Tortoise walked away outside-- any ideas to attract him back?

[LisaLew]

Hi all,

Our Eastern Hermann's tortoise was outside with our other tortoise. I left him for 20 seconds to run the other tortoise back inside and when I got back he was gone!

He can walk very quickly and it's a hot day, so my best guess is that he wandered off and is under a brush somewhere sheltering from the sun. We looked for hours and had 15 neighbors helping. I feel horribly for leaving him at all and my kids are devastated.

Does anyone have ideas for how to attract him to come back? We put his enclosure outside with food in it and didn't know if there are any other ideas?

Thank you for any thoughts!

Larina

Hello, Larina. Did you find your Eastern Hermann's?

 

[Anastasia 22]

So interesting that your experience supports my theory. How do you know your boy was wild caught?

Same- Chip would rather walk than pick something up from the floor while our other is like a vacuum- I need it to be perfectly clean for him. I feel badly for Chip because he wants to be free (and was for a bit!), but we're trying our best to give him a lot of exercise, and overall he seems pretty happy. He eats a ton to support all his movement!

I bought my boy from the exotic reptile store. And the people there were a kind of honest. They said that got him from overseas. But they lied about his age though. His legs are really strong and his claws are really thick. He doesn't try to escape but he really likes to walk a lot. And he used to hiss all the time when I picked him up or touched him. The girl likes to be touched. She always stretches her neck so I could pet her head. Every time we are out she finds something that she wants to taste Snails, snake's skin, pieces of paper, dry leaves, clay, etc. Tank (my boy's name) is not interested in such kind of things. He smells his food forever before he takes a bite. And if he doesn't like it then he spits it out.
My Daisy (the girl's name) is from Petco and I believe someone had her for some quite time in a small tank. Her claws were very sharp and thin, and back legs were extremely weak so she couldn't lift her shell.

 

[Chip's mom]

Hello, Larina. Did you find your Eastern Hermann's?

Yes! Well, we are 99% sure it's him. His shell has the same exact markings, just lighter (more yellow and some yellow lines filled in to form a solid) maybe from being out in the sun (he was gone 10 months but that includes winter). He's the same size just a hair bigger as expected, has the same head markings, tail, plastron (also the same but a little more yellow), and most importantly the EXACT same mannerisms- went right back to his old habits.

I posted everywhere and no one is missing him so we figured it was Chip or an abandoned tortoise, but he really seems like Chip! Here are pics- the first is Chip and the second is the likely-Chip tortoise. He went right back in this saucer like used to.

 

[Chip's mom]

Yes! Well, we are 99% sure it's him. His shell has the same exact markings, just lighter (more yellow and some yellow lines filled in to form a solid) maybe from being out in the sun (he was gone 10 months but that includes winter). He's the same size just a hair bigger as expected, has the same head markings, tail, plastron (also the same but a little more yellow), and most importantly the EXACT same mannerisms- went right back to his old habits.

I posted everywhere and no one is missing him so we figured it was Chip or an abandoned tortoise, but he really seems like Chip! Here are pics- the first is Chip and the second is the likely-Chip tortoise. He went right back in this saucer like used to.

The first Chip picture is from 2020 and he had grown since then so the new size would be the current size.

 

[Chip's mom]

We’re so happy to have Chip back! He is back to his very energetic self. Here he is playing soccer! I couldn’t upload the video so here’s a screen shot. He races after the ball & tries to bite it.

He’s also really into running after our feet & climbing on shoes & trying to bite everything. He is eating twice a day gaining some weight back so I don’t think he’s too hungry. The vet gave him a clean bill of health (after deworming).

I think that he has reached sexual maturity in the past 10 months since he was gone. He’s a rescue so we don’t know his age but people here guessed 3 years and that was 3-4 years ago.

Also our female tortoise (housed separately) is now about 2.75 years. Her table is about 4’ from him and I think I’ve read on here that they can smell a female up to 12’ (I wish we had more room!)

The biting isn’t a big deal because we can move away, just want to make sure he isn’t stressed. Any advice?