Head wounding from escapades

[here's the tortoise]

This chap comes into house and falls into house causing shell to chop him on skull. Hes not learning and some are pretty nasty looking. Bleeds a bit too. Im not sure if filing shell will hurt him to take sharp edge off? Any advise appreciated. I was thinking of fitting some plastic gromet strip to cover sharp edge. I was to glue it in place over sharp parts to help?

 

[jaizei]

This chap comes into house and falls into house causing shell to chop him on skull. Hes not learning and some are pretty nasty looking.

How exactly is he "falling" and why can that not be prevented?

 

[here's the tortoise]

How exactly is he "falling" and why can that not be prevented?

Good point. We have fitted steps and a slope for him. He chooses not to use them but to climb beside them and throw himself into house? We put safe landing aera for him, but the dogs remove it. This issue is not everyday its when all else fails.

 

[wellington]

He should be kept in his own safe enclosure outside and have his own safe hide box. They should not be allowed to roam feeling in your house. Set him up correctly and he won't keep hurting himself!

 

[zolasmum]

Welcome from Devon -I was born in Northampton - a long time ago ! I'm so glad you found this forum,which is the best place for advice, information, and help about tortoises that there is.
Tortoises can be extremely obstinate and set in their ways - I think you will have to do as Wellington suggests, and keep him in a safe enclosure where he can't climb out - he could hurt himself really badly behaving as he does now.
Can you give a bit of information about him and his background - how old he is, and what sort of tortoise he is - and his name, of course ! Have you had him a long time? Does he have his own special area outside?
Angie

 

[here's the tortoise]

He should be kept in his own safe enclosure outside and have his own safe hide box. They should not be allowed to roam feeling in your house. Set him up correctly and he won't keep hurting himself!

Thank you for the reply. I was after advise on preventing the Sharp shell cutting into his head. He has a large safe aera outside with a dedicated house. Just a bit of advice on helping him when he makes the decision to hurt himself. Didn't want to cause worry or upset. He is well loved and has been looked after for many years. He has a ramp he doesn't use..

 

[wellington]

Thank you for the reply. I was after advise on preventing the Sharp shell cutting into his head. He has a large safe aera outside with a dedicated house. Just a bit of advice on helping him when he makes the decision to hurt himself. Didn't want to cause worry or upset. He is well loved and has been looked after for many years. He has a ramp he doesn't use..

I understand. It's you duty as the owner to prevent this from happening over and over. Unless I misunderstood your first post, he had done this more than once. To prevent it, stop letting him climb anything into your house and keep him in his own enclosure.
That's how you stop it from happening.
As for the wound. Wash lightly with water, then apply over the counter antibiotic cream like Neosporin. Do this daily, wash first then apply until healed.

 

[Tom]

Thank you for the reply. I was after advise on preventing the Sharp shell cutting into his head. He has a large safe aera outside with a dedicated house. Just a bit of advice on helping him when he makes the decision to hurt himself. Didn't want to cause worry or upset. He is well loved and has been looked after for many years. He has a ramp he doesn't use..

I agree with Wellington. You don't need to file the shell or glue things to it. You are looking at this entirely the wrong way. If a child is hitting himself with a hammer, the solution is not to add padding to the face of the hammer. The solution is to remove the hammer.

It is not safe for any tortoise to be loose in the house. They need to be contained in their own safe large tortoise enclosure, either indoors or outdoors or both. Likewise, dogs should never have access to a tortoise. There is no way to make either of these things safe. Please take action and change the way you are housing and caring for this tortoise BEFORE disaster strikes and you learn the hard way. We aren't trying to upset you. We are trying to help you and your tortoise before a commonly seen tragedy happens again.

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