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i swear, my turtle really hates being in his tank or has a death wish. in his old tank set-up, he got out twice. and that was a just-under-3-feet drop. this morning, i got up and noticed that the "milk crate" that i keep over the basking area-side of his tank was moved. i just had that moment of "oh sh--" and turned on all the lights and grabbed my flashlight. i found him wedged beside the tv stand. now, his new set-up is 44 inches high (i measured it) and filbert is just under 3.5 inches. how the heck can he survive such a fall? i examine him and he had no cracks on his shell or other boo-boo's (just some fuzzies and cat hair stuck to him).

but something amusing did come of his great escape. i let him crawl around for a while after examining him, and my cat just happened to take notice. mostly, the cat just stared at him, pawing at him once and a while (no claws, i watched). after being poked at a few times, filbert just looked at my cat and hissed. i never heard filbert hiss before! and i found it rather amusing that my turtle hissed at my cat.

I never see my RES try to get out of their tank. They try to get out of the feeding container, but I think they've given up

Atlas (the largest of my three) hisses at my son all the time - he has a chip on his shoulder regarding my son

There are suction securing clips at my local pet store (the kind that latch on or thread through) - they may help keep the milk crate in place

My older female gets out of the tank all the time via the basking platform. My floors are carpeted and the tank is only a few inches off the floor so the jump is not that bad. I usually take her out once a week and let her walk around, but when I'm busy and forget she takes initiative and jumps out herself. It could be boredom... or the adrenalin that she gets from jumping out.