Missy Is Missing : Pets: The 57-year-old tortoise disappeared from her owners’ front yard, perhaps lured by an appetite for the vegetation. The family fears she can’t survive in the wild.

It was a pretty slick getaway, considering that she’s 57 years old and doesn’t move too fast.

While Keith and Linda Duval were busy unloading the family camper last week after returning from vacation, Missy slipped out the open garage door and crept away, disappearing among the shrubs and fences of her east Ventura neighborhood.

“She moves fairly slow,” Keith Duval said. “It’s not like a dog getting loose.”

Actually, it’s a desert tortoise that’s on the loose.

Although Missy is a conspicuous 10 inches by 14 inches, she has managed to hide out for more than a week now, despite the flyers, the “Lost Tortoise” signs posted around the neighborhood, the ad in the lost-and-found column and repeated searches by the Duvals and their two children, Heather, 9, and Michael, 6.

“I hope nobody took her,” Linda Duval said Wednesday. The family has alerted the county animal control department and veterinarians’ offices. They also notified Lillian and Max Greene, an Ojai couple who care for about 200 tortoises, figuring that if someone finds Missy, they might leave her with the Greenes.

But Linda says Missy may well be hiding under a bush somewhere near the Duval home on Sunridge Drive, lost and lonely.

“She’s never lived in the wild,” Linda Duval said. “The elderly lady who had her before us had her for 55 years, since she was a baby.” Missy’s not even middle-aged yet, since tortoises can live as long as 150 years.

The Duvals adopted the tortoise 2 1/2 years ago when the original owner moved to an apartment and had to part with her. “My wife is a turtle fanatic,” Keith Duval said.

Linda Duval admitted it. “Since age 10 or so, I’ve been fascinated with turtles and tortoises,” she said, adding that she has boxes full of turtle bric-a-brac to prove it.

In addition to Missy, the family has a 3-year-old male tortoise, named Lumpy on account of the distinctive bumps on his shell. Missy also has an identifying mark: a tiny hole in her shell, just behind the left rear leg. In accordance with state laws protecting the species, both tortoises are registered with the California Department of Fish and Game.

“They’re neat to watch,” Linda Duval said. “Missy eats out of our hands.”

Missy’s appetite is probably what prompted her to lumber through the doggie door from the Duvals’ back yard, into the garage and on to the front yard, where begonias and other forbidden snacks awaited, the Duvals said.

“We give her fruit--she loves apples--peaches, some endive, dandelions, hibiscus flowers,” Keith Duval said. Twice before, Missy has made it as far as the front yard when someone left a door open, but she never got past the sidewalk.

Linda Duval said desert tortoises don’t snap. “The only thing they will do is hiss if they feel endangered,” she said.

Well, that’s not all they do, she admitted.

“They store up water before the summer, and if they’re scared, they’ll eliminate their water.”

That could lead to dehydration if the water isn’t replaced. “We’re really hoping that if someone has her, they know how to take care of her,” Linda Duval said.