Stress on my russian

I just got a male russian tort (3-8 yo) from a pet store and I gave him his first soak in his new home but it didn't turn out as I expected. I thought everything would go smoothly but he ended up just pooping a ton and swirling around in it. I took him out and wiped his poo filled shell off but then he started clawing at my hand as I was drying him off. I'm not really used to full grown tortoises because I used to have a little hatchling that I could just fit in the palm of my hand and dry. I am wondering if I should just let him spin around in his own poop while he soaks or do something else? I am pretty new to this so please send help!

They always poop in their soak, that's normal. Just change the water when it happens.

It's normal for tortoises to poop during (warm) soaks. My tort would sit still the first half hour, but would try to climb out activily after it. When I pick him up, he also wants to get loose by clawing me in the hand. Yes, they probably are stressed when you pick them up, but I suppose it's with every tortoise, since they don't like to be picked up. I would refresh the water when he has pooped.

Toddrickfl1 said:

They always poop in their soak, that's normal. Just change the water when it happens.

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Thanks. I didn't know if it would make him sick or something. Good to know!

I think my sully has already adapted being picked up, and I've only got it for 2 weeks. At first, it keeps clawing my hand everytime I picked it up. I think it's because it knows why it's picked up. I've heard tortoises can tell time by themselves, so it knows now at certain times it's picked up to be put in warm soaks. Pretty interesting. And it's its meal time after soaks. One time I forgot to put its food in its food dish before putting it back to its enclosure, it actually walked towards the dish and just waited.