Problems with hawks

Lovechell69

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I got a baby sulcata (Micah) a month ago and I wanted to share a picture. I had a year and a half (Amara) but she went missing. She didn’t burrow or climb out of her enclosure. She wasn’t sick. I feel horrible because I didn’t put something other than giving her a shade on top. I saw some hawks flying around and my spouse was shooting in the air to scare them away. I never believed after months of being outside she would be in danger. September 7th I was working outside and would check on her throughout the day. I was going to get her and bring her inside for the night and she was gone. I checked for burrows any signs of the high walls being compromised and nothing. Every day since I have cried like a baby looking for her five times a day but I hate to even think about what happened. The hawks got her. Has anyone even heard of this happening? I haven’t gave up my search but in my heart I’ve had to accept what happened. My wife recently got me another baby sulcata because life without one is unimaginable. We built a terrarium that’s 4ft long 3ft wife and 2ft y’all a week before Amara disappeared for her indoor enclosure because it’s getting cooler outside and she was still too small for outside. It’s hard looking at the terrarium even with Micah in it without my heart breaking over Amara. I contacted the vet the Arkansas game and wildlife local vets and people within five miles of me to be on the lookout for Amara. While I wait for her return meet Micah. No pet store rescue this time. The tortoise supply had been recommended to me many times in the forum and she arrived healthy happy and already has my heart
 

Tom

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What size was Amara? Of all the things that could take a tortoise, hawks are pretty low on the list. I've flown half a dozen hawks in and around my tortoise pens, tortoises of all sizes including tiny hatchlings, and none of them have ever taken notice of the tortoises. Mind you, these hawks are hungry and keen to hunt anything when I've got them out loose and flying and they are desensitized to people and dogs, so fear isn't holding them back. I even feed the hawks in the tortoise pens. Did it this morning. Simultaneously, we've got wild red tail hawks that nest annually literally 50 feet from my tortoise pens. They and their babies take no notice of the tortoises. We also have lots of Cooper's hawks flying around, and even though they are primarily bird hunters, they are opportunists too. They don't even look at the tortoises.

Much more likely your tortoise was taken by a dog, raccoon or person. And many of them escape even though it seems like they couldn't possibly. I've even lost them IN their enclosures. They sometimes just hide so well that you can't find them.
 

wccmog10

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I second @Tom’s comments. I’ve had hawks around tortoises (or tortoises around hawks) for many years. The hawks have never shown any interest in the tortoises. They will however show interest in other types of animals, such as mice or rabbits. Not to say it isn’t possible that a hawk took your tortoise, but my money is on a person, dog, coyote, raccoon, or maybe a possum.

I’m sorry you lost the little guy. It’s never easy when things like this happen.
 

LaLaP

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If you have ravens or crows in your area, there's your culprit!
Have you ever heard of a crow or raven attacking a small adult tortoise (like a Russian)? I hadn’t considered them as a problem and there are a ton of them where I live.

I’m sorry you lost your tortoise. I can imagine how heart breaking that is.
 

Yvonne G

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Have you ever heard of a crow or raven attacking a small adult tortoise (like a Russian)? I hadn’t considered them as a problem and there are a ton of them where I live.

I’m sorry you lost your tortoise. I can imagine how heart breaking that is.
Yes, there are many pictures of raven/crow predation showing juvenile desert tortoises (about the size of a russian).
 

Tom

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If you have ravens or crows in your area, there's your culprit!
We have lots of ravens and crows out here too. And I work with hungry trained ones at the ranch all the time as well. None of them even look at the tortoises, even while the wild ones are swooping in to steal my defrosting hawk or snake foods. The ravens out in the desert that prey upon DTs are a pretty localized and specialized lot. I don't think this happens much in other parts of the country. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
 

Baconbear27

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So I thought I lost my Voldetort once at my moms in Tucson. She has owls, hawks, etc. Crazy big birds. I was convinced she was a goner. I live in Phoenix so at the end of my weekend I had to leave. I was a wreck. 5 excruciating days later, my dad found her, hiding. Some how, she climbed out of her box, and ended up on the top yard (just a few steps higher than the lower yard). These little cuties CAN climb!!!

there still may be some hope. She was very little and hard to see. We all know they blend in, too well, sometimes! Don’t give up just yet
 

Robivens

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We have turkey buzzards and my sulcata is not left alone outside. I have a 13 week old puppy that is not left outside without one of the larger dogs or a person. I don’t trust the buzzards at all.
 

