I havent posted for a while. i just wanted to tell a story with a happy ending. On October 21, 2012, one of my sulcatas escaped and was lost. He had been gone less than 30 minutes when we discovered that he was gone. We live next to the junction of two busy highways. We searched until dark but didnt find him. The next morning I called all of the vets in town, had an announcement on all four of the local radio stations offering a reward. I live in Alamogordo, NM. we have a small zoo here and I also notified them that I had lost a male 50lb sulcata. We figured that some one had picked him up. I also searched the area around the property 4 or 5 times a day in a 1/2 mile circle around the property. We never expected to get him back. It has been getting down to the forties here at night and that concerned us. Yesterday afternoon I got a phone call from the Ruidoso NM police department. They had a sulcata at the police station. They sent me a picture and I identified it as Manfred my tortoise. They asked me to provide proof I sent pictures, at first they said they didnt think that they were of the same tortoise. In the future I will keep monthly pictures with the date and him on a yard stick to have better proof. The officer told me that he had to think about it. He called back and said that they had decide that it was my tortoise. I went to Ruidoso to pick him up. They told me that they had him at the police station for three days. Lincoln county had nowhere to house him as the animal shelter wasnt heated. They had kept him in the secure lobby of the police station and put him outside in a breezeway during the day. They had received a call three days before that there was a "turtle" at the country club. he had been at the golf course eating grass for six days. The nightime temperatures were in the low 30s. Nobody knew where he went at night. The officer said that he was keeping the greens mowed at the golf course. I hope that he wont need a special diet of golf course grass now. Whoever picked him up only had him overnight and either dumped him or he escaped. We are very happy to have him back. We hope that he will not develop a cold now. I am going to put a tag on him and my other tortoise similar to Walking Rocks tag. I just wanted to let everyone knoew that there are sometimes happy endings.

GREAT story! Glad you got your tort back!

Def a Happy Ending. i wonder how many people in NM lose a sulcata that the officer would be concerned that it WASNT yours. haha crazy skeptic I guess. Glad you got him back.

I'm surprised that the Police kept him for a few days!

I am really starting to think the tag thing is a good idea!

Glad you got him back!

Is there a link to the tag thing? I've never heard of it, but then I am new.

schmodygirl Wrote:I am really starting to think the tag thing is a good idea!

Yes, when my Leopard gets big. I'm getting him a tag FOR SURE.

Thank you for sharing your story. I agree I think I will also look into a tag for my sulcata. Even though my property is secure.

(11-01-2012 08:53 PM)kathycoles Wrote:  Is there a link to the tag thing? I've never heard of it, but then I am new.

A lot of people put dog tags on their tortoises. I am not exactly sure what they use, but they get just a regular engraved dog tag and basically "glue" it to the tort's shell... For Walking Rock (the big, amusing tortoise owned by someone on this forum) it's permanent. I'm not sure if there is a way to do it where it isn't.

You can also "tag" a tortoise or virtually any other animal using a tiny RF chip like Lifechip, HomeAgain, or FECAVA there are many others ( I am not a salesman). More info here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microchip_i...8animal%29 The vets in my area charge about $50 for the chip and implant combo. If you pass a scanning device over the animal it reads the data on the chip and appears on the screen of the scanner. This would be great proof that it was your animal! I will likely get my largest sulcatas tagged this way in not too long.
--Jeff

I used Liquid Nails on the back of an engraved dog tag

thats a cool story. i live in el paso. not too far from ya. my 60 lb got loose and i seen him walking up the road a bout 100 yds. lol

glad you got him back

I love how the police officer wasn't convinced that it was your tortoise. Maybe he was starting to fall for Manfried and was considering adopting him. : )

(11-02-2012 07:05 AM)SamB Wrote:  I used Liquid Nails on the back of an engraved dog tag

Liquid nails... Not a bad idea. Do you think that would hold well on a big sully that is constantly working on a burrow? I guess I could put it right above his tail where things are less likely to rub against it and pop it off...