Urgent Care :: HOWLONG!@#!@

[VWALEXVW]

can a turtle go without water or food? i let them outta the tank and 2/3 came back the other is missing in my rooom somewhere

[ellman605]

uh...and how did it escape? you should make sure your turtle cannot escape....you really should do that. I dont know, but if you dont find him, it can get bad, food, you dont have to worry about, water, i'm not sure. I know my newt got out and we found him dried up 2 hours later, it was nasty...

[jenaero]

My res escaped, fell 4ft to the floor and ended up all the way at the other end of the house. She was hurt and covered in fuzz. She was also very dry. She was out maybe 4 hours.

Follow along the walls. Check under the furniture. Check in shoes, piles of laundry, any possible hiding spot. I find that they tend to follow the wall and they'll hide in any dark place.

Good luck, and please, please, please don't EVER let them roam around the house or the yard. This is why it's such a bad idea.

Whatever you do, never give up and assume it's too late. I heard of one person who's turt was lost in the house for 2 months and was found alive.

[daredevilgirl013]

place some water in a bowl that the turtle can get into in the middle of the room. Sometimes they will come out for the water

[jenaero]

Any luck yet?

[marisa]

If you haven't found your turtle yet, try sticking some smelly food next to a shallow pan of water. Leave a light on next to the food at night. And keep looking everywhere, especially in places you don't think your turtle could possibly go. They can go for some time without food, less without water. (One person I read of found his turtle after a month--dehydrated, but still alive.) Keep looking if you haven't found him...

[VWALEXVW]

i found him!!! somehow he called to the back of my fridge in the basement and he was sideways wedfged bewteen the fridge and the wall poor little guy coulda been squashed alive,,,almost burned as well he was covered in dust and couldn't open his eyes...hes ok now i fed em and hes washed and hes watered..now i know to enclose an area for them wen i let them out

[blaydes]

oh my goodness, this reminds me of the time when my sister's hamster, rosey, got out of her cage. we were searching for hours! she was a very overweight hamster and she loved to eat, and eventually we found her behind my sisters tv chewing on wires to our nintendo. now our nintendo doesnt work cause the wires have big holes!

im so glad that you found you turtle!

[jenaero]

Why let them out at all? At least not now that you know what can happen.

[VWALEXVW]

i will not believe what happened...i woke up looked at my tank this morning and another turtle is out....this time he jumped on the filter and climbed out the breathing whole....[!!!] is going on....

[cam722]

Sounds like you need to make your tank more secure. How deep is the water? Do you have anything over the top of it to prevent them from crawling out. It's been noted throughout the forum that RES are excellent escape artists.

[steve]

...It's been noted throughout the forum that RES are excellent escape artists.

Don't forget the "stack to freedom technique"! I swear my turtles are planning it

[Az^FolkSinger]

LOL Steve... you really think they are planning that? well I wouldn't be suprise as my Torgtuga seems to try to swim his way out of his tank here lately....he has been going crazy with his swimming to the point I am starting to worry about him.... anyways here is to the turtle revolt!!!! WOOHOO

[ellman605]

i think it's going around, i caught one of my turtles basking on the filter, and the other one was heading up there, i'll have to set up some boxes or something to keep them from that.

[marisa]

You could try putting some hardware cloth (mesh you can get at a hardware store or home improvement center) over the top, at least over the area where they seem to be escaping from).

(Good you found the first turtle, VWALEXVW.)