Flipping over

[Jesika]

So I'm a worried mom. My baby just got a new enclosure and I had to take his hide out because he keeps flipping himself over. Now even without the hide he still tries to climb the sides of the walls. His new enclosure is 36" L, 26" W, 20 H. So he has plenty of room right now. He's maybe about 2.5" to 3" big so he's really small. The walls are all white and the only glass is in the front. He's flipped himself over a lot lately and he hasn't learned to get himself back up. I need some advice on what I can do to keep him from doing this. I'm scared he's gonna turn over while I'm at work and my fiancé who works from home checks on him frequently but if he's gone for a bit I'm scared Crockett won't get back up.

 

[wellington]

Try puttin something across the corners and maybe blocking the lower portion of the glass so he can't see out. Also adding some plants which will help him feel safer in such a bare enclosure and flat rocks will help him to right himself. He also needs a clay saucer with low sides and buried level with substrate for a water dish.

 

[Jesika]

Try puttin something across the corners and maybe blocking the lower portion of the glass so he can't see out. Also adding some plants which will help him feel safer in such a bare enclosure and flat rocks will help him to right himself. He also needs a clay saucer with low sides and buried level with substrate for a water dish.

I haven't finished putting his rocks and plants back in yet, I dropped his clay saucer water dish so I'm getting a new one tomorrow. The problem is, he doesn't do it on the glass. He goes to the corners and tries to climb up. I have temp gauges in every corner and at his basking spot so I know his temps are ok. I think I'm just going to put some slate rocks all the way around the perimeter to see if that will help him get back up.

 

[wellington]

That might work or put them on end into the substrate and across the corners, making them angled corners instead of sharp 90 degree corners.

 

[Jesika]

Ok I'll see if that helps

 

[eric joranson]

Mine was a climber too....I noticed the log hide upper right of your photo. I used the same and encountered the same problem; although tortoise still used it to sleep in each night. But day time roaming it became a hazard to tipping as it is very climbable. So what I did was put one opening flush against the side of enclosure. The long side was also flush against what in your case would be glass front.Then I added sub strate so it was a small hill on the other side of the logall the way over to the other side; tapering it down towards center. He was able to easily climb up the embankment; could get to the top of the log which gave him eagle's eye view of his world. I also had to remove plants and only flat rocks . Right now yours is just adjusting to his new world. After a few weeks of no tipping incidents; I slowly would reintroduce small plants. (I used rooted spider plant cuttings directly into the substrate so there were no pots to climb. Larger plants were put on a table in front of the glass side). Now that mine has gotten bigger; it would rather spend its time digging down than climbing up Good luck. PS; another fault of those log hides is that they don't warm and humid up very well. But mine loves his so much that I had to get a bigger one when he out grew the one he had. I see yours is the larger one; and you might also have less tipping incidents if you use the next size smaller.

 

[dmmj]

you definitely need some sight barriers.you need to break the tortoises line-of-sight so it cannot see it entire closure from one end to the other

 

[Stuart S.]

Mine did the same thing and I have a very similar setup, I put his hide against the wall and buried it in substrate to where he can climb up and over his hide and he has flipped again. Make sure all the corners and sides are completely buried. He definitely needs something to hide under, hatchlings like to hide to feel safe. You have a great set up, he'll be happy.

 

[Greta16]

Mine was a climber too....I noticed the log hide upper right of your photo. I used the same and encountered the same problem; although tortoise still used it to sleep in each night. But day time roaming it became a hazard to tipping as it is very climbable. So what I did was put one opening flush against the side of enclosure. The long side was also flush against what in your case would be glass front.Then I added sub strate so it was a small hill on the other side of the logall the way over to the other side; tapering it down towards center. He was able to easily climb up the embankment; could get to the top of the log which gave him eagle's eye view of his world. I also had to remove plants and only flat rocks . Right now yours is just adjusting to his new world. After a few weeks of no tipping incidents; I slowly would reintroduce small plants. (I used rooted spider plant cuttings directly into the substrate so there were no pots to climb. Larger plants were put on a table in front of the glass side). Now that mine has gotten bigger; it would rather spend its time digging down than climbing up Good luck. PS; another fault of those log hides is that they don't warm and humid up very well. But mine loves his so much that I had to get a bigger one when he out grew the one he had. I see yours is the larger one; and you might also have less tipping incidents if you use the next size smaller.

