Sarah Ann
New Member
- Joined
- May 22, 2014
- Messages
- 3
Hello. I am hoping you can help me. In september of last year, my mother's tortoise went missing from her garden. We suspected she had been stolen but weren't sure. We contacted lots of relevant channels, including John Hayward. Yesterday I went to visit a tortoise which had been found about five miles away in a pile of rubbish. As soon as I saw the tortoise I immediately thought it was my mother's . However, when we got back, we realised that the 'tail' is different. Prior to 'her' going missing we were unsure of the gender. The tail was still fairly small and had not changed that much since she was a baby (she was about 16 when she disappeared). Now, on the found tortoise, there is a distinctive point on the end: I have tried to research it and it may be a 'horny pin'. Everything else looks exactly like Poppy: the face, the size is right, the shell formation: she has quite an unusual bumpy shell for a Hermann's tortoise, which is just the same.
We have informed John Hayward that we have found the tortoise and he has confirmed that no other tortoises are reported missing in the area, and s/he is not chipped (ours was not ). She was also fairly well advertised by the person who found her and no one else came forward. Of course, if it is not our tortoise, we do not want anyone else to go through the upset we have. We've also phoned shelters and told the police that we have her.
So we are puzzled about the tail - is it possible for it to change if s/he reached maturity in the eight months she was away? And if she hibernated, which would have been the first time, could this have effected it? I have read that Hermann's tortoises all have the 'horny pin'? Can you help?
We have informed John Hayward that we have found the tortoise and he has confirmed that no other tortoises are reported missing in the area, and s/he is not chipped (ours was not ). She was also fairly well advertised by the person who found her and no one else came forward. Of course, if it is not our tortoise, we do not want anyone else to go through the upset we have. We've also phoned shelters and told the police that we have her.
So we are puzzled about the tail - is it possible for it to change if s/he reached maturity in the eight months she was away? And if she hibernated, which would have been the first time, could this have effected it? I have read that Hermann's tortoises all have the 'horny pin'? Can you help?