Tortise question (any mumsnet experts ot there ?)

[happycat]

We are feeling very sad in our house today our pet tortise has gone walk about.One of two things could of happened It got through a very small hole we knew nothing about or it has been stolen.we put notes through all the neighbours doors tonight and I got a phone call from a man around the block who told me that his mums had been stolen 5 days ago (she lives 2 streets away).When I phoned the police to inform them they were not interested and said when it is really hot tortise's burry themselves to keep cool and it could turn up in a couple of day's.Is this true,has this happened to yours?.It has been in the family for 25 years and has never done it before.Only when it's night time or getting cold.

hi happycat,i`m sorry about your tortoise,i have heard of someone finding theirs alive buried in the garden after a long time missing,i really hope you find him/her,good luck

My mum has had a tortoise for 30 years and it is always going missing. They do bury themselve into the most rediculous holes when it is hot. Try putting a bath out for it in a shady place - only .5 inch of water thoiugh as they drown really easily.

We used to have two but one kept running away, burrowing under the fence no matter how deep it was. It came back loads of times but the last time it went missing was the height of the summer so we reckon a tourist must have seen it and taken it.

My mum's tortoise though is the most pampered thing you will ever come across and it doesn't hibernate very well so she keeps it in the greenhouse and wakes it up for glucose drops. Last year as it was a bit warmer she left it for a few more days and all of a sudden it disappeared. She was distraught looked every where, couldn't find it or a hole and thought it had been stolen. She also thought if it had hibernated itself it wouldn't survive. Lo and behold in the spring she was looking out of the window and a lump of earth walked past!! She was very pleased as she keeps pointing out she has had that tortoise longer than me!

You could try the tortoise sanctury in cornwall for advice - I think they have a website.

Oh incidentally my mums tortoise is in her will just in case something happens to her while he is hibernating(!) and we forget about it, and because it is probably the item we will argue over most so there is a rota for its care if needed!

Hope it turns up

ours wenting missing when I was little, it had burried it self in next doors bonfire (it was a hot summer like this) and was discovered just before it was lit. I would ask everyone to check their compost heaps and garden rubbish as well. Good luck (have you got you r hpne number on it - we used to have ours on our one in non lead based paint)

Ours disappeared too. When I was about 10 he went awol ( I think that was a hot summer too) and, we believe, took up residence a few houses up the street, but the family there denied that "theirs" had just turned up, even though he had a distinctive paint spot on his shell. I was distraught but the following year he turned up in our garden again - and we kept him. It is amazing how small a hole they can burrow through and how far, and quickly, they can wander. Although they enjoy sunbathing they also like cool, damp shade.

Sadly he died 2 yrs ago aged at least 30. It is also a sad fact that since they are now endangered and supply more controlled rustling and sales on the black market have increased. Hope yours turns up - he may yet be hiding away somewhere.

any news happycat?

well can anyone help with some advice i have just got back from my hols and a woman 3 doors up has just become a tortise owner.I don't know her well and she knows that we have lost ours and even said she would keep an eye our for me.I feel gutted i don't know what to do I don't belive that she stole it i think she has found him and decided to keep him.What do you all think the best way is to go about getting him back.I just feel so bad and hate confrontation.

just need some advice about what to say to her without accusing her giving her the chance to give it back

Could you go to her and say really sweetly "oh thank you so much for taking care of our tortoise while we were gone. Where did you find him/her? How did you know what to feed him/her?" Etc. Etc. That gives her the space to return him/her (sorry not sure about sex) without looking like the sorry pet thief that she is.
I am assuming that your tortoise has no identifying marks that mean that you could positively confirm it as yours if the police were to be involved.

Happycat - did you get your tortoise back ? I have a tortoise and mine disappeared for 1 night about a year ago - I was devastated and my neighbour and I searched all around our close, knocked on every door with a leaflets (which had a picture etc) rang up the RSPCA and the police station (most people wouldn't really know how to look after a tortoise so you would hope they handed him in) Mine turned up a couple of doors down, he had slept under a bush as it was cold in the evening and then the sun came out so it was warmer he came out - I was so relieved. Hope yours has turned up.