# OVER SOAKING?



## russian/sulcata/tortoise (Dec 2, 2014)

i soak my sulcata and russians every day for 20-30 minutes. is there such thing as over soaking?


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## motero (Dec 2, 2014)

When the water gets cold you over soaked!


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## russian/sulcata/tortoise (Dec 2, 2014)

motero said:


> When the water gets cold you over soaked!


hey where did you get those amazing extra scute sulcatas?


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## naturalman91 (Dec 2, 2014)

russian/sulcata/tortoise said:


> i soak my sulcata and russians every day for 20-30 minutes. is there such thing as over soaking?



every day is a bit much i'd go 3-4 times a week depending on how big younger they are the more you soak


motero said:


> When the water gets cold you over soaked!



i can't really go by this because i change the water when it starts to go cold lol water can cool down pretty quickly


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## russian/sulcata/tortoise (Dec 2, 2014)

naturalman91 said:


> every day is a bit much i'd go 3-4 times a week depending on how big younger they are the more you soak
> 
> 
> i can't really go by this because i change the water when it starts to go cold lol water can cool down pretty quickly


is there any negative affects to soaking everyday?


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## naturalman91 (Dec 2, 2014)

russian/sulcata/tortoise said:


> is there any negative affects to soaking everyday?


possible if your seeing leafy matter such as indicating its not fully processed food i'd imagine it could rob them of some nutrition


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## russian/sulcata/tortoise (Dec 2, 2014)

naturalman91 said:


> possible if your seeing leafy matter such as indicating its not fully processed food i'd imagine it could rob them of some nutrition


lol there craps look like normal tort craps to me.


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## russian/sulcata/tortoise (Dec 2, 2014)

i will soak them less.


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## Zeko (Dec 2, 2014)

Soak mine twice a day. The intestinal track of a tortoise is quite long and I would be quite surprised if this has any negative impact.

And if I remember my anatomy paper, the Small Intestine of a tortoise is where most nutrients are taken from the food. The rest of the Long Intestine is mainly for getting every ounce of liquid squeezed out of the poop.


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## Prairie Mom (Dec 2, 2014)

I'm totally new at this and will happily admit if I'm wrong, but it's hard for me to imagine that soaking every day is "too much soaking." I don't believe my young sulcata drinks and self-soaks enough and have paid attention the gritty consistency of her urates the same way you have. I give her good long soaks and constantly check to make sure her water temp is warm enough (she seems to like it pretty warm/hot), so I'll swap out her water to keep it toasty. She sprawls her legs and relaxes like she's in a hot tub and she eats really well after her soaks. I soak her EVERY single day without fail. Because my climate is extremely dry and windy, I have also been known to soak her 2X. -If she's been out a long time in the dry wind, I've been known to give her another shorter soak on the way back inside. 

Also, my sulcata poops very grassy/leafy stools. It shocked me when I first got her and her health was improving. I was told that those kind of stools are desirable...http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/holy-grass-poop-was-this-normal.102807/


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## russian/sulcata/tortoise (Dec 2, 2014)

my sulcatas diet is 4 different types of grasses mixed with weeds and succulents and once a week grassland tort food. he has lots of grassy poops


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## Prairie Mom (Dec 2, 2014)

russian/sulcata/tortoise said:


> my sulcatas diet is 4 different types of grasses mixed with weeds and succulents and once a week grassland tort food. he has lots of grassy poops


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## russian/sulcata/tortoise (Dec 2, 2014)

i just turned on my laptop and everything is green!


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## Maro2Bear (Dec 2, 2014)

As far as Sulcata soaking, Id say the best advice is to follow the guidelines that have been tested and used over and over and proven effective. Those are in Tom's sully care sheet as follows:

*Soaking*:


I recommend hatchlings be soaked in *85-95 degree water for 20-30 minutes once a da*y. I use a tall sided opaque tub and keep the water depth about a third of the way up the body. If you have a humid enclosure with a humid hide and a water bowl, it is totally fine to skip a day here and there. Soaking only once a week and using a dry enclosure is not enough in my opinion, and I would not buy a hatchling that had been started that way. Once the tortoise gets to about 4" I relax a bit on the soaking routine and gradually taper it down as they gain size. How often I soak older tortoises depends on a lot of factors, the current weather and season being two big ones. I soak more often when its hot and dry. If you live in a warm, humid, rainy climate, and your tortoise is exposed to these conditions, soaking less often is probably fine, but it still wont hurt anything to do it.


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## Team Gomberg (Dec 3, 2014)

I think your short daily soaks are just fine.


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## Tom (Dec 3, 2014)

Thanks Maro2Bear. You just saved me a whole bunch of typing.

rst (russian/sulcata/tortoise),
There are all sorts of references in old books and websites, and in the back room vet manuals that the inexperienced vets get their info from, that talk about soaking interfering with "water balance" and not allowing enough time for digestion. These things sound very authoritative and convincing, but there is one big problem. Its not true. Not in any way shape or form. Gut transit time in tortoises is anywhere from days to weeks depending on a variety of factors. Pooping and eating daily is not a problem. As far as "water balance" is concerned? What is that? What does it have to do with anything. You put the tortoise in a tub of water. If he's thirsty he can drink. If he's not thirsty he can just sit in the water and its good for the carapace. If you had a stomach tube installed and literally forced too much water into the stomach, they would still just pee out the excess. So what is all this talk about water balance anyway?

My own results with my own tortoises completely debunk this old myth of too much soaking. Add in the results of hundreds or thousands of people all over the world doing the same things that I do, and the evidence is overwhelming and irrefutable. This myth was based on the incorrect assumption that sulcatas and leopards are "desert" animals and need it hot and dry. This is completely contrary to reality and ignores the entire 3-4 month tropical monsoon season that they all live through every year over there. Even CA desert tortoises and russians, which arguable _are_ desert species, still benefit and thrive from good hydration. Because some percentage of them are physically able to _survive_ in the wild with very little water, does not mean it is _good_ for them to have very little water in a captive environment. We were ignorant in the past. We all were. Me included. Heck, me _especially_! But we have learned better now. Some people still cling to some of the old ways, or they just have not heard of the new ways from a source they consider reliable, but in time all will see it.


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