Upside down tortoise

[Bera]

Hi, i found my little one year old tortoise upside down today when i came home, should i take it to the vet?? Im seriously worried but its moving around like normal. I have never found my tortoise upside down before and ive had them for a while but ive only heard bad things about this.

 

[zolasmum]

Hi, i found my little one year old tortoise upside down today when i came home, should i take it to the vet?? Im seriously worried but its moving around like normal. I have never found my tortoise upside down before and ive had them for a while but ive only heard bad things about this.

If your tortoise is behaving normally, I think it is probably all right -try to work out how it managed to fall - was it climbing, or did it over-balance on an uneven surface, or what ? And what surface did it fall on to? An
Then try to change things in its enclosure so it is less likely to happen again. Check its shell, to make sure there is no damage - also that it isn't overheated by lying under a lamp for a long time - but I don't think going to a vet will be necessary. However, I am not an expert - just a long-time tortoise mum whose tortoise has managed to tip himself over in many different ways for many years, with nothing bad happening to him,beyond making him very cross !
Angie

 

[wellington]

Whenever you find your tortoise like that give it a long warm soak. They usually pee a lot when they are like that causing them to dehydrate.

 

[Bera]

If your tortoise is behaving normally, I think it is probably all right -try to work out how it managed to fall - was it climbing, or did it over-balance on an uneven surface, or what ? And what surface did it fall on to? An
Then try to change things in its enclosure so it is less likely to happen again. Check its shell, to make sure there is no damage - also that it isn't overheated by lying under a lamp for a long time - but I don't think going to a vet will be necessary. However, I am not an expert - just a long-time tortoise mum whose tortoise has managed to tip himself over in many different ways for many years, with nothing bad happening to him,beyond making him very cross !
Angie

Its never happened before and im not sure how it happened but it wasn’t under any warming lamp

 

[COmtnLady]

Could it be that he was climbing the wall and tipped over? Was there some ledge he could have fallen off of or while trying to scale, or the edge of a dish that tipped him? How about an ornamental stone, some plant pot, even the side of the hide?

And get that /those soaks in!

 

[COmtnLady]

They can be fairly creative concerning the trouble they get into.

Corners are easier

Getting traction is the hard part

 

[Bera]

Could it be that he was climbing the wall and tipped over? Was there some ledge he could have fallen off of or while trying to scale, or the edge of a dish that tipped him? How about an ornamental stone, some plant pot, even the side of the hide?

And get that /those soaks in!

Yeah ive soaked him a lot following this. i think he was climbing on a rock and somehow got upside down? But the rock is so low i would be surprised if he managed that. I made the enclosure very safe im really surprised this happened. It happened in the middle of the enclosure so it wasnt the walls

 

[COmtnLady]

He's just a youngster and doesn't quite have anti-tip gyroscopic abilities yet.

He could have partially climbed that rock, then kind of slid sideways, cartwheeling somewhat, and ended up on his back instead of flopping into the normal feet-down position. They really do get creative about how they get into trouble.