Flip tortoise. Not dead

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123456

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Hi I have a baby sully and he's seemed fine so far but just a few days ago I switched him to a new enclosure. And I found him flipped over. Not all the way. He was like sideways and now I'm watching over him alot today. I was wondering if that's really severe or if he will be fine or take him to a vet. Also I will post pics of his new habitat soon hopefully and some of his old. They are basically the same.
 

bettinge

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Tortoises will tilt sideways to maximize their exposure to the sun and heat up quicker! The more surface area exposed, the more they like it. Could it be thats whats going on?
 

123456

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Oh maybe he had like all his arms and legs stretched out
 

bettinge

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Yes, they like to let it all hang out to absorb maximum sun/heat. Maybe next time you can monitor his actions. That way you can see if he's safe and doing the natural thing.
 

123456

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Oh ok thanks I did not know that thank you abunch.
 
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Maggie Cummings

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Sideways does not sound right to me. My tortoises and all the others I have ever seen bask with their plastron firmly implanted. Then they stretch out legs and arms. One arm forward the other back and both back legs sticking straight out. Sideways is wrong and they could over heat in the sun and die.
 

bettinge

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My torts frequently try to get their shell perpendicular to the suns rays, thus maximizing exposed area. They may crawl up on a plant a bit of lean on a wall.

My bearded dragons and chameleons do the same thing! In the dragons and chams they also blow up, puff up their body to increase serface area. Its a very normal thing for reptiles to do!
 

123456

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Ok so on one hand it's normal and on the other it's not normal. Ok maggie3fan what kind of tortoises do u have? And what kind of tortoises do u have bettinge?
 

Yvonne G

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I think the sideways thing is a Russian thing. My Russians all come out in the morning and line up along the fence with one side up on the fence, tilted, and the other side on the ground. Its their way of maximizing the effect from the sun.

Yvonne
 

bettinge

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I have Greeks!

Maggie is by far the expert here! But in my opinion I feel it is normal for a tortoise to try to maximize the surface area of its shell, head, arms, and legs to the sun. This type of action is not uncommon in cold blooded creatures. I feel the chance of over heating and dying is slim since it is their intent to heat up. I think when Maggie read "sideways" she thought nearly upside down. That is not my experience. The tort may take advantage of something in its enclosure to tilt its body 20 or 30 degrees. If we ever get any sun today, I will post a photo of what I'm talking about.

With everything said above, if you feel your tort may be at risk of flipping over in the sun, then you have every right to be concerned. If you have time to monitor, but not interfere with what he does, maybe you can learn more. That way you are there if he is upsidedown and cannot right himself.
 

bettinge

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Here is what I mean. I would agree that "sideways" is the wrong word to describe. But you can see how he is leaning on the wall to maximize sun exposure. Head and legs out to increase surface area!
 

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katesgoey

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Well see, a picture is worth a thousand words - the caption "flipped" gave me the impression the tortoise was totally on its side. The photos show that isn't the case. A "flipped" tortoise fully on its side or back is not a good thing. A tortoise situating itself on a slight slant is not fully on its side and is still in control of itself - a good thing... Whew!
 
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Maggie Cummings

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I apologize. I only have one Russian and one Hermanni, and they don't ever bask like that so it just was never in my experience to see that. It must be indicative to Mediterranean species. Most of the rest of my turtles and tortoises (27 of them) are Sulcata or other desert species so are larger tortoises and would never bask like that. Seeing the real picture was so different than the picture I had in my head. I am very sorry...
 

123456

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Ok um mine was like 90 degrees like not leaning but sideways. And he was next to his little log home so I think he tried to escape but fell and landed halfway. He hasn't done it since then. So only once so far
 

Stazz

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Yeah I found Tallula flipped once and as I raced to her, she flipped herself onto her side, but then she couldnt get back up right, so I immediately corrected her. She loves to slide off the side of her log hide !! Lol, but everytime she does it now, she does a face plant into the soil and goes back and does it again...better than landing on her back LOL
 

George

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Is this what you mean? I was looking after a colleagues torts whilst she was away and if he wasn't soundo he was doing strange things like this! - i was glad when it was time to give them back! lol

aug09100.jpg


Don't worry once i got the photo to show my colleague i dug him hole and placed him in it and to the land of nod he went!
 
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