How to find a turtle in an apartment if it ran away and got lost

If the owner found that the turtle ran away in the house, or even more so on the street, you need to start looking for it immediately. These reptiles often get stuck in hard to reach places, roll over and even get injured. In addition, the red-eared turtle, unlike the land turtle, cannot live without water for several days in a row. It is desirable to find a pet within a few hours or, in extreme cases, no later than the next day.

How to find a land tortoise

If the turtle is lost, first of all, you should examine the most inaccessible places. Usually reptiles like to hide in corners, among other things, in pedestals, etc. Need to see:

• lockers;
• corners;
• space under the bed / sofa;
• bedside tables on the floor;
• balcony;
• restroom;
• niches and other auxiliary premises.

When examining, do not drive a stick or other hard object across the floor, as it can injure the pet. It is better to arm yourself with a flashlight and look for it only visually. In the event that the measures taken do not help, you should proceed as follows:

1. Turn off the TV, computer and any other devices that make noises. If the turtle is stuck, it will definitely try to free itself. The owner will be able to hear the characteristic shuffling sounds. You can lie down on the floor and put your ear to the surface – in a solid medium, sound propagates more clearly than in air.
2. You can find a turtle in an apartment by luring it with food. To do this, they take dishes with fresh vegetables and herbs, as well as a cup of water, put a treat in the very center of the room. The turtle has a well-developed sense of smell, it will definitely crawl if it is not stuck in a gorge.
3. You can scatter flour next to the treat, so that later you can find out from the tracks where the turtle went after feeding.
4. If a dog also lives in the apartment, she will most likely be able to find out the location of the pet by smell – you need to carefully monitor her behavior.

Cases when a pet is lost on the street are more dangerous – a turtle can be stolen, crushed and even gnawed by other animals. However, there is no need to lose hope, since the reptile is very likely to find a quiet, dark place where it can live for several months (during the summer).

Therefore, even if it was not possible to find it in hot pursuit, you can put up notices of the loss, promising a reward to the finder.

Searches are especially effective during the morning dawn. Usually the turtles crawl out to warm themselves, and by the evening they hide again in the grass, bushes, and even burrow into the ground.

Therefore, if you approximately determine the search area and go there in the early sunny morning, there is a high probability that the search will end successfully.

How to find the red-eared turtle

These types of reptiles are especially active, often they simply run away outside the container, terrarium or portable box. If the red-eared turtle escaped from the aquarium, you can take approximately the same measures as in the case of the land turtle:

1. Listen to the whispers.
2. Conduct a visual inspection.
3. Lure with food.

You can also lure the turtle with heat by placing a bright incandescent lamp in the center of the room. At the same time, you can ventilate the room so that the temperature drops to 18-20 ° C (but not lower). It is important to consider that the floor is cooled more than the overlying air, so the temperature should be measured at the bottom.

Finding a turtle at home is quite simple, the main condition is to start searching immediately. If the pet disappeared on the street, it should not be left unattended at all. In this case, she is in much more danger, and the chance of losing the turtle forever increases significantly.