i think it would be very cruel to knowingly leave a tortoise on its back!
i would make the area near the basking light sloping away from it so he can roll away from the light. If not near the heat they will just go to sleep after wearing themselves out struggling!

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KERRY
0.0.6 Hermanns Tortoises
0.1.0 Hamster
1.0.0 Dalmatian puppy!

It's rare for a tort not to be able to right itself. It usually only occurs in the wild when the get wedged between things, or in captivity when they are on a flat, smooth (i.e man-made) surface.

They have a variety of ways to flip themselves back over. Usually they try to hook a leg on something or lever themselves over with their neck. I've also seen red/yellowfoots waggling opposite limbs alternately so set up a rocking mothion which is eventually enough to roll them over.

A tortoise that continually climbs can often be a sign it needs a bigger enclosure and it's trying to escape. Try giving it a larger area to explore and see if he still tries to climb all the time.

I wouldn't advise putting any kind of contraption on it's shell, imagine if it got wedged on something and damaged the tort

Neither would I leave a tort to struggle on its back,near a heat source they can quickly dehydrate

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Phoebe

Keeping: Hermanns and Whitei's