Found Pet Tortoise (we think!)

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Lahle

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A few days ago our gardener found a small tortoise huddling with a garden statute we have of a lifelike desert tortoise. He brought it to us.

It is about the size of the palm of an adult hand and is extremely friendly and social. A local vet believes it was a pet someone let go or that escaped. We put up flyers and no one responded.

He eats like a little horse -- we are feeding him greens, timothy hay and he loves dandelions and tiny flowers from strawberry plants. We have him in a large box cut in half (about 2.5 feet by 3.5 feet) with some hidy hole boxes, a commercial bedding made for tortoises. We keep him in our court yard during the day and make sure he has sun and shade. At night we bring him in because he seems to get too cold.

He shows no fear of people or of our dogs and our cat (they all touch noses). So given his total lack of fear we have been afraid to let him go. Besides, we live in the suburbs of Woodland Hills.

We have called a few rescue leagues the moment he was found and have not heard back -- we are worried that if we have a wild tortoise we have done a bad thing "rescuing him" but we are worried if he will touch noses with a dog he would with a coyote or raccoon (we have plenty around.)

Now, we love critters of all kinds and would commit to him the care he needs, but after reading about hibernating him am worried with such a small baby (I think he is a baby) we are in over our heads. He is way too small to just let roam free in our large yard -- he is sooo fast he would be gone in a second. But if he is not a pet where do we let him go that is safe? I read there is a 100% mortality rate if he was not a wild tort and we let him go. Such a sweet creature dying because we let him go breaks our hearts --I just wish we had another opinion besides the vets so we could be more confident in what the right thing to do is.

Any advice, ideas? Thoughts about if he is domesticated by his behavior? He eats well, is very active, and we let him explore the yard several times a day supervised.

We do not want to be doing the wrong thing for this adorable little guy that my children have named "Total" (a mispronunciation of "Turtle" because one of them could not remember he is a tortoise!)

Thank you so much.
 

dmarcus

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Hello and welcome to the forum.

If you can post a photo, members on here will quickly tell you exactly what you have. "turtle or tortoise"
 

ascott

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Welcome! Would you be able to post a picture of him for all to take a look at....this will help in sharing correct care information :)
 

Yvonne G

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Hi Lahle:

Welcome to the forum!!

May we know your name?

My guess is that you have found a little sulcata. But we need to see a picture to be sure. It is against the law to release any turtle or tortoise in California, regardless of whether or not its native.

More than likely it is an escaped pet. It wouldn't last long if you hadn't found it.

If you'd like to keep it (can't find its owner), you can build it a little pen until it gets big enough to let go in the yard.

Incidentally, if it IS a sulcata, they don't hibernate. You have to keep them warm in the winter.

So I'll be waiting to see pictures. :D
 

ascott

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yuuuup...hmmmm....now we are all waiting for the pics.....will just make like a rock and wait.....yuuuup :p
 

wrmitchell22

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excited to see pics of what you have found. Once you post we will have all kinds of info for you I am sure ;)
 

Lahle

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Thank you for the replies.

I (hopefully) am attaching pictures. My daughter took a small video so I had to screen shot from that. If you cannot tell from these I can have her take some stills.

He looks bigger in the pictures -- again he is only about the size of the palm of your hand.

Are "wild" torts so friendly and fearless when young? He does not hiss, retreat or urinate when we move him from the box to the yard and eats from our hands and he will follow our cat.

My name is Lahle, and I live in Woodland Hills CA with a small menagerie of pets and children, and now "Total" the tort.

View attachment 9556

View attachment 9557
 
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Maggie Cummings

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The only wild tortoises in Calif are desert tortoises and most likely a wild desert tort wouldn't act the way you describe. He sounds really lonely. I hope you'll keep him

You need to go to tinypics.com and hit browse, that goes to your computer and you pick the picture from that and then hit upload. That gives you a code, it says for forums, you copy that code and paste it to your post here and that posts the picture...I hope that helps...
 

dmmj

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Welcome
I am also from california and a member of the California Turtle and Tortoise Club so if you don't decide to keep him they would be an organization to keep in mind. Even if it is a CDT (California Desert Tortoise) it would be illegal to re release it back (health reasons), plus if it is a non native species you also could not release it. The pics did not work for me, I would suggest Tinypic(dot)com they are thee easiest for me to upload photos here. once again welcome to the site.

Ok the pics work now , that looks like a little sulcata, definitely not native. cute little guy there.
 
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Maggie Cummings

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Yep, Sulcata...are you going to keep him if you don't find his people?
 

Lahle

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Okay, maybe third time is a charm!

2whgmd2.jpg


35bcnqf.jpg


Thank you for all your patience! I assure you Total and I really appreciate it!

I want to do the best thing for the tort. I guess we need to know what we are in for in terms of care and if we are the best family to meet his needs. If we are not I think I will call the rescue league tortie lover that posted.

maggie3fan said:
Yep, Sulcata...are you going to keep him if you don't find his people?
 

wrmitchell22

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Awe! You are so lucky you have a Sulcata! I have a baby also, how big is yours? They get very big, but are totally awesome :) I hope you either keep him or find his people! Good Luck! :D
 

Yvonne G

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Hi Lahle:

Sulcata tortoises aren't for everyone. They get VERY big and don't hibernate. That means that when your tortoise is 100 plus pounds, you have to keep him warm all during the winter! The dig burrows halfway to the center of the earth, and bulldose over your rose bushes.

By the same token, they are wonderful tortoises! If you provide a heated shed, or garage for the winter with access to outside to graze, you can enjoy the antics of one of the most friendly and people oriented tortoises out there!
 

DesertGrandma

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He is so adorable and obviously picked your yard as a safe place. I don't know how far they travel, but I bet there is an owner just hoping to get him back. Have you asked around? You might try running an ad to see if he is a lost pet. If you do, be sure to make them describe him and not the other way around.

Aside from being adorable, they are escape artists too!!
 

dmmj

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Agreed if you place any type of ad just say lost tortoise and then have them call to describe it, you would not believe how many people would call and say it is theirs when it is not and BTW he is cute, but they do get big.
 

Lahle

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Well, we have done our research and think we are in over our heads with our rescued sulcata.

Can anyone put me in touch with a resource to help him find a home that can give him the proper care he needs as he grows? Where we live it seems to be too hot in the summer to stay out of doors all summer and it is too cold to stay out in the winter. I do not think it would be fair to keep him while he is little, cute and portable, and then have to keep him in the garage in a small pen when it was too hot or too cold.

At least we can feel happy knowing we really did rescue a lovely animal in need. Now, the second part of doing a good thing is to find him someone who can provide a better environment for him.

Can I put me email contact on this list? Not sure how I should go about about connecting with you, or anyone nearby (we are near Encino, Calabasas, etc. in SoCal.

Thank you to all. Without this list I would not know what we have, and that already we seem to be doing a lot of things wrong!

Lahle
 

dmmj

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I would contact the CTTC (California Turtle and Tortoise Club) you can go to tortoise.org I believe and find a local chapter, their main goal is to find homes for turtles and tortoises.
 
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