Tortoise wandered into house... advice?

Luansterz

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Hello, during a heavy downpour today I found a tortoise at my gate.
Could anyone give me advice on how to care for it/what breed it is?
This tortoise is highly unlikely to be a wild one due to the nature of my country and my residential area, hence I'm reluctant to release it to the wild.

IMG_0652.JPG
 

Luansterz

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What part of the world do you live in?
That is a very unusual looking turtle.
One I'm not familiar with.
I live in Singapore! It has a tropical climate. It's customary to see some Terrapins or snapping turtles in the wild but I've never seen a brown tortoise like this before either.
 

Luansterz

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Thanks for the advice and identification! Do you have any care tips for a first-time turtle owner?
 

Yvonne G

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When one finds a turtle or tortoise and you can be sure it's not a native/wild turtle, then it is your responsibility to try to find who this animal belongs to.

Put up fliers on the utility poles around the neighborhood. Post a 'found' ad in the newspaper and in your lost and found classifieds online. Someone bought this turtle and is probably pretty upset at having lost it.
 

Luansterz

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When one finds a turtle or tortoise and you can be sure it's not a native/wild turtle, then it is your responsibility to try to find who this animal belongs to.

Put up fliers on the utility poles around the neighborhood. Post a 'found' ad in the newspaper and in your lost and found classifieds online. Someone bought this turtle and is probably pretty upset at having lost it.

Yes, of course. I'll be going around the neighbourhood tomorrow to ask around. But in the meantime I'd like to make sure that it's as comfortable as possible.
 

TammyJ

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That's adorable! You have been blessed by its visit and it hopes that you will please put it into a shallow tub of warmish water, place the tub in a warm, dark corner of your home and start checking out what it eats, etc. and try to find the owner!
Seems that it may be a protected species?
 

zovick

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It appears that it might be Geomyda spengleri if it is rather small (5" or less in length) and has black on the under shell. Look at these photos for comparison and then see if the lower shell on your turtle has a black pattern like these G. spengleri specimens. I cannot tell from the photo if your specimen has a 3 keeled shell or not. The center one is quite obvious, but I can't see if there are traces of keels on the two sides.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/sea...QRzZWMDc2M-?p=Geomyda+Spengleri&fr=ymyy-t-999
 

Big Charlie

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It appears that it might be Geomyda spengleri if it is rather small (5" or less in length) and has black on the under shell. Look at these photos for comparison and then see if the lower shell on your turtle has a black pattern like these G. spengleri specimens. I cannot tell from the photo if your specimen has a 3 keeled shell or not. The center one is quite obvious, but I can't see if there are traces of keels on the two sides.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/sea...QRzZWMDc2M-?p=Geomyda+Spengleri&fr=ymyy-t-999
Judging by the newspaper it is pictured on, I think it is quite a bit bigger than that.
 

zovick

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Judging by the newspaper it is pictured on, I think it is quite a bit bigger than that.

To explain my thinking: the newspaper appeared to me to be folded in half (vertically), not opened up to the full page height of a bit over 21". That would equate to the portion shown in the photo being about 10.75" from top to bottom, assuming their newspapers are the same size as US newspapers. It is a bit hard to tell from the angle of the photo, but the turtle seemed to be taking up only about half of the page which is shown, so I assumed the turtle could be roughly 5" or so in size.

Luansterz, can you please tell us how long the turtle is or post a photo of it next to a ruler?
 

GingerLove

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That turtle is amazing!!! I've never seen the likes of him!:confused:
 

TortoiseWorld

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Like I said earlier I think it's a Giant Asian Pond Turtle (Heosemys grandis) here is another example looks the same to me.

grandis-carapaceGiantAsianPond.preview.jpg
 

Yvonne G

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I don't think so, Patrick. The front edge scutes (sorry I don't know their name) in your turtle are smooth, while the front scutes on the 'wandered-into-my-house' turtle have a very pretty scallop to them.
 
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TortoiseWorld

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Hello, during a heavy downpour today I found a tortoise at my gate.
Could anyone give me advice on how to care for it/what breed it is?
This tortoise is highly unlikely to be a wild one due to the nature of my country and my residential area, hence I'm reluctant to release it to the wild.

View attachment 196801

Yours is a beautiful animal.
If you can't find the original owner, and you don't you have space, time and money to properly care for the turtle, I would release it as soon as possible while it's still strong, find a suitable habitat outside the city away from people.

Giant Asian pond turtle habitat
The giant Asian pond turtle inhabits a range of freshwater habitats, including rivers, streams, lakes, swamps and marshes, from sea level up to hilly areas, However, the giant Asian pond turtle is not restricted to water, and can also be found partially hidden under vegetation on land.

Conservation status and threats: The Giant Asian Pond Turtle is hunted for its meat and for traditional Chinese medicine. It also faces habitat loss due to pollution and the draining of wetlands. It is considered vulnerable across its entire range by the IUCN Red List and is listed on CITES Appendix II.
 

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