Hi all,
I joined this forum as I'm traumatised by the disappearance of 3 star tortoises we had in our garden.
They were free to roam in our walled garden (about 1 acre) and if they were in the front yard they would come near our door for a snack of leafy greens.
Two of the adults have been missing since around April of this year.
Do you think star tortoises burrow underground to escape high temperatures?
I'm from Sri Lanka and in March-April of this year there was a severe drought in the country. I was overseas and I do not know how much water would have been provided for the tortoises by other people at my place.
I just wonder whether they would have burrowed underground to escape the severe heat. It is around that time that two of them had disappeared.
I regret not having them inside a closed area now (at least during that time). These were tortoises put into our garden by our neighbours (as they could not take care of them and I thought it was best to let them roam free in the garden. Now I regret it bitterly)
The tortoises were adults and had babies too. On several occasions I thought of enclosing them in a fenced area, but I felt that they enjoyed ambling around the property eating roots, leaves and grass. They lived in that garden (about 1 acre) for over 4 years and my gardner found 4 little baby tortoises in the garden.
Once the first two disappeared I got fencing material and asked my gardner to build an enclosure for the two remaining adults in the garden. My mother has stopped the gardener several times from doing it (not that she hates the tortoises, in fact she is the one who feeds them. She just wants to be stubborn and ignore my wishes). So, they were not enclosed, and just as I anticipated one of them has disappeared now.
Once again it has been high temperatures in our area.
My dilemma is not knowing what happened to them.
Does anyone know whether star tortoises burrow into the underground and aestivate (especially due to hot weather).
Please share your knowledge of these beautiful creatures.
I'm going home soon, and will be looking for holes and burrows in our garden.
Thank you,
Ioni
I joined this forum as I'm traumatised by the disappearance of 3 star tortoises we had in our garden.
They were free to roam in our walled garden (about 1 acre) and if they were in the front yard they would come near our door for a snack of leafy greens.
Two of the adults have been missing since around April of this year.
Do you think star tortoises burrow underground to escape high temperatures?
I'm from Sri Lanka and in March-April of this year there was a severe drought in the country. I was overseas and I do not know how much water would have been provided for the tortoises by other people at my place.
I just wonder whether they would have burrowed underground to escape the severe heat. It is around that time that two of them had disappeared.
I regret not having them inside a closed area now (at least during that time). These were tortoises put into our garden by our neighbours (as they could not take care of them and I thought it was best to let them roam free in the garden. Now I regret it bitterly)
The tortoises were adults and had babies too. On several occasions I thought of enclosing them in a fenced area, but I felt that they enjoyed ambling around the property eating roots, leaves and grass. They lived in that garden (about 1 acre) for over 4 years and my gardner found 4 little baby tortoises in the garden.
Once the first two disappeared I got fencing material and asked my gardner to build an enclosure for the two remaining adults in the garden. My mother has stopped the gardener several times from doing it (not that she hates the tortoises, in fact she is the one who feeds them. She just wants to be stubborn and ignore my wishes). So, they were not enclosed, and just as I anticipated one of them has disappeared now.
Once again it has been high temperatures in our area.
My dilemma is not knowing what happened to them.
Does anyone know whether star tortoises burrow into the underground and aestivate (especially due to hot weather).
Please share your knowledge of these beautiful creatures.
I'm going home soon, and will be looking for holes and burrows in our garden.
Thank you,
Ioni