How long a leopard baby tortoise can stay on its back.

[Mikebkirby]

I have two baby's, the one flipped the other over what seems to be by accident as they walked into each other. One tried to climb over the other. He /she was on her back for about 30min when I discovered her/him.

Placed her/him in water dish and carried on walking around.
Thus far seems OK.

 

[wellington]

Depends on temp or location. If it's under a basking lamp or on cement in the sun on a hot day, not long. If it's in a water bowl that's too deep, not long
Always give a warm water soak when this happens. If he acts okay then he probably is.
I'm wondering how this happened for so long? That doesnt look like a proper Enclosure with the brick step down. In that situation, they should not be left unwatched. However, if you seen them collide, why was he left on his back so long? Is this on a remote camera?
Set up a proper safe outside enclosure. Also, keep a very close eye on them. Tortoise should not be kept in pairs. This could be the start of bullying.

 

[Tom]

I have two baby's, the one flipped the other over what seems to be by accident as they walked into each other. One tried to climb over the other. He /she was on her back for about 30min when I discovered her/him.

Placed her/him in water dish and carried on walking around.
Thus far seems OK.

Those don't look like babies. Babies can be upside down for hours. As they gain size and weight, their internal organs put a lot of weight on the lungs, which are at the top of the shell inside, and they can suffocate in a shorter time frame than a smaller baby. No one knows how many minutes or hours this would take because there are many variables.

They need to be blocked from that area. The lack of a visual barrier under that gate is what caused this problem.

Also, tortoises should never be kept in pairs. House each of these in their own enclosure and this can never happen again. In the pics, it looks like one was trying to escape from the other through the visible gap under the fence, and the aggressor ended up upside down. South African male leopards can be particularly territorial and aggressive both with other males and females too. I have to house both of my adult males individually with brief visits to the ladies pen for breeding. I had to separate out all the males when they were just about 6-8 inches (15-20cm) at about 18-24 months old.