On Monday evening about 5 pm, I placed Comet, who is now 5.5 months old outside in a temp enclosure. I went inside the house to check on the last egg and it was hatching. I got enthralled in the hatching and when I went back outside I could not find Comet anywhere. This enclosure I was fairly sure he could not get out of but it did not have a top on it. It was about 4’x 5’ where I had planted food seeds that had grown fairly high. And it had no covering for safety.
Well to make a long story shorter, I pulled up most of the food plants, set up heat lamps for the night and had a very fretful night while looking for him off and on with a flashlight.
At about 5:30 A.M. I went outside to sit vigil waiting for the sun to hit the enclosure. It was like waiting for paint to dry, or water to boil. I gave up waiting at about 9:15 am. At which time I decided I would carefully dig up the entire area little by little looking for Comet. The worst was in the back of my mind, that a predator had swooped out of the sky and taken h/him. I dug up a small portion just large enough to place my knees in and ran my hand over the drier unplanted area of the enclosure. Now I had looked the evening before and over and over again with a flash light and on my hands and knees and not seen anything, but then in the corner there was the glint and pattern of h/his shell, snuggled down in the dirt with only the very top showing. How relieved I was. I took h/him inside and gave h/him a talking too complete with tears, as I gave h/him a nice warm soak. Then placed h/him into h/his inside enclosure where I knew s/he was safe and sound.
Moral of my story don’t place your shelled baby outside in an unsecured area or think you will easily find it when it is determined to snuggle down for the night. (the guilt, worry and stress are not worth it) I will not make this mistake again. When s/he goes outside again it will be in a completely secured enclosure complete with a predator proof top. I have really learned my lesson.

Whew.. I'm so glad you found him. You must have been scared to death. Smart little Comet, he knew to hide from predators all on his own..

Sorry that was so scary Robyn! I would have been a wreck too. Glad he was ok!

so glad you found him!
i know that panicked feeling when all the possibilities run through your head!

Oh I am soo glad you found comet!!