VIDEO: Pet tortoise returns home eight months after escaping through back door

A Highclere family have been rejoicing after their beloved pet tortoise returned to the household eight months after it disappeared out of the back door.

Hermes, a 28-year-old Greek spur-thighed tortoise, disappeared on a hot day in September last year and was found upside down in his garden run in May, having hibernated outside throughout the entire winter.

Hermes’ owner Pauleen Malone was shocked when her husband Peter discovered him last month.

“I thought he was never going to survive so it was an absolute miracle,” she said.

“It was a lovely warm day at the end of September and I left the door open for not very long and he wandered off.

“Everyone was very sensitive because I’d left the door open and my family were very understanding, but I felt terribly guilty.”

After Hermes disappeared, Mrs Malone thought he might have taken refuge in a nearby building site, but after it took him so long to return, she wasn’t sure whether he’d survived the winter.

She said: “I kept Googling all through winter ‘can a Greek Spur-Thighed Tortorise survive an English winter’ and it was so cold in our house – in our utility room the water pipe to the washing machine froze – and I thought he will never survive this because they dig into the ground but they are often too feeble to dig out again.”

However, Hermes returned last month unscathed. Mrs Malone hasn’t even taken her adventurous reptile to the vets since because he has been eating, urinating and defecating normally.

She said: “He’s been a bit more docile since hibernation because it’s been so hot at the moment, but he’s thriving.

“He looks like he’s putting on weight and he is looking very well.”