Best/Safest Way to Attach Something to a Sulcata's Back?

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Deaf Paul

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*dons a flame-proof suit*

I'm a middle school science teacher and we have a young sulcata. The students take it out for walks to allow it to forage and exercise outside of it's turtle table (6 ft by 3 ft, two levels). We have a portable pen for it with a built-in shaded area that we also use when nobody is directly supervising it. That way it can continue to forage on grass/weeds/nearby bushes/fallen flowers on it's own during most of the school day.

Once in a while, a student gets distracted and the turtle almost gets stepped on by a passing student/staff or somebody picks up the portable pen, not seeing the tiny turtle that it's containing and moves the pen somewhere else, leaving the turtle to roam freely around campus. We have been lucky in always being able to find the turtle but I don't want to keep pressing our luck. I would like to be able to secure something very visible to the turtle's shell until it gets larger. A little flag, a reflective ribbon, a brightly colored piece of yarn...

Taken from another thread, and thought this would deserve it's own thread. I like Stephanie's thinking, and it shows I'm not the only one who's wondering how to best and most safely do this.

Stephanie Logan said:
Paul, if you find out a good way to keep track of your tort, let me know. I bought a red, light velcro strap for my 6" Chaco tortoise to make it easier to find her when she gets the exploration impulse in our big back yard. It doesn't stay on though when she crawls through tight places or thick foliage. I put bright nail polish on her last year before I knew that wasn't good for her shell, so I took it off. I might try a piece or yarn or soft cord next--she's significantly pyramided so that might actually help to secure the string in place between her scutes.

Welcome to the forum! How lucky your torts are to have such attentive keepers and ideal micro-climate. :D


As a diver, I've seen satellite transmitters on their shells so I did some research. I got the below from the Bald Head Island Satellite Telemetry Project website at http://www.fieldtripearth.org/article.xml?id=920

First it was very important to make sure that the turtle’s shell was clean and free of any loose matter. Loggerhead sea turtles in particular tend to have lots of different animals and plants growing on their backs such as barnacles, anemones, seaweed, worms, ghost shrimp and crabs. Once the turtle's shell was been scraped clean and rubbed down with sandpaper, it was washed with a soap pad and then wiped over with nail varnish remover. Sounds strange? Nail varnish remover contains acetone, which is excellent for removing grease from hard surfaces! Once the turtle's shell was clean, we could start to apply the glue.

There are three main ways to attach satellite transmitters to sea turtles: one is to put them on with straps, like a big turtle backpack; the second is to use fibreglass strips and resin; and the third is to use marine epoxy. The harness method has not been shown to work well for hard-shelled sea turtles like the loggerhead, so we prefer to use the second and third methods.

Our team has had many successful attachments using epoxy, and that is the method we used in this study. Epoxy is a special two-part glue that, when mixed together, gets very hot and then hardens to a very strong finish. The glue is first mixed on a floor tile to allow the majority of the heat reaction (or exothermic reaction) to take place, and is then spread onto the turtle's back using a putty knife. As soon as a nice even layer is in place, the PTT is placed on the turtle's back at the head end of the shell, in the middle.

We also place two small wooden blocks in front of the PTT to prevent it from being damaged if the turtle scrapes her shell against underwater ledges or rocks. Loggerheads often do this, so we find that these wooden blocks are vitally important. We then mix up some more epoxy and smear it all over the wooden blocks and the PTT to hold them in place and keep them well-attached. Care must be taken to make sure that no glue gets onto the saltwater switches at the front of the PTT; these switches tell the PTT to transmit to the satellites when the turtle comes to the surface to breathe.

This whole procedure takes about an hour and can be started from when the turtle is laying her eggs on the beach. This means that when she has finished laying, covering and camouflaging her nest we have to keep her on the beach for a further time, up to 40 minutes. We do this using a large square box that is placed over the turtle like a pen. Most turtles don’t seem to mind this too much, and the turtles at Bald Head Island were very quiet and stayed nice and still for us. When we are happy that the epoxy has had long enough to set and that the PTT and wooden blocks are firmly glued, we lift the box and let the turtle go.


What are your thoughts and ideas? I wouldn't be using as much epoxy as they use, and wouldn't use the wooden blocks either...

-Paul
 

mrblue2008

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I personally wouldnt put anything around him, just make people aware that he is there & get students to be more responsible in taking care of him.
 
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Maggie Cummings

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I would make a flag that is put up when the 'tortoise' is in the outside area. Then when you remove him you would take down the flag. Just a thin pole and a small flag would do I would think. Also you say he is a Sulcata yet you continually refer to him as a turtle. You need to use the correct language when talking about him as a teacher, and you should teach your class about the differences between a turtle and a tortoise. A Sulcata is a tortoise. If you had a horse you wouldn't call him a giraffe would you? The same thing with a turtle and a tortoise, different species all together.
Do you know what you're going to do with him when he becomes too big for your classroom?

