Wandering Tortoise Flag

Have a turtle or young tortoise that you need to keep an eye on? We have a young sulcata tortoise who gets to enjoy days outside in the summer and roam the house a bit in the winter. Unfortunately, outside or inside there are times we can lose track of him if not in a box. Hopefully the following is a helpful, easy way to keep track of yours in the grass or in the house.

Elastic band, velcro, wood block and a ziptie or alternatively Styrofoam and a wire. Glue, scissors, razor knife, piece of colored paper of choice. There are many of these that can be substituted which I will mention.

For this step you will need the wood block, zip tie and razor. This is where there are many other options. Instead of a wood block you could use Styrofoam a lego or anything really. I had wood handy, styrofoam would be easy to cut. Intead of a ziptie you could use a pipe cleaner or other wire. I like the ziptie becuase is keeps its shape and orientation.

A.) All we need to do its cut a groove for our flag post to be glued into. I could have used a saw or file but chose to use the razor because a lot of crafters have it. A butterknife would have done great as well.

B.) After cutting a groove that the post fits into snuggly, glue it into place with superglue.

C.) Set it aside for the glue to dry.

A.) To make the tortoise elastic belt I first stretched the elastic around my reptilian assistant Griffin. Making sure I would get a good snug (not tight) fit and cut the elastic to that length.

B.) I cut my velcro to the width of the elastic using scissors.

C.) I glue the velcro into place at the ends of the elastic using superglue. *TIP! If you fold the elastic over itself once as seen in the photo, you can place the velcro upward at each end, and this will ensure that they are facing the right direction when on the turtle.

D.) Set it aside for the velcro glue to dry.

You'll need your scrap paper, scissors an imagination and optionally, a pen.

A.) Cut a strip of paper, I did 2 inches by 6 inches of yellow/green paper.

B.) Fold your paper in half and cut any shape of your choice. I did a racing flag.

C.) Decorate if desired, it was only fitting that he had some hotrod design.

D.) On one half of the inside, spread some glue around the whole thing.

E.) Wrap the flag around the zip tie (or wire) and pinch together until the glue holds it.

Now we will take the Flag Block and attach it to the elastic band.

A.) Lay the elastic out to decide where you want to place the block in relation to the velcro. Best to place the block closer to one side or the other.

*Lesson Learned* I did half way, which puts the velcro on the bottom of the turtle. Then I had to wrestle him to get under and put it together and take off. By offsetting to one side you can just set your friend on the elastic and wrap it around him.

B.) Spread superglue on the bottom of the flag block and place it on the elastic.

C.) Patiently let it all dry for around 30min to be safe before putting it on your shelled companion, which I know you want to do.