I did something similar with my torts hides, which are just Terra cotta plant pots on their sides. I took the substrate and made ramps on each side so she can climb up and over each of them. Since I did that she hasn't been trying to climb the walls like she was the first few days I had her.

 

[Tom]

You need much thicker substrate and use a plastic hide for a humid hide instead of the half-log. I use black dishwashing tubs form Walmart. Some logs an rocks will make it fell more secure too. He's too exposed and is desperately seeking cover. Removing more cover makes it worse.

 

[ascott]

So I'm a worried mom. My baby just got a new enclosure and I had to take his hide out because he keeps flipping himself over. Now even without the hide he still tries to climb the sides of the walls. His new enclosure is 36" L, 26" W, 20 H. So he has plenty of room right now. He's maybe about 2.5" to 3" big so he's really small. The walls are all white and the only glass is in the front. He's flipped himself over a lot lately and he hasn't learned to get himself back up. I need some advice on what I can do to keep him from doing this. I'm scared he's gonna turn over while I'm at work and my fiancé who works from home checks on him frequently but if he's gone for a bit I'm scared Crockett won't get back up.

You can also cut a pencil eraser in half or fourths (what ever is appropriate for the size of the tortoise) and temporarily adhere it to the shell, taking care not to get the adhesive in the growth lines, kind of like a kick stand to offer him appropriate tilt which will aid in the tort working out a recovery from a roll over..

 

[Bee62]

As all other said your baby tortoise needs something to hide and feel save. He tries to get out of his enclosure and climb up walls because he wants to hide himself. Put plants into his enclosure that he can eat.

 

[GGboy17]

Unless their in a tricky situation they could most likely flip themselvs back over.

 

[Yvonne G]

Unless their in a tricky situation they could most likely flip themselvs back over.

Not true. Many, many tortoises die from being on their backs on not being able to right themselves.

 

[GGboy17]

I've seen my tort do it itself. It takes a while but they can.

 

[Yvonne G]

I've seen my tort do it itself. It takes a while but they can.

Yes, and I've seen my tort laying dead in the sun because she couldn't flip herself back over.

 

[dmmj]

several years ago I lost a box turtle who flipped their self over in the Sun and she was dead in less than 30 minutes. it looked to be a very excruciating death

 

[Yvonne G]

several years ago I lost a box turtle who flipped their self over in the Sun and she was dead in less than 30 minutes. it looked to be a very excruciating death

No death is acceptable. Mine was a 40lb Manouria. I just wish I could watch them all the time.

 

[Bee62]

No death is acceptable. Mine was a 40lb Manouria. I just wish I could watch them all the time.

That is right, but what do torts do in the wild when they flip over ? Could it be that many wild torts die the same way when they have or were flipped over ( by a predator for example ) ?

 

[Jesika]

You need much thicker substrate and use a plastic hide for a humid hide instead of the half-log. I use black dishwashing tubs form Walmart. Some logs an rocks will make it fell more secure too. He's too exposed and is desperately seeking cover. Removing more cover makes it worse.

This was right when I put his enclosure up on the shelf I didn't have much of anything in it yet. I have plenty of plants in there for him to hide under and he still runs around a bit. The rock path I just added seemed to help the most. He's more intrigued by walking on the difference in terrain that it seems to distract him from climbing up the sides. I haven't used that half log hide for a while, he has a little plastic shoe box now. I added more substrate but he doesn't seem to want to dig in it very much. However he hasn't tipped over in a few days so I think his walking path helped.