We've been watching this little guy grow for about 12 years now. It lives somewhere near us, as we see him several times a year. Getting bigger now from the first time we saw him out front eating pebbles.
 
The wife habitually leaves the kitchen door open (opens to the back porch), and in wanders our visitor, looking for a handout? Unfortunately, some fool neighbor has glued a "prayer hands" medallion to his back. We are afraid to try and remove it for fear of damaging his carapace. Anyway, something you don't usually see. He moves pretty well on the tile, no slipping or sliding.
 

Very cool. I love turtles.

I think I would try to remove the medallion with acetone.

Cool


I believe chemicals do leach through the shell and in the body

leave it on, he (she) will eventually rub it off or it will fall off,

 
The tortoise was back again today. Just wandered in an open door (different door this time), took a tour of the house and then left.

Looks like you have a new pet.
Thankfully he's not really going to run away... Well, not fast.

Love tortoises! Very cool visitor!

Great to have the local fauna make your home theirs too, as long as they are not destructive.

Got to leave that critter some good eats.

Here is some interesting information from the Arizona Desert Museum. You could end up with a life long "pet".

https://www.desertmuseum.org/p...ams/tap_tortcare.php

That is really cool. Especially that he feels comfortable in your home.

Now that he's adopted you folks, has he named you, yet?

 
Enjoying a snack.
 

Also in Arizona. We have an African sulcata but never had a native wonder through.
Pretty cool!

 
Since the original post on 2021-05-29, the tortoise has visited inside the house every day. I think we've been adopted.

That is cool.

I've seen two Eastern Box turtles (a tortoise) near my house in the last few months. I knew they were around, but hadn't seen any in years. The bayous and rivers around here are lousy with all kinds of water turtles, but the land tortoises aren't as common.

 
I was finally able to catch him in the act of entering the house, and took the pics below. It is a very tortoise-like deliberate process, taking about a minute to complete. One foot at a time, no hurry.
 

That is pretty amazing and very cool. Thanks for sharing! Please keep us updated.

I see that the medallion is gone. Do you think it fell off on its own?

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:
I see that the medallion is gone. Do you think it fell off on its own?

Jim

We noticed that also. He just showed up one day without it. I hope it just fell off, rather than someone fiddling with removing it.