Jumping Tortoise

[Kazcp1]

Hi, I have a 3.5 year old Horsfield who recently spent a few weeks at my Mum's and since his return he's changed his behaviour. He keeps throwing himself of my raised patio, climbs/jumps out the back door and recently he has been throwing himself off the top level of his enclosure where he lands on his back and can't flip over! Four times he did it in a row yesterday and everytime I turned him over he went straight back up and jumped off! It's about 10 inches high. I've had to remove the ramp for the time being. I've booked him in at the vets for a health check this week anyway but thought I'd see if anyone had any ideas why he's doing this? Cheers

[Kazcp1]

Kazcp1 wrote:
> Hi, I have a 3.5 year old Horsfield who recently spent a few weeks at my
> Mum's and since his return he's changed his behaviour. He keeps throwing
> himself of my raised patio, climbs/jumps out the back door and recently he
> has been throwing himself off the top level of his enclosure where he lands
> on his back and can't flip over! Four times he did it in a row yesterday
> and everytime I turned him over he went straight back up and jumped off!
> It's about 10 inches high. I've had to remove the ramp for the time being.
> I've booked him in at the vets for a health check this week anyway but
> thought I'd see if anyone had any ideas why he's doing this? Cheers

[Nina]

Oh dear -- you do have a brave and reckless acrobat there! When he lands on his back, how long do you give him to right himself? Usually a tortoise
will be able to right themselves after several minutes -- even five or ten minutes. They usually wriggle around until one of their legs comes up against something that they can push against, and then they do manage it (it's slightly stressful to watch, but they usually can do it).

I think the thing is to try and prevent this from happening though. Can you make the little wall that is on the top level a bit higher? Maybe you
could just tack something onto it to increase its height a bit.

Some tortoises just seem to be more adventureous than others. I have a similar set up with a ramp leadng up to the second level, with a wall about the same height as yours, and although my Dolly does quite often put her head over the wall and look down, she has never gone over the top, and my Doris just completely ignores it.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

> Nina

[Kazcp1]

Thanks Nina, yes I'm definitely going to raise the wall. I didn't actually let him right himself too be honest so I'll let him try that just out of interest to see if he can

[Nina]

It's horrible to watch, because you think there is no way they will be able to do it, but usually they can. The only time that it's dangerous if they are on their back for a long time is if they overturn directly under the bulb that provides light and heat, because then they can get dehydrated, but it looks like in your set up the bulb is well away from where he turns over. Also, if you can make the substrate into a bit of a hill, like on a slant, in the area where he turns over, that also helps because being on a slant means they can roll over onto on side more easily. What a character he is!

Nina