I don't think you should use glue on a tortoises carapace, but if you do please make sure not to get it on his growth rings, that would be very bad. Keep any glue inside his scutes...HTH...
 

Deaf Paul

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It's not a perfect world... My question still stands - How do I best, and most safely attach something to a young sulcata's shell to make it more visible? I once saw one that was painted completely. :(

Ideally, I would be able trade it in or fast forward it by a few years to make it larger but that isn't happening. I've been looking for a larger one for several months now with no luck.

-Paul
 

Yvonne G

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We're all giving you answers that don't address the original question. Scotch tape would be ok as a temporary measure, then remove it when the tortoise is picked up. How about a BIG SIGN on the pen, maybe on all four sides of the pen announcing that there is an inhabitant in it. If you can find a real light weight and small dowel you can use silicone in the very center of one of the top scutes and glue a sort of receptacle (?) to the shell, something that the dowel would fit into. Then you can attach a flag to the dowel and put it in the receptacle and remove it when he's not outside.

Or a velcro strap that goes around the tortoise's whole body. Then you attach your flag to the velcro and not to the tortoise.

I'm giving your 10 brownie points for allowing this tortoise to graze!! Good on you!!
 

Tom

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I used to race remote control cars and we had little numbers to put on the sides of the car so our laps could be timed and recorded. After losing my adult box turtle for the umpteenth time, I stuck a couple of numbers on his sides and called him a racing turtle. You'd have to remove them and replace them frequently on a growing tortoise, but this might do the trick for you.
 

mightyclyde

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I used to tie a bright red yarn bow around my full grown box turtle ~ worked just fine. I'd try red tape before I'd try glueing anything to my tortoise... let us know what you end up figuring out :)
 

Kristina

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The TSA uses bee tags to number tortoises seized in illegal shipments. So far, the system has been working well, and gluing the tags to the tortoises and turtles has caused no damage.
 

terracolson

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My girl friend uses tape and has a GPS tracker under it.

Her yard is very large and her 15 year old Leopard gets lost. Poor thing, so she has a think white tape on him, not sure what kind....
 

webskipper

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LOL.
My old vet taught me to use super glue and duct tape to repair turtle shells. At least epoxy contains no cyanide as does cynoacrylate (super glue of CA).
 

Shelly

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Perhaps a ribbon that connects to an "Alligator Clip". That way it can be easily attached by clipping to outer edge of the shell. It is easily removed, and if the tort gets it tangled in some way, it can pull itself free.

bukm2040.jpg
 

Sigmar

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ever seen those blinking lights that people put on their lapels, for instance a santa claus at x-mas time? double stick tape with some sort of blinking led light would work.
 

tortoisenerd

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I'm more concerned about where it is allowed to graze....are we talking about the tort grazing on school property? I'd fathom a guess that this school uses chemicals on the grass, as I don't know of any public grounds that don't. Just because weeds are growing in it doesn't mean chemicals haven't been used. I also think it shouldn't be taken for "walks", but should have a secure pen with hides and a water dish so it can become accustomed to the area as a second home. Not sure what you meant by walks--if it is literal walks, or this use of a portable pen. A portable pen means that the tort is in a new area each time, which is great for having new stuff to munch on, but in my opinion bad for its feeling of safety. I would not leave it outside unattended in the portable pen because someone could take it, let it out, or the tort may even be able to tunnel under or knock down the pen (I'm assuming it is one of those dog kennel type wire ones?). If you choose to continue this, I would at a minimum put a sign on the portable pen that a tort is inside of there (not a flag on the tort), check what they use on the grass, have at least one hide, and put out a water dish if the tort is outside for more than an hour. I do think it is awesome you are allowing the tort to graze and you are concerned for its safety, and I don't mean to be critical, but I wanted to point out a couple things since no one else had mentioned them.
 

lgabel

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I have used blue painter's tape before....I would just put it on before I would let one of my torts wonder then take it off when it was time for him to come inside. You could also go to PetSmart and get one of their blinking tags, they are red and used for dog's collars when it's dark outside. You could attach that to a brightly colored dog collar, like a red or a bright hunter's orange, and snap the dog collar around your tort's belly. Kinda weird but I am sure it would work....
 

cajf

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Paul,

When my tortoise is in the front pasture I tie a piece of bright orange ribbon around his shell. It works perfect for me, this way while I'm outside I can look over and spot him immediately. People who drive by also notice him in the pasture because they can see the orange ribbon moving and then they spot the tortoise.
The ribbon I use is for marking a path in the woods while you are hunting. Its a little thicker than the type used in gardens. It is thick but easy to tie a bow in. You can probably find it in the hunting section of a sporting goods store.

David007.jpg
 

janiedough

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maybe ask your students and see what they come up with - that would be a great way to get the involved

and i agree with maggie - it's a tortoise, and kids should learn the difference so we don't have people dumping tortoises in water or feeding them meat.



also - can we have pictures??
 
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