Tom

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We have turkey buzzards and my sulcata is not left alone outside. I have a 13 week old puppy that is not left outside without one of the larger dogs or a person. I don’t trust the buzzards at all.
Turkey vultures won't touch a live animal. And their feet and claws aren't built to grab things and carry them away. Your puppy and tortoises are not at risk from the vultures... unless they die and you leave them out where the vultures can see them for a few days...
 

TammyJ

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It really seems unlikely that it was a bird at all, but another predator, a person, or the tortoise is hiding really well. Don't give up.
 

ArmadilloPup

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I'm sorry that your baby is missing :(

I once had a fox run up and grab a hen right in front of me, out in the open and in broad daylight! This wasn't a wooded area, so it still boggles me how he could have been waiting so close to us before making his move. He was too fast for me and disappeared over a hill into some brush. By the time I got there, there wasn't a trace of him or the chicken. Pretty impressive stuff, but I often feel bad about that poor hen.
 

Robivens

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Turkey vultures won't touch a live animal. And their feet and claws aren't built to grab things and carry them away. Your puppy and tortoises are not at risk from the vultures... unless they die and you leave them out where the vultures can see them for a few days...

Thank you Tom. That is good to know. They look like they will eat anything as they sit on the roof of homes. Neighbors have lost frogs and fish from their ponds to herons but o
 

keithsf

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I can tell you for absolute certain that hawks are interested in tortoises in some circumstances.
One day I was standing under our covered patio watching my platynota walking around my backyard when suddenly a young red tailed hawk swooped down with talons extended trying to get him. I yelled and waved my arms and the hawk aborted its mission and flew up and landed in the branches of the redwood tree next door, and then sat there glaring at me for ruining its (very expensive) lunch!
My tortoise weighed somewhere between 1 and 2 pounds at the time.
 

Pointydog

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About vultures...
We have Turkey and Black vultures, and it is not uncommon for them to attack newborn or very young calves and lambs. They go after the soft places like eyes, navel and anus.
I never saw this behavior before I lived in WV, but here it's fairly common. I've seen cows exhausted, working to keep vultures off their calf. I'm not sure what attracts them or why they are persistent when faced with a live, angry mama cow.

Our neighbors keep a daily watch on the cows at calving time and I have seen instances where the calf is unharmed as well as live calves maimed beyond saving with vultures actively trying to get around the cow to her cslf.

While that's no proof they would harm a tortoise or a puppy, I could not say those animals are not at risk. And a live animal is not necessarily safe from predation by vultures
 

TammyJ

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About vultures...
We have Turkey and Black vultures, and it is not uncommon for them to attack newborn or very young calves and lambs. They go after the soft places like eyes, navel and anus.
I never saw this behavior before I lived in WV, but here it's fairly common. I've seen cows exhausted, working to keep vultures off their calf. I'm not sure what attracts them or why they are persistent when faced with a live, angry mama cow.

Our neighbors keep a daily watch on the cows at calving time and I have seen instances where the calf is unharmed as well as live calves maimed beyond saving with vultures actively trying to get around the cow to her cslf.

While that's no proof they would harm a tortoise or a puppy, I could not say those animals are not at risk. And a live animal is not necessarily safe from predation by vultures
Guess you have some freaky kind of vultures in West Virginia! Ugh!
 

Markw84

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About vultures...
We have Turkey and Black vultures, and it is not uncommon for them to attack newborn or very young calves and lambs. They go after the soft places like eyes, navel and anus.
I never saw this behavior before I lived in WV, but here it's fairly common. I've seen cows exhausted, working to keep vultures off their calf. I'm not sure what attracts them or why they are persistent when faced with a live, angry mama cow.

Our neighbors keep a daily watch on the cows at calving time and I have seen instances where the calf is unharmed as well as live calves maimed beyond saving with vultures actively trying to get around the cow to her cslf.

While that's no proof they would harm a tortoise or a puppy, I could not say those animals are not at risk. And a live animal is not necessarily safe from predation by vultures
Turkey vultures have one of the best olfactory systems of any animal. Like a shark using minute trace amounts of blood in the water to trace it back to injured prey, the vulture can smell carrion - rotting flesh and blood from over a mile away. I would think it is the smell of the afterbirth at the time of calving that is the issue with the vultures there. Very young calves would be at risk.
 

Pointydog

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Turkey vultures have one of the best olfactory systems of any animal. Like a shark using minute trace amounts of blood in the water to trace it back to injured prey, the vulture can smell carrion - rotting flesh and blood from over a mile away. I would think it is the smell of the afterbirth at the time of calving that is the issue with the vultures there. Very young calves would be at risk.
 

TammyJ

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Pointydog, you quoted Markw84 but did not comment in the post...?
 
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