Lost horsfield, inside house

[GeoffMama]

Desperately upset and wanting advice on how to find Geoffrey.
He was snuggled up under my pillow on the bed (his fave place when it gets to this time of year) and when I came back from work, he was missing. I have looked absolutely everywhere that I can think of and have turned the bedroom upside down. He had obviously moved, peed on the bed and then disappeared. My main concern is that there is a little bit of blood on the bedding which I'm thinking could be from a scratch or something. Not enough blood at all for me to assume the worst or that he's severely injured. I really need to find him ASAP just in case he is injured. He's only 18 months I've set up a cosy corner with his edible bedding, a cushion for him to burrow under (his normal behaviour) and a heat lamp. I noticed him missing at 9pm last night (I work long days).
Please help me find him

[Nina]

I'm so sorry to hear that Geoffrey has gone missing, and I'm not sure what to advise, other than a very slow and thorough search, inch by inch. Does Geoffrey have an indoor enclosure or tortoise table of some kind? It is very likely that after getting off of the bed (have you double checked that he didn't crawl inside the pillow case) he went into a corner or under something ? He is a very small tortoise, and so with the cooler temperatures we are having now, he probably won't be able to go far, and would have just dug into something. They are especially good escaping and burrowing into very small spaces, and that is why they need safe enclosure to live in.

I would start at one corner of your room and do a fingertip search, very slowly and methodically. Also, don't assume that he has stayed in that room, as he could well have walked out of the room if the door was open, so after checking absolutely everywhere (and they can climb amazingly well too), then you need to start checking the rest of the house. Because tortoises are ectothermic (they don't make their body heat but depend on outside temperatures to warm their bodies), if it stays cold then it's unlikely that he will move from where he is, but if it is warmer, and your house is heated, then it is possible that he could come out from where he is hiding and move to somewhere else.

Maybe someone else will have some good ideas, and I do hope you find him -- please let us know how you get on.

Nina

[GeoffMama]

Thank you so much for your advice Nina! He's got a proper table and will only be allowed to live in there from now on once I've found him!! I've checked all of the bedding, the drawers under the bed itself in case he's fallen in there, and everywhere else I can think to look but so far, no Geoffrey

Been searching my bedroom, flashing a torch light under even the smallest of gaps upstairs and downstairs, and there's no sign of him. I've put the heating on hoping he'll make an appearance as you say, so I think it'll be continuous searches, listening out for him scratching anywhere to burrow, and waiting for him to turn up.

How can one tiny tortoise cause so much stress!!

[Nina]

Yes, they can be very stressful! I sometimes think that I worried more about my tortoises than I did about my son when he was growing up. I do hope you find him.

A few ideas (which you might have tried already). Do you have a wardrobe in your room? I set mine on the floor once when I was changing the substrate in their table and lost one of them for hours. Turns out she got into the wardrobe through a little space where the door was open and burrowed under things there.
Also, do you have a dog or a cat who might have picked him up and taken him somewhere else in the house?
Do make sure that when you search you do it systematically, starting in one corner of the room and examining everything and slowly covering the whole area. Was the door to your room open when you left or when you returned? Could he have got out of the room?

I'm hoping with everything I have that you find him soon.

Nina

[lin]

I can only reiterate what Nina has suggested in how meticulous you have to search, and until he is found then you also have to be so careful where you are stepping just incase the inevitable happens. Hands and knee search and it might be an idea to leave a slice of cucumber on the floor in the hope the strong smell will draw him out.
Do you have any other pets that might have moved him from your room?

Fingers crossed and do let us know how it goes.
Lin

[Nina]

Just wondering if you've found him yet (I hope so!).

Nina