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It started as a typical day, all the tortoises in the house were watered and fed, the eggs in the incubator were checked, all that was left to do was to make sure that Evelyn,my prize pet Burmese brown tortoise had food for the day and I could leave for work. I went out on the back porch but no Evelyn. Now this was odd: she was always there,front legs on the bottom step, waiting for me (or breakfast). I checked in her hide boxes, under the shrubs,in the high grass,in the low grass,I even found myself calling her name: Evelyn was no where to be found. Was she stolen? Could she have climbed the 3' fence? I scoured the yard again, looked in the adjoining yards but had to get to work. I'll cut to the chase for you: Evelyn was gone.
I literally went door to door when I got home: did you see a big turtle wandering around here? No one did? I called the DEC to see if anyone reported finding a large tortoise in my neighborhood but no one had. I posted signs all over the place, with the word 'REWARD' in huge letters. After a week had gone byI resigned myself to the worst: my Evelyn was history. Whether she escaped or was stolen really didn't matter at that point; I just hoped that whomever found her would give her the TLC she deserved.
Four weeks after her departure I received a call at work: "I understand you lost a turtle and I think I found her."
Four weeks and six blocks later, a woman went out to her garden and found a huge brown tortoise happily munching on her hostas. She called the DEC and the person she spoke with told her it was probably a snapper and to leave it alone,that it would go away on its own. However the woman who owned the garden figured out this was no ordinary snapper because whereever she went in the yard,the turtle followed her! She called DEC again, this time spoke to the person I spoke to originally, who gave her my name and phone number.
What astounds me is how an 18" tortoise managed to wander around a relatively heavily populated area for four weeks, cross at least five streets,and go undetected! And thank God the woman that found Evelyn had the sense not to believe Evelyn was a snapper and that she called back.
The fence is being raised to six feet. Until then,Evelyn is only allowed outside while supervised.

I'm glad you got her back in good shape. Maybe that'll be enough adventure for her for a while!

Last fall my redfoot got lost while grazing in the front yard. I searched high & low & finally resolved myself to the fact he was gone. Later a car stopped in front of the house as I sat in the porch swing writing a "Lost Tortoise" flyer & feeling sad. He was almost all the way across the street & the woman, who was a science teacher, stopped primarily because she knew it wasn't a local species.

Glad to here things turned out ok. Impressive that an 18" Tortoise could get passed a 3ft fence(without digging under it).
I'll have to keep that in mind
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Adam
http://anraviary.cjb.net
0.0 African Sidenecked, 0.0 Northern Diamondback Terrapin, 0.1 Redfoot, 0.1 Sulcatta, 1.0 Western Hognose, 1.0 Crested Gecko, 0.1 Mali Uromastyx

It amazed me as well,but then I also recall the time I was installing the hideboxes in the yard; I had two of them,one stacked on top of the other...I went in the house for lunch and when I came back out, Evelyn was in one of the boxes...the TOP box! As to how she managed to scale the fence,well,I wish I had been there to see the feat. She must have gotten a toe-hold and gone from there.

Edmund, your stories about Evelyn are always enchanting and delightful. I'm so glad that this one turned out that way too. I would like to see another picture of this lovely and now gadabout girl.

Thank you for your nice words! I will post some new pictures of the wayward girl when I return from vacation

You should get her a collar and name tag