Upside down tortoise

[Half_Shell]

My 2 year old tortoise nephew still occasionally flips on his back despite having a quite frankly magnificent life! He free roams a lot of the time and his vivarium is big, only has rounded edges and loads of play things for him. He seems very happy, and he's flipping less now, but every 6 months or so he flips and then he seems a bit out of sorts for a day or so.

We've made him a tiny little sensor to go on his back and I'm working with a programming developer friend to get it to send us a text message if he flips more than 90 degrees.

Is this totally nuts?! We've tried everything to make sure he doesn't flip but we worry that if we're away from him for ages and he's on his back for ages then he'll be very distressed and it's bad for his health. We've tried everything, but just thought I'd post this here in case anyone had any more thoughts? Any ideas much appreciated!

 

[Greg T]

very interesting idea and we'd love to hear how it works out. Contrary to popular belief, not all torts can right themselves after flipping. Unfortunately, it also doesn't take long for them to perish when flipped, so it is a very serious situation. First step is to remove anything that can/does cause him to flip and hopefully that takes care of the problem. I'd really like to know how your invention works out, so keep us up to date.

 

[mctlong]

What a fantastic idea! Not nuts, IMO. Can you post pics when its complete? I'm very curious to see if it works.

 

[Millerlite]

What type of tortoise is it?

 

[wellington]

I too would love to hear and see more of this invention when you get it completed. Make sure there is nothing for the tort to climb on. It makes for a boring enclosure sometimes to not have hills, larger rocks, and even some plants, but if there is nothing but flat ground and a square straight sided hide, I would think it would be impossible for a tortoise to flip.

 

[Millerlite]

I found substrates make it hard for them. We usually have "soft" substrate in our enclosure and they can't grip and get leverage to flip. Invention sounds cool, I wanna see how that works out.

 

[mike taylor]

Man,you better copy right this millions dollar idea.

 

[shellfreak]

Brilliant idea. Will it send another text letting you know if the turtle turned itself back on its stomach? That way you don't need to rush home...

 

[WillTort2]

Someone on the forum has previously posted the idea of glueing a rubber eraser to the top of the torts shell to aid in righting once the tort has flipped.

A little more low tech, but it might work.

 

[Half_Shell]

Hey everyone, sorry I didn't see these replies - thank you, this is really helpful!

My sister's flat neighbours flat got broken into :-( and (bless) her main concern was what if their flat got broken into and Mitch got taken! So we're going to see if we can make it a tiny tracking / GPS device too. Any ideas much appreciated!

 

[Half_Shell]

Thanks Greg, will do, we're hoping to get it finished soon-ish (depending on work!) so I'll pop pics and a post up then

very interesting idea and we'd love to hear how it works out. Contrary to popular belief, not all torts can right themselves after flipping. Unfortunately, it also doesn't take long for them to perish when flipped, so it is a very serious situation. First step is to remove anything that can/does cause him to flip and hopefully that takes care of the problem. I'd really like to know how your invention works out, so keep us up to date.

 

[Half_Shell]

Yes we will Mctlong, I'd love an excuse to share pictures of Mitch any way!

What a fantastic idea! Not nuts, IMO. Can you post pics when its complete? I'm very curious to see if it works.

 

[Half_Shell]

Hi Millerlite,

Mitchell is actually a lady tort - my sister just loved the name Mitchell before she got her! He / she is a 2 year old red foot

What type of tortoise is it?

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Thanks Wellington, my sister adores her tortoise so much so she has spent a lot of time playing around with Mithc's vivarium to see what he likes. They took everything out at once point and he still flipped so they worked out he was pushing himself up against the side of the vivarium where there was a tiny ledge. So now they've put rounded area at the sides and at the moment he has some very low level incline hills which he seems to enjoy heating up on and hopefully they provide him with some entertainment.

I too would love to hear and see more of this invention when you get it completed. Make sure there is nothing for the tort to climb on. It makes for a boring enclosure sometimes to not have hills, larger rocks, and even some plants, but if there is nothing but flat ground and a square straight sided hide, I would think it would be impossible for a tortoise to flip.

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Thanks WillTortoie - good idea! We had thought about putting half a tennis ball on his back so that he couldn't flip, but we were worried he may still be stuck on his side because he doesn't seem very good at righting himself - plus my sister didn't like the idea of him looking silly! - as if the other tortoises might laugh at him, or something....

Someone on the forum has previously posted the idea of glueing a rubber eraser to the top of the torts shell to aid in righting once the tort has flipped.

A little more low tech, but it might work.

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Hi Shellfreak, hehe yep good thinking, it took us ages to think of that! We suddenly had visions of my sister's boyfriend running out of class (he's a teacher) to 'save the tortoise' only to find that Mitch was fine!

Brilliant idea. Will it send another text letting you know if the turtle turned itself back on its stomach? That way you don't need to rush home...