TortoiseForum.org

Hi All-

This afternoon I was suprised when someone came to my door and said hey buddy your tortoise has escaped. That came as I schol since I dont have a tortoise.

Come to find out there was some tortoise cruising around my front yard. I got worried about him being smashed by a car since he was pretty clsoe to the street.

I have blocked him in the front yard and fed him some nappa cabagge. Good news he is eating the dandelion leaves!

So I am in Southern California about an hour east of Los Angeles. Close to Chino. What should I do? Defeintly don't want to keep him as I already have to many pets. What to do next?

I believe from looking at the pictures he is a pretty old desert tortoise. Maybe 5 to 10 years? He is pretty big!

Any help or contact info would be great. Don't want to call animal shelter becuase I think they will just put him down.

You'll first want to secure the animal, perhaps in a large cardboard box, to keep him from wandering the neighborhood and getting crushed by a car or chewed on by a dog. Then you'll want to get in touch with an adoption agency, such as the California Turtle and Tortoise Club - I think there may be an Inland Empire chapter. There's a few CTTC members on this forum that will weigh in on the issue shortly - please be sure to keep checking back to this thread. They'll be able to foster the tortoise until its owners are located, or until it can be placed in a home (if the owners can't be located).

That is EXACTLY how I got my first tortoise!

Take a look under the shell by the legs, there should be a california fish & game numbered sticker that can be tracked to the owner. They often fall off.

Hi FoundATortoise, I am a memeber of the Inland Empire Turtle and Tortoise Club. Yes we do rescue Torts and turts. Any and all kinds. Haved you posted flyers in your neighborhood? often owners can be found that way. If you need someone to take the tort and foster it you can pm or email me and we can make arrangements. I live in Highland, CA not too far from the where the 30 and the 10 freeways meet.

I am in Whittier, if you need someone to take it off your hands. Please try and find the owner. Any of us that have lost torotises know how it feels when we loose a tortoise pet. If you don't find the owner, then let someone here know and we can help you with it.

David

Be careful though.......For some unknown reason, Tortoises that are kept in the front yard can cause Earthquakes to happen in the Chino area.