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Posted by doug on July 09, 2001 at 10:18:37:
Sorry for the lack of updates over the past couple of days. We're in the process of replacing our computer, and I'm waiting for Compaq to build my new one (about 10 days.) I'm actually posting this from the library because I couldn't wait.
To update: my Egyptian tort went missing last Sunday 7/1/01. I hoped he had gone under my deck to get out of the heat. I couldn't get under 4/5 ths of the deck to look. I put up flyers and checked the shelter and local pet shops. The shelter had no reports, one pet store told me that whenever someone calls to report a found turtle, they tell them to take it to the park and let it go!! (They just assume it's a box turtle.) Great, so I went and looked at the park too, but the sheer size made that seem hopeless. Finally I got fed up with waiting, took my entrenching tool (folding army shovel) and went under the part of the deck I could. I tunneled my way under to the other sections. He wasn't there.
I had been checking the lots adjacent to mine (here each house is on a skinny, but long lot, about 50-75' wide by 400' long. There's neighbors on both sides, the one to the east has the dog that found my tort in the first place. Next to the neighbor to the west is a wooded lot. I had checked the woods with friends on Friday with no results. Well, yesterday(Sunday) I checked again and found the reflective stripe that had been attached to his shell. It was at the end of the wooded lot, near the fence line. I went around to the next block to the house whose backyard met the fence with the woods. No one was home, so I left a note on a poster explaining that my lost tort might be in their yard. They called back in about an hour. The conversation went like this: Caller: "Yeah, I saw him." Me: "You did!" Caller, "Yeah, I picked him up." Me: "You did!!" Caller, "Yeah, I put him back in the woods." Me: You DID!@#!"
So today I borrowed my neighbor's dog. You'll remember she's the one who discovered the tort in his yard a few years ago, and that's how I came to have him. I took her out to the woods where I'd found the stripe. We checked there. We stayed mostly on the paths, as I know my tortoise usually does. We walked through to the next block. We walked and walked. Nothing. On our way back in I said to her, "Lets's check the woods once more." I took her off lead and she ran again to the spot where I'd found the stripe. We began to work up the fence line between the woods and the next house on my own block, as opposed to the back fence to the house on the next block. About 40 feet from where I found the stripe yesterday, off any paths, just sitting there in the open, was my tortoise. UNBELIEVABLE! I rushed him home. He seems fine. I gave him a soak. He sung up a storm! It's obvious he's been eating fine. I'm going to feed him good for a few days, get a fresh sample and let my vet check that he didn't pick up any parasites on his little sojourn.
Eight days later and I got him back. I feel very fortunate. Thanks for all the good wishes.
I've learned quite a bit from this. Obviously the initial fault was mine. BUT, the bigger mistake I now see I made was not searching aggressively enough soon enough. I assumed he was under the deck, so for the first couple of days I didn't look that hard. Sure, I put up posters, but I was really just waiting for him to come out. If I had scoured the woods sooner I might have seen him moving with the stripe still attached. I got lucky. If anybody (besides me) learns anything from this, then it wasn't for naught.
See you again when the new machine is up.
