Help... missing turtle... any advice would be appreciated...

Hello,
So today I had my Russian outside in the sun, in what I thought was an enclosed area. Well he had to prove me wrong. Left him for 10 minutes ... and now 4 of us have been looking for him for several hours, without luck. He is relatively small, maybe 4 inches? and I'm thinking he is dug in somewhere... he has not spent any time outdoors other than supervised and during the day. Would he probably come out in the sun tomorrow? I am so distraught, and I'm still outside looking, at 8:30 at night. How do they do in a situation like this, in other words will he survive long enough for us to search more in the daylight? Any advice would be appreciated...
Thanks in advance.

Have you found any softer patches of dirt in the enclosure? Russian tortoises are great diggers and can completely bury themselves without digging an obvious hole or tunnel. They often do that to get to cooler soil underneath.

I don't know what part of California you are in but most likely the night temps aren't too bad for him right now so that's one less thing to worry about. He will be cold in the morning and come out to bask in the sun. That is the best time to look. I've lost my Russian twice and can understand what you're going through. When I lost mine I made flyers and put them on all my neighbors doors. I posted on Nextdoor (do you have that? Neighborhood social media). I looked and looked. Check in the morning, look for spots where he can dig in, look under plants. I paid attention when my neighbors cat was sniffing around my yard. Then I hired a woman who had a prize winning dog that searched for and found (but didn't kill) small animals. In the end it was Nextdoor that helped me the first time and the second time my neighbors dog alerted the neighbor to his presents in their yard. Good luck!!

Thank you both. It's starting to get a little chilly at nights, but not too bad so far. I did post on Nextdoor, just in case, and I was trying to get my dog to look for him! She's not an award winner but has a pretty good nose... We'll just have to wait and see when the sun comes out, fingers crossed. My yard outside the enclosure is pretty big, so I'm pretty sure he's somewhere in it, just a matter of where...

Check in the normal basking spot when the sun comes our and also check in the first spots that get sunny this morning, no matter where they are in your yard.

I’ve “lost” my Russian when she is literally a foot away; hopefully yours is just well camoflaged nearby.

Good luck!! I’ll throw a couple prayers out for you!

If it's a wild caught Russian tortoise, he's probably still on Afghanistan time, which means, he's looking for a place to hibernate. They hibernate (brumate) more than 6 months of the year in their native country. If this is the case, more than likely, he's still in the "enclosed area," but has dug down into the earth, pushing the dirt behind him to disguise his spot. Get down on your hands and knees and dig your fingers into the dirt all over the area, inch by inch. You should find an area of soft dirt. That's where he is. I have found mine right out in the middle of their yard, but so disguised it can't be seen with the human eye.

He has been located and is back inside, whew. He must have buried himself somewhere in his enclosure (still not sure where!). Found him half in the sun, half under some leaves. Thanks everyone for all the tips!

Yeahhhhhh. Another success story!

Yay!

Woohoo!

Maro2Bear said:

Yeahhhhhh. Another success story!

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I love the happy endings [emoji16]

Happy endings are so good..

Mindy Robinson said:

He has been located and is back inside, whew. He must have buried himself somewhere in his enclosure (still not sure where!). Found him half in the sun, half under some leaves. Thanks everyone for all the tips!

Click to expand...

See, Mother Yvonne knows best. The voice of her long experience. When I was a child, my CDT, Tommy, would disappear, sometimes for weeks on end, only to re-appear in his burrow as if nothing unusual had happened. Latter, a neighbor would comment that he had been seen grazing on their lawn. Sometimes, they just know where home is. Of course, I'm just speaking from my own experience. Your experience may vary. Keep a good watch on your child.