Carola SWE
New Member
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2016
- Messages
- 8
Hi,
I'm new to the forum, and I reaching out from Sweden for help & support since my 17 years old Russian Tortoise has escaped. I have had her for 14 years. The shell bottom is approx. 15 cm long. Weight: 850g.
7 days ago my tortoise managed to open the sliding patio door (when not guarded for a couple of minutes, since she was "inside" our patio). We have looked everywhere, under all bushes, in every corner. The police, the vets & animal control have been informed. She is reported missing via the neighborhoods Facebook group and by missing posters in the area. We used a tracker dog day 2. But she is still missing, and I'm so sad & heartbroken.
I will summarise the condition, with the hope of getting your help in the search.
My tortoise was currently staying with my parents, due to my vacation trip. My parents house has a patio and a large green garden. The tortoise had been with my parents for 7 days before the escape. During these days she has been allowed to walk the garden and in the patio under high supervision. When she got tired she usually walks back into her nest in the patio. She is currently quite lazy, and is basically only active around lunch time and 4-6 pm. She had just been walked and bathed before she escaped.
She escaped 6 pm. The escape was noticed within 5 minutes. The garden is fenced with bushes, so she can easily escape to the neighbors. The patio door is close to the neighbor on the left, and the tracking dog indicated activity in their garden (a section close to the boarder with heavy shrubbery). The neighbor to the right has a dog in their yard. The dog was unleashed in their garden by the time of the escape. The houses gardens are placed in a line in front of a large & thick, but newly cut field. We don't believe that she is good digger, she is normally satisfied as long as her head is buried. And as I said before, we have looked everywhere.
The weather in Sweden has been very hot (25-30 C) the last 7 days. Today there was a heavy rain storm.
In which direction do you believe we should focus? I hope she went left, but I'm worried that she went for the large field, but at the same time that would require her to cross the whole garden and she normally don't prefer open areas and/or thick grass.
Do tortoises avoid dogs? I'm hoping that she avoided the neighbor with the dog, and the dog would have been acting crazy if it had located the tortoise.
Does anyone have an idea of how far Russian Tortoises tend to escape? Is it most likely that she is still in a close distance?
What else can we do?
Thanks in advance
Carola
I'm new to the forum, and I reaching out from Sweden for help & support since my 17 years old Russian Tortoise has escaped. I have had her for 14 years. The shell bottom is approx. 15 cm long. Weight: 850g.
7 days ago my tortoise managed to open the sliding patio door (when not guarded for a couple of minutes, since she was "inside" our patio). We have looked everywhere, under all bushes, in every corner. The police, the vets & animal control have been informed. She is reported missing via the neighborhoods Facebook group and by missing posters in the area. We used a tracker dog day 2. But she is still missing, and I'm so sad & heartbroken.
I will summarise the condition, with the hope of getting your help in the search.
My tortoise was currently staying with my parents, due to my vacation trip. My parents house has a patio and a large green garden. The tortoise had been with my parents for 7 days before the escape. During these days she has been allowed to walk the garden and in the patio under high supervision. When she got tired she usually walks back into her nest in the patio. She is currently quite lazy, and is basically only active around lunch time and 4-6 pm. She had just been walked and bathed before she escaped.
She escaped 6 pm. The escape was noticed within 5 minutes. The garden is fenced with bushes, so she can easily escape to the neighbors. The patio door is close to the neighbor on the left, and the tracking dog indicated activity in their garden (a section close to the boarder with heavy shrubbery). The neighbor to the right has a dog in their yard. The dog was unleashed in their garden by the time of the escape. The houses gardens are placed in a line in front of a large & thick, but newly cut field. We don't believe that she is good digger, she is normally satisfied as long as her head is buried. And as I said before, we have looked everywhere.
The weather in Sweden has been very hot (25-30 C) the last 7 days. Today there was a heavy rain storm.
In which direction do you believe we should focus? I hope she went left, but I'm worried that she went for the large field, but at the same time that would require her to cross the whole garden and she normally don't prefer open areas and/or thick grass.
Do tortoises avoid dogs? I'm hoping that she avoided the neighbor with the dog, and the dog would have been acting crazy if it had located the tortoise.
Does anyone have an idea of how far Russian Tortoises tend to escape? Is it most likely that she is still in a close distance?
What else can we do?
Thanks in advance
Carola