# water dish big enough to soak in?



## shelloise (Nov 25, 2012)

I wanted to ask if a small size water bowl for drinking is ok to have or do you also have to have a big enough one for the tortoise to soak in - in the enclosure if you soak the tortoise everyday in something else?


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## shelloise (Nov 26, 2012)

Let me reword that as it might sound confusing .. 
I had bought some very large cat litter boxes and have put warm water in for the tortoises to soak in out of their enclosures. 
I am wondering if that is sufficient enough to do so, or should I have a large dish for them in their enclosure instead? Then they would have a smaller water dish to drink out of...


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## dannel (Nov 26, 2012)

I think its best to have a bigger one so if they want to soak they can choose to do so.


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## wellington (Nov 26, 2012)

Ditto. It should be large enough for them to self soak should they want.


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## shelloise (Nov 26, 2012)

Ok thanks.. What do u use for your tortoise to soak in? They have the exoterra large dishes but they are not big enough for my adult redfoot and russian


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## cherylim (Nov 26, 2012)

I use a terracotta dish:







It just gets buried into the substrate so it's just a little higher than the soil, and Emrys enjoys stomping in and out and making a mess.


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## shelloise (Nov 26, 2012)

Are they much bigger than the exoterras? Are they supposed to be able to just stand or big enough to walk around? I had it higher than I should have I think. My redfoot adult only has the water barely covering his feet, it is a little under 2 inches or so deep. 
When I was putting them in large cat litter boxes they were perfect but they were too big for the inclosure for them to go in themselves.


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## cherylim (Nov 26, 2012)

You can get those dishes in a wide range of sizes. Emrys' has a 6in diameter so he can walk in and sit in it, and his whole body fits across. Sometimes he does that, other times he walks in and out without stopping and there are occasions when he'll walk in, walk through, stop at the edge and sit there with just his tail end in the water.

I bought mine from my local DIY/garden store, and the largest available were 20in and they go down to about 2in so there are few indoor tortoises they don't cater for!


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## shelloise (Nov 28, 2012)

Is the terricotta dish glazed or no? Or does it matter?


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## Jacqui (Nov 28, 2012)

While places like WalMart carry nice glazed terra cotta for water dishes for my smaller tortoises, with my bigger animals I have to go to the local Earl May's or other quality type garden centers. They have some that are quite deep and some that are large in size. What I really love are the great colors they come in. Outside I mostly use large plastic items like garbage can lids, but inside I love the terra cotta.


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## Yellow Turtle (Nov 28, 2012)

I like a very big one for one certain reason. I love to see self soaking torts, it gives me some sort of relax feeling


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## shelloise (Jan 2, 2013)

How deep should it be for her?


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## tickle (Jan 3, 2013)

I don't put water in my inclosures for years with no probe at all if youvsoak them.the reason why I don't I kept on getting mosquito larva and though this would be no good for them and any time my humidity goes over 40% in my star enclosure he gets a runny nose so I just did away with it.also hatchlings can drowned if the get turned over trying to get out.if you have jungle tort I would add water no more then 3/4 inch deep


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## Pokeymeg (Jan 3, 2013)

shelloise said:


> How deep should it be for her?



Not too deep. If your tortoise were to accidentally flip themselves (I say this because my adult tort, who rarely flips, was trying to climb the wall above his water bowl and did JUST that), would they be able to keep their head above water? 

Make sure that the water bowl itself is shallow enough to get in and out easily. Beyond that, I think most people here suggest water deep enough to touch the edge of his shell. I personally don't keep my torts waterbowl deep enough to soak, because the water is cold so I doubt he would soak, and because he gets enough baths anyway.


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## lynnedit (Jan 4, 2013)

Shelloise, I'm not sure how much room you have inside your indoor enclosure, but what about a paint tray? They are relatively inexpensive, so you could get two and nest one inside the other. that way when it is time to clean it out well, you lift the top one, dump out the water, clean and replace. The bottom one holds the substrate in place.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/cat...=None&Ntpr=1&Ntpc=1&selectedCatgry=Search+All

I do this with the unglazed terracotta pots too, sometimes nest them in a cheaper plastic one.


