# Flipped tortoise, help!



## PenguinMan (Nov 17, 2015)

So this morning my Mrs went to feed our lil torts and found one of them (Jelly) on their back and got worried about how long they'd been there for.

After a lot of conflicting things on forums and YouTube I've come to ask you guys on your advice on what we could do...

I've read that it's a good idea to see if your torts can self right if you supervise them I've also read that you should just self right them yourself. I've also read horror stories about coming back after work to dead torts on their back...

I'm just worried for them that's all and wondered if it was a goof idea to flip them under supervision and see if they can self right just for peace of mind...

Any thoughts?


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## MPRC (Nov 17, 2015)

I let mine struggle for a minute and then if they can't do it I flip them back. If I found one and I didn't know how long they had been flipped I would turn them over immediately. 
Generally speaking a good soak is in order after a flip - I know that the 2 times I have found my big guy flipped he peed and pooped everywhere in his struggled to right himself. 
Also consider what she may have flipped on and see if you can prevent it from happening again.


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## PenguinMan (Nov 17, 2015)

LaDukePhoto said:


> I let mine struggle for a minute and then if they can't do it I flip them back. If I found one and I didn't know how long they had been flipped I would turn them over immediately.
> Generally speaking a good soak is in order after a flip - I know that the 2 times I have found my big guy flipped he peed and pooped everywhere in his struggled to right himself.
> Also consider what she may have flipped on and see if you can prevent it from happening again.



Cheers! I like the idea for the soak after to replace fluids and we have just tried to compact the soil a bit more so they can get a grip and strategically place hills so that if they were to flip again it would be easier to self right.

Still a lil worried as whilst I was waiting for a reply Jelly climbed on top of the same logs again and fell down the opposite side and flipped again we monitored for a few minutes but they weren't getting anywhere so we had to flip them


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## Alaskamike (Nov 17, 2015)

I saw your habitats on your first posts. In the pictures I see the water & feeding dishes they sell at pet stores. 

If you are still using those I would sink them into the substrata even with the tops. Sometimes people don't want to do this because substrata gets in the water but it will prevent flipping. 

1/2 log type hides are a flip hazard too. Better a small square tupperwear container with a door cut out upside down buried in the soil. 

If you find no flip hazards , then there are only a few possibilities : 
- he climbs straight up sides till flips or ..
- he climbs up on the shell of the other tortoise and flips. 

They don't seem big enough to flip each other yet but bigger ones will. 

Good fortune with them


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## PenguinMan (Nov 17, 2015)

Alaskamike said:


> I saw your habitats on your first posts. In the pictures I see the water & feeding dishes they sell at pet stores.
> 
> If you are still using those I would sink them into the substrata even with the tops. Sometimes people don't want to do this because substrata gets in the water but it will prevent flipping.
> 
> ...



Hey cheers for the info and they are already in a new much bigger enclosure and Jelly flipped on the logs... check it out 3rd pic but we've moved the soil around since they flipped and I'm more happy with the whole flipping thing now


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## Jodie (Nov 17, 2015)

I always flip them back over immediately, and then soak them. Then I fix the problem. If they are upside down in water or under a light, they can die quickly.


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## MPRC (Nov 17, 2015)

My little one had a half log for all of 20 minutes. She flipped on it twice and out it came. It was one I already had so I wasn't out any money. Now my rat uses it as a hide.


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## W Shaw (Nov 19, 2015)

EEK! This thread makes me want to keep my guy in a perfectly flat, smooth enclosure! When I rescued him he was very weak and he has some skeletal deformities. I found him once sitting at a weird angle in a hollow he'd dug, making little duck noises when he breathed. I took him out of the hollow and put him under a light and called the vet, assuming he had a respiratory infection. The vet said sometimes tortoises just end up sitting at a weird angle and their breathing gets restricted (maybe the reason behind some mysterious deaths?). I don't know if Ronan could have gotten himself out and just hadn't bothered yet, or because of his issues was unable to. Ever since then, I've refilled all his nests and burrows when he leaves them behind.


