Another morning andother upside down tortoise!

[nick_hine]

Hi all,

Again this morn I had a sudden urge to check Marley-May and luckily i did she was upside down under her bulb again . i have moved the stones closer to the side again.

I am wondering whether to put something around the sides to shade it. Im getting anxious to go back to uni and placement now as i wont be here all day and I dont want to come home to my tort dead.

Sorry this is a essay but having a clutch at straws moment. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Nick

[purplelynn]

Have you watched to see if she is able to right herself - they usually can. Also if you put a rock near to where she turns over she can use it to push against to right herself

[nick_hine]

Hi,

I have some medium stone there at the moment i didnt want to watch her under the bulb as didnt know how long she had been there.

Thanks for your reply

Nick

[Alan1]

I have to put cobble stones round the hot end like this because little rodney goes upside down a lot

[purplelynn]

Fair enough - was she making any effort to right herself?

If you are not sure how long she was there a good bath to rehydrate her might be in order

[Alan1]

they usually fall backwards from standing upright against the walls but a couple of times she has fell getting out the water dish

try putting it upside down next to a stone away from the heat and see if it can get up

[nick_hine]

Hi,

Yeah i gave her a bath and she went back to wandering around think il try seeing if she rights her self in the cool end like you said.

Thanks, Nick

[nick_hine]

The little beaut she turned herself over in no time lets hope she can do it everytime. feel slightly better now thank you lynn o and you alan.

Nick

[burnt toast]

Alan can I ask please, when you first put the cobble stones under lamp did yours climb on them? Im paranoid about mine turning over under their lamp.

I have one herman in particular who doesnt seem to be able to right herself, she's about two & doing it less often but I have often come home to find her not moving & has emptied her bowels, so I think she's been there a while.

I have an older tort who doesnt do it at all, so im hoping they grow out of it.

I have moved them round this weekend, so of course theyre climbing in disgust so the tension has heightened again. I was originally told to put nothing for them to fall or tip up on under lamp but I can see the sense in it.

[Alan1]

Originally Posted by Burno

Alan can I ask please, when you first put the cobble stones under lamp did yours climb on them? Im paranoid about mine turning over under their lamp.

I have one herman in particular who doesnt seem to be able to right herself, she's about two & doing it less often but I have often come home to find her not moving & has emptied her bowels, so I think she's been there a while.

I have an older tort who doesnt do it at all, so im hoping they grow out of it.

I have moved them round this weekend, so of course theyre climbing in disgust so the tension has heightened again. I was originally told to put nothing for them to fall or tip up on under lamp but I can see the sense in it.

I hAVE ONe who does it and one who doesn't, this is why I have to keep them apart because when they were in together the one who doesn't do it (reg) was going round and round the enclosure while the other one (rodney) was standing upright all the time doing her vertical breast stroke trick and reg would barge here over on every lap.

To answer your question, yes they climb over them no problem. They might not look it in that photo but they are sunk down into the soil about half way so they are not high and they way they are shaped - like a bar of soap type of shape - they can't actually fall off them in any way, it's a bit like a speed bump in the road. It would depend what size tort you have maybe but just use stones that would not be too high and as long as they are rounded, the torts just slide over them.

They are placed a shell's width from the walls so any climbing and toppling backwards and they can reach with a leg. As long as they can reach something they will turn over again.

BTW I got them from the garden centre, scottish river cobbles they were called and were £4.99 or something for a bag the size of a bag of gravel