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## shelloise (Jan 4, 2013)

Wonderful idea, thank you. I find one of my torts liked to do her business in the water/soaking dish, so I am cleaning it out every day. The tank she is in right now is the one she came in, 3x3 which is to small I think. I bought a large table to put a tortoise box on, but my husband is procrastinating about making the box part. I told him if it doesn't get made this week, I am going to hire someone thru kijiji to do it lol. I can't because I have broken ribs healing still.....





lynnedit said:


> Shelloise, I'm not sure how much room you have inside your indoor enclosure, but what about a paint tray? They are relatively inexpensive, so you could get two and nest one inside the other. that way when it is time to clean it out well, you lift the top one, dump out the water, clean and replace. The bottom one holds the substrate in place.
> http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/cat...=None&Ntpr=1&Ntpc=1&selectedCatgry=Search+All
> 
> I do this with the unglazed terracotta pots too, sometimes nest them in a cheaper plastic one.


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## Thalatte (Jan 4, 2013)

In the dollar isle at target there are these "boot trays" that are a thick black plastic, have a diamond plate pattern on the bottom for traction, and are really shallow. I find they are perfect for tort water dishes. And being so shallow it is really easy for the hatchlings to get in and out of. I have been using them with my outside enclosures and they are awesome. A paint try will also work but I found my Sonoran was dumb enough to try and get in from the wrong side and was constantly flipping over. She doesn't do that with the boot trays.
I also use the boot trays as food bowls for the sulcatas so they don't drag their food everywhere. And I use them under the dogs water bowl so they don't splash all over the floor.
I bought 10 of them and just switch out the trays when dirty so that I can take my time cleaning the old ones.


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## shelloise (Jan 13, 2013)

Hi, I tried the paint tray and boot tray from the dollar store but neither working out with my redfoot.. 
My other two torts are great with them but for some reason my redfoot always has to poop in the water, which is kind of a mess to clean up


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## AesopTortoise (Jan 13, 2013)

I use I deep paint with some rocks lining the bottom, it creates mini pools deep enough for soaking and drinking but plenty of footing if an accident occurs.


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## shelloise (Jan 30, 2013)

shelloise said:


> Wonderful idea, thank you. I find one of my torts liked to do her business in the water/soaking dish, so I am cleaning it out every day. The tank she is in right now is the one she came in, 3x3 which is to small I think. I bought a large table to put a tortoise box on, but my husband is procrastinating about making the box part. I told him if it doesn't get made this week, I am going to hire someone thru kijiji to do it lol. I can't because I have broken ribs healing still.....
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Thanks very much for the link to home depot. I am going today to pick up a paint tray and liners. Do you buy the plastic or metal ones?




Thalatte said:


> In the dollar isle at target there are these "boot trays" that are a thick black plastic, have a diamond plate pattern on the bottom for traction, and are really shallow. I find they are perfect for tort water dishes. And being so shallow it is really easy for the hatchlings to get in and out of. I have been using them with my outside enclosures and they are awesome. A paint try will also work but I found my Sonoran was dumb enough to try and get in from the wrong side and was constantly flipping over. She doesn't do that with the boot trays.
> I also use the boot trays as food bowls for the sulcatas so they don't drag their food everywhere. And I use them under the dogs water bowl so they don't splash all over the floor.
> I bought 10 of them and just switch out the trays when dirty so that I can take my time cleaning the old ones.



Hi, I did have a look for some boot trays but could only find really large ones here. I will check into smaller ones too, thanks


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## Thalatte (Jan 31, 2013)

Plastic paint trays. The metal ones dust easily. If your doing the liners to make it easier to change without removing the tray then use several at a time to make them thicker and more stable. This will make it easier to remove them.


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