# Upside down



## Shirley the tortoise (Sep 15, 2015)

All

A couple of times recently I've heard Shirley fall over and end up upside down. This is normally due to her trying to escape/other hijinks.

I'm never sure whether it's better to:

A) turn her back immediately to keep her stress levels low.

B) leave her a few minutes to see if she can right herself. I don't know if the practice righting herself is good so she is better at flipping back when I'm not there to help, or if I'm just being mean letting her get stressed out trying. Obviously this option is what would happen in the wild.

So far she's always managed to right herself within thirty seconds or so (plus I've never come home to find her upside down), so presumably she's pretty good at it.


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## MPRC (Sep 15, 2015)

Personally I give my guys about a minute of struggling and then flip them back or assist in some way if they aren't successful. I've never come home to an upside down tortoise so it appears to me that they have a handle on things.


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## Jodie (Sep 15, 2015)

I always gently right them.


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## Carol S (Sep 15, 2015)

I assist them by putting my finger down for the babies to push against to help flip themselves back over.


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## wellington (Sep 15, 2015)

I always flip mine back over. However, I do like the idea of just giving them a fingers to push off from. It might teach them to right themselves. However, I don't like the looks of them looking helpless, so I just right them myself.


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## dmmj (Sep 15, 2015)

normally I would let them flip themselves back over if possible. but if she can flip herself I would help her


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## Shirley the tortoise (Sep 16, 2015)

Thanks all for your opinions. 

I feel it depends on where in the enclosure she is when she falls over - if she's under her lamp I always flip her back straight away, if she's at the cool end I give her a bit more time to right herself. Agree that it's heartbreaking to see them looking helpless!


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## ZEROPILOT (Sep 16, 2015)

Although it's not UN common for a baby tortoise to get flipped over. It is uncommon for one to have flipped so many times that it seems almost normal.
IMO you need to address the flipping issue and remove some items or modify a few things to lessen the risk.


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## Shirley the tortoise (Sep 16, 2015)

The main culprit is the sides (there have been a couple of falls from her den but I've adjusted that now). She climbs up the sides until she is perpendicular to the ground and then topples over backwards. Any suggestions on how to stop that would be most welcome, but surely everyone has that problem? Have I just got a clumsy tortoise?


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## SarahChelonoidis (Sep 16, 2015)

What are the sides made out of?


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## Shirley the tortoise (Sep 16, 2015)

Wood, lined with a smooth plastic style shower curtain to keep the moisture in.

I'd say she falls over about once a week (that I find her anyway).


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## SarahChelonoidis (Sep 16, 2015)

Shirley the tortoise said:


> Wood, lined with a smooth plastic style shower curtain to keep the moisture in.
> 
> I'd say she falls over about once a week (that I find her anyway).



Is she getting her nails into the liner and pulling herself up on it? Can she see over the wood? I wonder if there is some way to discourage climbing, by either making it more difficult or less appealing.


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## Shirley the tortoise (Sep 16, 2015)

It's hard to tell. Possibly, but she was doing it before I put the liner in as well. In terms of seeing over, the wood is more than 50% higher than her length so I don't think she can.

I'm actually having a similar problem with my 12 month old human baby pulling himself up the sofa and then toppling backwards. Perhaps they've been giving each other tips.

Hopefully it's just a phase (for both of them).


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## ImMel (Sep 28, 2015)

I always help mince since its a baby. Its good however to be able to turn by himself. I cant be always there to watch him.


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## Alaskamike (Oct 7, 2015)

I have several box turtles in an outdoor enclosure. Sides are wood boards and I've seen one vertical with nails dug in climbing straight up ! 

I have lattice attached to boards outside so even if they got to the top they still would not escape. I've seen one fall over but box turtles are acrobatic and he righted himself immediately. 

One possible fix would be covering the wood with plexiglass cut to width. It can be attached with small screws or even carpenters glue. They can't climb that slippery stuff  

Good fortune to you.


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## AnimalLady (Oct 7, 2015)

Maybe you could try some coroplast on the sides?


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## Tom (Oct 7, 2015)

What species?
What size and age?
What is the size of the enclosure?
What are your four temperatures? Warm side, cool side, basking area and overnight low?
What heating and lighting equipment are you using to maintain those temps? Any cfl type UV bulbs?

I'm wondering if we can find a reason why the tortoise keeps doing this.


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## teresaf (Oct 7, 2015)

I found mine on his back a couple of times and I always flip Him over because I think he can't get back onto his stomach due to his pyramiding.


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## Careym13 (Oct 7, 2015)

I've only seen my tortoises on their backs 1 time, each. But...mine don't really climb or try to escape. Each time I just watched for a moment and within a minute they had righted themselves. I wouldn't intervened if it had gone much longer than that, though. I don't like to see them struggle.


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## ascott (Oct 7, 2015)

Shirley the tortoise said:


> It's hard to tell. Possibly, but she was doing it before I put the liner in as well. In terms of seeing over, the wood is more than 50% higher than her length so I don't think she can.
> 
> I'm actually having a similar problem with my 12 month old human baby pulling himself up the sofa and then toppling backwards. Perhaps they've been giving each other tips.
> 
> Hopefully it's just a phase (for both of them).



Perhaps putting a piece of wood along the top making a inward cap so the hopes of a walk about are crushed...also, maybe there is something within eye view of the tort that is brightly colored getting his attention..


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## Yvonne G (Oct 7, 2015)

I would try to make the habitat more baby-inviting, more comfortable so the baby stops trying to escape. Several potted plants to hide under, two actual hiding places. Double check the temperature all over the floor of the habitat and make sure it isn't too hot or too cold. But my gut is telling me the space is too wide open and he's looking for a safe place to hide.


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## teresaf (Oct 8, 2015)

Yvonne G said:


> I would try to make the habitat more baby-inviting, more comfortable so the baby stops trying to escape. Several potted plants to hide under, two actual hiding places. Double check the temperature all over the floor of the habitat and make sure it isn't too hot or too cold. But my gut is telling me the space is too wide open and he's looking for a safe place to hide.


Off topic.... does it, at all, disturb you that "old timer" is written next to your avatar?  
hahahahahaha


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## Shirley the tortoise (Nov 11, 2015)

Just to note, I haven't found Shirley upside down in ages (since before I made this thread). 
Stopping her falling upside down was never my question (I know they do this occasionally and I didn't think Shirley was out of the ordinary in this regard), it was whether to intervene and put her back the right way up or leave her. Most of the answers confirmed what I thought - no official right answer, let them try for a while but obviously nobody wants to stress out their tortoise so put them right before it gets to this. Thanks for the replies!


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## ZEROPILOT (Nov 12, 2015)

I guess honestly, none of us know how many times we've had tortoises flip over and were able to remedy it by themselves.
It does seem to me that babies are less skilled at it than adults. They are also weaker in general and the whole ordeal is likely much more dangerous for them.


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