Do you have any answers?

Answer
Hi Marie,

Well, I'm glad your turtle came back!  He obviously knows where the food truck is, at least.  Surprisingly, turtles have a very good sense of direction and where their home territory is.  Often if a turtle or tortoise figures out how to escape from an enclosure, yoiu'll see them going back to the same spot over and over again, because they know they can get out there.  Box turtles especially are very attached to their home territory, so relocating them is often not successful because they try to get back instead of establishing themselves in the new territory.  It's quite possible that Patrick hadn't strayed too far and finally decided that he wanted to be back where he could feel safe and get regular meals.  I've heard of tortoises being lost for over a year and being found in the near vicinity of where they were lost.  Good luck to you and Patrick!