2 of my tortoises found dead this morning. I need to know why they died.

[Dollarbird]

I live on a farm and I have 4 tortoises on my property. The tortoises belong to the farm and not to me. This morning we found the 2 biggest tortoises dead. The farm owner is accusing me of killing the tortoises!!!! I am trying to find a cause for their death. We have had 2 weeks of immense rain. I don't know if that would contribute. I also saw those poisonous mushrooms growing in our grass. (These tortoises eat anything and everything). The one tortoise ate half of a noodle ( that plastic tube that children use in swimming pool).

 

[dmmj]

How long ago did it eat the pool noodle? those are very long and could possibly have caused an impaction of some sort and killed it. the mushrooms are also a very likely suspect period sudden death in tortoises like this without any sign of illness are usually a poison or toxin of some sort or impaction from eating something they're not supposed to.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

I'm sorry if it's hard to do but can you give more details? It could hold clues.

What species of tortoise?
How big is "big"?
Were they found dead next to each other, far apart?
Same shared space, separate living areas?
Dead right side up, upside down?
Any unusual behavior the past week?
What are your outdoor temperatures? Do they have heated houses?
Did they have shelter from the rain?

Hope we can help you. It's awful that you're being blamed.

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm so sorry this happened. But there are too many variables for us to guess. They might have been fighting. It could be that all the rain caused them to have a respiratory infection. They might have eaten something toxic. They could have had a blockage in their intestine.
I'm afraid the only way to know for sure is to have a necropsy done on each of them.

It is quite unfair of the farm owner to blame you for the death of the tortoises.