Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A UPS deliveryman/woman delivered a package to my house and left the gate open and all three of my reds escaped! We managed to find Tallulah (reg red) and Kilwillie (male cherryhead) but our female cherry is nowhere to be found! I am putting up flyers tomorrow but I think she may be a permanent escapee...needless to say I hate UPS and I intend to complain. I am thinking of attaching little orange flags to my torts so that they are visible at all times! Or maybe a radio transmitter collar so I can always find them! GRRRRAHH! I AM SO MAD AND SAD!!! Any other suggestions is appreciated especially regarding UPS!

Allegra

In this weather they won't go far. Check all hedges and any area that looks dug up where she might have buried herself against the cold front we just had. Don't give up--- look around again tomorrow. Trust me, she isn't that far away.
We had the same problem here with people leaving fliers at our back door. They would come in the back gate and then leave it open. It has since been locked.

Don't give up! Twice I've found an escaped tortoise.
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I am sorry for your loss, but you really need to rethink your actions. Why are you keeping loose torts where anyone, muchless the UPS delivery person, can simply open the gate. I am surprised they were not liberated long ago.

I believe its your responsibility to secure your pets, be it with signs, "beware of loose killer torts" or fence off the walkway.

I do imagine that you would also complain if the UPS person left your package outside your gate and someone walked off with it. You see, thats their choice, you should have not allowed them to make a choice. Again I am very sorry for your loss, but please, its something you need to learn from. I have the need to ask this, Did you know a package was coming and what did you expect?

Don't forget to put a lost ad in the local newspaper if she isn't found right away. People really do read those lost & found ads, lost pets do get home because of it.

We put a Beware of Dog and a No Trespassing sign on our gate, then we locked the gate. I thought beware of dog is better because nobody thinks anything of that, I didn't want to advertise that we actually have a tortoise.
When deliveries have been made whether we're home or not, I've found many packages sitting inside the lawn up against the fence because the delivery person just set it over the fence.
At Christmas time I found a package on the porch, surprisingly the delivery person had hopped over the fence to put it there.
He/she couldn't get that lock opened though.

For more protection, we had our sulcata microchipped.
We really don't want to take any chances here.

Good luck I hope your tortoise is found soon.
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PHRatz

Thank you for your patronizing response. I was NOT expecting the package nor a delivery. I have a gate with a sign to please close the gate, needless to say it was not enough. I really do not appreciate you telling me that it is all my fault and serves me right for housing them this way. I am usually home all day since I work from home and I can keep an eye on them and the flow of traffic in and out of my patio. Thanks for your sympathy but no thanks for your judgment.

Allegra

hahahahahahahahaha, hey its not about judgement. It is you fault, their yours aren't they.

Maybe I say this because I have lots of reptiles outdoors and I went thru all the work of lids, doors, bars, dead bolt locks, auto door closers, etc. And I need to make myself feel better. Or maybe because I use to work in zoos then had my own company making zoo enclosures. Somewhere, I got the feeling people can be trusted, and that is to poke, steal, injure, or otherwise do very dumb and irresponsiable things to animals. Yes, all the above work was not so much to keep the animals in, but to keep people(other) out.

I also brought it up in the hopes that you would realize that this could, will happen again, only next time it will be someone stealing them. And forgive me for having a mental imagine of a red ribbon with a squashed tort on one end. Its about the torts safty. I now see why you blame the postman(ups) because you think its about you. Good luck

Hey thanks again for your constructive advice. You sound like a real nice guy!

Thanks so much for the helpful suggestions. I will be contacting the local paper today. I distrubuted about 100 flyers in my neighborhood and I have accosted about 5 walkers who walk by my place. A nice neighbor has a special prayer for me to help my tort come home! I am still searching.

Allegra

hopefully you have a good relationship with your neighbors and they can help you with searching or at least keeping a good eye out for her. if you have kids in your neighborhood that play around in nearby yards, i might try enlisting their help, as well -- not only is it great as a kid for an adult to take you seriously enough to ask you for help with something meaningful, but kids are into *everything*, and they might think to look in places that adults might not.

i'd also be especially sure to stress to everyone how much she means to you and how she needs special care and attention in order to thrive. we all here know how special our reptile companions are, but others might not realize that your tortoises means just as much to you as someone else's dog or cat.

here's hoping that she will find her way back into your care, one way or another.