Scary Flip-over

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Kelsey38

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Tonight, when I went to turn off the lights on my Russian tortoise, at first glance I thought that maybe my little girl had died because she was flipped on her back, she wasn't moving and her head and legs were out of her shell and very stiff looking. Then I saw that she started thrashing her head and legs around, trying to flip back over I guess. Needless to say, I am very concerned. I have a few questions that I would really appreciate someone answering for me.
1. Can she get burned? (She was directly under the lights)
2. Is it possible for her to flip back over? (not only possible, but is it likely?)
3. Could her being flipped over have caused damage to her?
4. How long can she survive being flipped over like that? (for example, if she did it right when I went to sleep and I couldn't flip back over until I woke up, so say 8 hours?)
5.Also, (and I know this is a weird question, but I want to know so I can prepare myself) what does a dead tortoise look like? Head and legs out of the shell, limp, stiff? Everything inside the shell?
Thank you so much in advance for any answers you can give me.
P.S. I dunno if it matters for these questions, but she is fairly young. I bought her at the pet store I work at almost two months ago and she was only at the store for a few weeks (I don't know how old she was when the store got her though) So she is a small, young girl.
Thanks again!
 
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stells

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The thing i would worry about with her being under the light is dehydration and would give her a good soak.
Yes they can flip themselves back over something they can push up agaisnt helps though, and as she was lying still i would say she had tried but had given up.
 

RTfanatic

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One challenge in many enclosures for tortoises trying to flip themselves back over is the soft substrate in wide areas. There's nothing for them to get leverage on to flip themselves back over when the substrate is soft. Make sure there's no wide expanses without something to get their toes on for leverage. Flipping on their back is fine as long as they can flip themselves back over moderately quickly.
 
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