# Letting a PET tortoise go free?



## tyler0912 (Sep 14, 2011)

*I just read the Subject and everyone will be ready to give me grief it is not what you think im not letting a tortoise go nor do i plan to as im in england...lol

BUT-
Do you think if you set your tortoise off into the wild in the correct habitat it will thrive.....i think it would because it is not a dog.....it may depend on you for food.....but once outside they will graze etc...... by there selves i imagine they will do the same in there natural habitat just abit  bigger than your back garden...i just think they will not understand the meaning of *predators* properly yes they will hide if they are startled but would they be prepared to safe there selves... (ie....hide....etc....) they may do but unsure...abit random this question just popped in my head and i though...."why not write a thread" so here i am finishing my thread thinking how to end it........... 
Thanks guys in advance....what do you think?
Open to debate! 
[ Think i posted in the right place  ]*

Just thought this is quite random...what goes through my mind sometimes? 

I thought that subject title would get them flooding in


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## Jacqui (Sep 14, 2011)

I think most of mine would have no trouble at all, but then most of mine would just be returning to the wild. 

I have a few that seem to not have a lot of the common sense you would think they should. They are use to pet dogs and cats, so show none of the natural fear they should in order to survive. Even worse many of them come running, when a human food machine appears. Not a good thing out in the real world where humans eat you, collect you to sell for food or pets, or simply look at you as a novel toy to abuse for a bit of sport. 

Would mine actively hunt for their own food? You would think so and most of mine should pass the test, as they get time in an outdoor environment and do the natural grazing thing. Yet, I have one redfoot whom is placed outside in an enclosure that is well planted and stocked with a wide variety of foods, yet he sits and waits for what he must think is "real" food. The kind of tortoise, even when given "tough love", will sit and lose weight. I never push it to see, if he would really allow himself to starve while siting in a world of abundance, but he does lose significant weight. 

I have had several dogs, who would have no problem going feral. First comes to mind is a old female golden mix who would hunt and catch rabbits. She taught her two companions... a lab mix and a German shorthair how to do so too. So I would place my bet on some of my dogs over some of my tortoises.


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## Angi (Sep 14, 2011)

My torts are too friendly. My turtles would be fine, in fact Trudy probably lived on her own for a long time before I got her. Turtles are not native here....I don't think.......


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## Madkins007 (Sep 14, 2011)

There are a lot of answers to this. 

Sure, that tortoise will probably be OK for a season or two, but it will not have the instinctive map of the territory built over a lifetime of exploration, knowing where the good shelters, good feeding areas, etc. are and how the seasons and interactions with nature play out. It might not survive the first hard frost if it is a hibernating species in a temperate area. 

It is probably also out of reproductive sync with the wild torts- bigger but younger, if it can even figure out where they are when mating season arrives. Therefore it may not contribute to the gene pool.

And, of course, it is riddled with pathogens it slowly built an immunity to that it will now pass on to other torts in the area, possibly infecting them with something they have no immunity for.


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## cork_screw (Sep 14, 2011)

The problem isn't the welfare of the single tort, but rather the entire indigenous fauna (and especially other torts/turtles) that may come in contact with it. Domestic animals can carry strains of bacterial as well as pathogens that are unbeknownst to the owner, but also vice versa with introducing a wild caught animal to a domestic group. That individual can infect the entire wild population and decimate it. That is exactly what happened with the endangered Desert tortoise. People would bring some home from road trips and when they got tired of them they would re-release them back to the wild. Unfortunately while in the care and in the new settings they developed respiratory infections. When released those individuals would spread that throughout the entire population killing a good majority. 

Do you know how the Native Americans died, or at least most of them? Not by bullets or knives. They died because the early white settlers passed common colds and flues that the Natives never had an immunity to and never experienced those types of diseases. No matter how trivial those sound today, it wiped out a good majority of the population.


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