African Sulcata upside down

[jeffshappy2]

Hi my name is Toni and I live in New Hampshire USA I have an african sulcata desert tortoise. His name is Tudor and he weighs approximately 100 lbs. Yep he's very heavy!! He has a pen outside and today I found him upside down and he was struggling his left eye was mashed in the dirt. I had to pick him up and turn him right side up. He seems okay and a little slow but I wasn't sure what I should watch for? He doesn't like to be alone so I try not to put him out in his pen too long during the day and this is the first time I have found him upside down. Are there any lasting problems I should watch for??
Thanks

 

[chadk]

Sorry, no idea on the issue at hand... But i'd LOVE to see pics!! Where do you keep him when not in his outdoor pen??

 

[jeffshappy2]

When he's not outside he's inside the house chasing the dogs...we have 3 of them. He loves to sit and watch me cook in the kitchen or when we are watching tv he will come and sit with us. He lets us know when he needs to go to the bathroom and I lift him up and put him in the tub. He loves to soak in very hot water !! And he's spoiled rotten he wont eat unless I sit on the floor and hand feed him, that is unless he is out in the back yard grazing.

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I thought I would attach a picture of Tudor this was taken 2 years ago.

 

[terracolson]

wow you must have a large house.
I have a nice size house but i could not have him in my way. MY dog is to much as it is

 

[Yvonne G]

Well, Toni...you're doing everything wrong, but I gotta' admit, that's one pretty, pretty tortoise. He doesn't look any the worse for wear because of the incorrect care.

When they are on their back for any length of time it's hard for them to breathe, as their lungs are just under the top shell. Being upside down causes everything inside him to press down on the lungs, especially in a large tortoise like Tudor. I don't think there's any long term ill effects to having been upside down. The usual effects are that they evacuate their bladder and bowel, and they can't breathe.

I must say that its pretty unusual for a large tortoise to be upside down. Have you figured out what caused it?

And:

to the forum!!

Yvonne

 

[bettinge]

Was he up side down near a fence? Maybe he was trying to climb and flipped!

 

[chadk]

When he's not outside he's inside the house chasing the dogs...we have 3 of them. He loves to sit and watch me cook in the kitchen or when we are watching tv he will come and sit with us. He lets us know when he needs to go to the bathroom and I lift him up and put him in the tub. He loves to soak in very hot water !! And he's spoiled rotten he wont eat unless I sit on the floor and hand feed him, that is unless he is out in the back yard grazing.

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I thought I would attach a picture of Tudor this was taken 2 years ago.

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Beautiful! I have 2. A sullies. A tiny one and a 35lber. Can't imagine lifting a 100lber into the tub a few times a day... Awesome that he's trained! How cool to have a house tort. Wish I could get away with that...

How long have you had him??

 

[tortoisenerd]

Welcome to the forum!

Was he trying to climb something? What was he next to? What kind of ground was he on (dirt, grass, hilly or flat, etc)? If he looks fine now, probably no lasting damage except maybe he won't want to do whatever he was doing again! Quite traumatic. I would just look to see if there are any hazards you can remove--climbing is the most common cause of flipping over. This is the first large tort I have ever heard of being flipped over.

What is the temperature of your house? I would think he would be cold on the tile floor! Wow. What does he eat besides grazing? Any way he can be housed outside all the time?

 

[Crazy1]

Welcome to the forum Jeff and tudor.

 

[dmmj]

Only thing i can think of is what others have posted, that he was trying to climb the fence. In my experience larger tortoises don't usually go over like that. Just my 2 cents. If it keeps up get a crane maybe to save your back.

 

[Isa]

Welcome to the forum
Tudor is beautiful!

 

[tortoisenerd]

If the tort is trying to climb a fence, sounds like maybe too small of an enclosure, the tort is bored, or both. Most people like to provide a large grazing area for Sulcatas. Many need to split the yard up into two or more pens to allow the grass to grow back! I have even heard of buying the tort a red ball to push around. Some torts can get really into it, and others ignore it. Worth a try if boredom could be an issue.

 

[reptylefreek]

Wow what a BEAUTIFUL tortoise. Even in pictures from people who are the best veterens in caring for these guys have I ever seen a more perfect looking tortoise. His shell is beautiful! I love that you domesticated him. I hope my sulcata looks like that when he is that big. Welcome

 

[Yvonne G]

I agree that Tudor is a beauty! I love those big sulcatas. And that shot of him is a perfect example of pyramiding that has smoothed out. If you take away all the darker part of his carapace and mentally move the lighter "bumps" closer together, you can see that when he was quite a bit smaller, he was quite pyramided. But the smooth growth in the intervening years has made the pyramiding seem not quite so bad.

Yvonne

 

[TortieGal]

Welcome! What a cool Sully. I have to ask what does he do to let you know he has to go potty?
Is that something you trained him to do or just something you noticed? Maybe Hermen will learn that some day.