Tortoise 1:Toughened safety glass 0

[Ellen & Toby]

I have been debating whether to post this or not because I feel so upset and stupid but decided its better to warn others about it. I have kept Toby on a vivexotic tortoise table (plus extension as she grew with a homemade cover to hold humidity) for the last 4 years without a problem. A couple of weeks ago I heard a loud crash so went to check on Toby only to find a gaping hole in my tortoise table! The table had a removable glass panel to make cleaning easier.... Not anymore! Fortunately for me Toby was sat at the other end of the table looking at me as if to say "I didn't do it mum" (I will put your minds at rest now and tell you that Toby was perfectly fine, no cuts or anything, in fact s/he was quite unfazed by the whole thing unlike me). My dad has repaired the table with wood now so no more broken glass but please anyone who has one of these, be aware that the glass is not as tough as it looks. Some pics of the broken glass are attached (I had removed my cover so that I could get Toby to safety when I took the pics) I think I was lucky, I was at home at the time and was able to act immediately but this could have been disastrous and I could have had an injured or worse dead tort, hence my hesitation in sharing. I am so careful to ensure that Toby is safe, happy and healthy and I feel so stupid that she ended up at risk.

 

[Yvonne G]

That's pretty scary! Thank goodness the tortoise is ok. What was it? The pressure of the substrate pushing against the glass?

 

[Gillian M]

Awfully sorry to hear about this, though at the same time I'm glad to know that your tort is safe and sound.

 

[Ellen & Toby]

@Yvonne G I have no idea! I have been told that the only way to break safety glass is to hit it with a sharp object or if there is a sudden drastic change in temperature then it could shatter. The latter is impossible as the room is kept at a controlled temperature for Toby and there is nothing sharp in the enclosure that could have broken it. My dad thinks that there must have been a flaw in the glass and it got knocked and gave way.

 

[Ellen & Toby]

Thanks @Gillian Moore I'm just so glad I was home. Toby is curious and would have eventually gone to investigate and could easily have fallen off! I have always intended to upgrade Toby to a bigger enclosure as s/he gets bigger but this table has been perfect until now while Toby is growing.

 

[Yvonne G]

@Yvonne G I have no idea! I have been told that the only way to break safety glass is to hit it with a sharp object or if there is a sudden drastic change in temperature then it could shatter. The latter is impossible as the room is kept at a controlled temperature for Toby and there is nothing sharp in the enclosure that could have broken it. My dad thinks that there must have been a flaw in the glass and it got knocked and gave way.

The ceramic (?) hiding place is pretty close to the glass. I s'pose that might've knocked into the glass.

 

[Taylor T.]

That looks to me like tempered glass by the way it shattered. Tempered glass is the same stuff car windows are made of. (not the windshield though, that's annealed glass) Tempered glass is extremely strong in some ways, but not in all. You could probably hit it in the middle with a hammer and not have it break, but if you hit it near the edge, it will shatter violently. It's the same principle as a Prince Rupert's Drop.(If you don't know what that is, look it up, they're really interesting)

The only thing I can think of from those photos that could break it is that small rock right next to the edge. It's hard to tell the type of rock from the photo, but if it's a hard rock like granite or a rock containing quartz crystals, it may be able to break the glass if pushed into it fast enough, since it would hit close to the edge of the glass where it can be broken relativity easily.

If it was normal annealed glass, I would just assume that there was some sort of manufacturing defect that caused it. But if tempered glass has a defect, it will shatter during the tempering process and never make it out of the factory.

However it happened, I'm glad your tortoise is not injured.

 

[Reptilony]

My moms patio door had someting similar to this happen not long ago. We heard something that sounded like a gunshot and it was the glass that broke in hundreds of tiny pieces but the glass was still holding. Absolutely no object hit it also no drastic temps change. I think tempered glass is good for temps changes but they may have flaws where precise and rare conditions in the glass can make it explode! I already made tempered glass explode by putting too much eat in a precise place the result was like you. I see there's a window beside the enclosure, could it be possible that a sun ray got somehow concentrated into one spot on the enclosure glass?

 

[Ellen & Toby]

@Yvonne G the hide is plastic and I had thought it wasn't strong enough to be able to break the glass or I wouldn't have put it there. There are no sharp edges on it but Toby does rub her/his shell (sorry I am still not 100% sure on gender) in the doorway so I suppose it could have been that. I normally made sure there was at least 1-2cm between the hide and the glass so it wasn't right against it as a precaution anyway but I suppose Toby can have moved it when scratching.
Thanks @Taylor T. The small rock is rounded and fairly smooth so again I didn't think it could break the glass, plus I hadn't considered Toby to be strong enough to tap the glass with it with enough force to break it.
Perhaps I was stupid to assume but whatever happened I have learned my lesson, toughened glass is not that tough and is certainly no match for a tortoise.

 

[Ellen & Toby]

@Reptilony I must admit I hadn't considered that... I don't think there is anything that could concentrate the light, I have no glass ornaments that could concentrate the light and the window is out to the back of the house which looks out over the garden and backs on to a main road so its not like a neighbours window could concentrate the light.... will have a look when I get home see if I can spot anything, its an interesting theory though.

 

[EllieMay]

Really glad that Toby is fine and also glad you shared.. none of us would have thought to watch for something like this and you may have just save another torts life!