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## PenguinMan (Nov 19, 2015)

W Shaw said:


> EEK! This thread makes me want to keep my guy in a perfectly flat, smooth enclosure! When I rescued him he was very weak and he has some skeletal deformities. I found him once sitting at a weird angle in a hollow he'd dug, making little duck noises when he breathed. I took him out of the hollow and put him under a light and called the vet, assuming he had a respiratory infection. The vet said sometimes tortoises just end up sitting at a weird angle and their breathing gets restricted (maybe the reason behind some mysterious deaths?). I don't know if Ronan could have gotten himself out and just hadn't bothered yet, or because of his issues was unable to. Ever since then, I've refilled all his nests and burrows when he leaves them behind.



Yer it scared me too but my guy couldn't flip himself because it was too flat and had nothing to spin himself around on so I've gone for strategic bumps n hills for all the places they could fall while I'm not there


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## dmmj (Nov 19, 2015)

have you figured out why they flip?


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## Maggie Cummings (Nov 19, 2015)

I believe in turning them over gently. Yesterday I got up to one of my favorite turtles on his back under the CHE. What a lousy way to die. And....I'm about done with death here.....


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## PenguinMan (Nov 19, 2015)

dmmj said:


> have you figured out why they flip?



Yer cos my tortoise think they can do parkour ! Lol
Yer figured out where it was happening and hopefully if it does happen again because of the way I've set up the dirt they should be able to flip themselves easily


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## PenguinMan (Nov 19, 2015)

maggie3fan said:


> I believe in turning them over gently. Yesterday I got up to one of my favorite turtles on his back under the CHE. What a lousy way to die. And....I'm about done with death here.....



Oh no that's horrendous news ! Yer that is a rather sucks way to go I've made sure I've got nothing they could flip over on anywhere near my lamps or heaters and the turn them back over slowly is a good tip too I read they could twist their stomach if done quickly


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## dmmj (Nov 19, 2015)

over the years I've lost two box turtles to flipping over in the Sun and overheating


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## PenguinMan (Nov 20, 2015)

dmmj said:


> over the years I've lost two box turtles to flipping over in the Sun and overheating



Turtles need some damn stabilisers!


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## teresaf (Nov 20, 2015)

PenguinMan said:


> Turtles need some damn stabilisers!


They make em for motorcycles! Someone should be able to make something for tortoises! Lol


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## RayRay (Nov 20, 2015)

maybe just put bolts in at various spots so they can't flip over. Just use long ones and put them in a third of the way


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## ZEROPILOT (Nov 20, 2015)

I've been there. You remove or modify all of the flipping hazards and then your set-up looks bland and boring. But it's a good trade off.
I always flip mine back over right away. My adults seem to be better at this. I think it's because they are much rounder and much stronger. I had a male that would flip over every day during mating season. falling off of females. It was comical.
Babies can struggle and become very weak and even die. I did have one die on me in this way.


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## teresaf (Nov 20, 2015)

RayRay said:


> maybe just put bolts in at various spots so they can't flip over. Just use long ones and put them in a third of the way


 I just want to put it out there in case somebody reads this that doesn't know that you're kidding. He's joking! 
I hope? Lol


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## PenguinMan (Nov 20, 2015)

teresaf said:


> I just want to put it out there in case somebody reads this that doesn't know that you're kidding. He's joking!
> I hope? Lol



Lmao yer I got that haha!


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## RayRay (Nov 20, 2015)

teresaf said:


> I just want to put it out there in case somebody reads this that doesn't know that you're kidding. He's joking!
> I hope? Lol




Of course I'm joking lol


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## TerrapinStation (Nov 20, 2015)

........... me stomping off to remove all those bolts I sank into my Torts home...........

Hahahaha


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## ZEROPILOT (Nov 20, 2015)

I use deck screws. Less rusting.


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## W Shaw (Nov 21, 2015)

When I took my guy in, he had a makeshift "hide" that had been made by strapping a flattish piece of log to the fencing, out of his reach so he could go under it. It's the one thing I haven't changed. I bought him a flexible hide thing that could be curved and bent and I was thinking to make a sort of S-curve hide/ramp to give him a more interesting enclosure. SOOO not doing that now! He never uses a hide anyhow. since his second week with me. He prefers to be in the open when I'm around, and when I'm not around he burrows. Right now he's asleep on his food dish instead of his basking spot because I'm at the computer near his enclosure and his basking spot is on the other end.


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