My Baby Sulcata tortoise HATES soaking

Is that the "baby" in your avatar picture? That's a lot of pyramiding to be considered a baby. I would think that one would be four or five years old at least.

Bee62 said:

Joes Mum said


I am not an early bird .... So I usually set up my lamps later...

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I hatch 100's of babies a year that need daily soaking. If I soaked them one at a time, or didn't walk away from groups soaking together, I would literally have no time to do anything else, including work or sleep.

The water should be shallow enough that if one flips, they can't drown. I usually soak them by the dozens and it is very rare for one to flip in the soak.

Tom said

I hatch 100's of babies a year that need daily soaking. If I soaked them one at a time, or didn't walk away from groups soaking together, I would literally have no time to do anything else, including work or sleep.

The water should be shallow enough that if one flips, they can't drown. I usually soak them by the dozens and it is very rare for one to flip in the soak

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Okay. That`s an argument.

Thanks for responding he or she actually likes soaking now.

Teresaf when I got him he had all that pyramiding already he was in a tiny tank no heat lamp and with 6 other ones

Ok. Well, what I was getting at is the guy you bought him from was mistaken about his age. I only mention it because a lot of folks want as accurate an age as they can get and he's young enough that you can get close now but the opportunity is lost in a few years.

wellington said:

Just be sure it's not too hot or too cold. Use a container he can't see out of and be sure he's kept warm the whole time. It's good for them to soak, so keep it up.

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How do you keep it warm the whole time? Mine starts out warm and then by the end of his soak the water is cold

krl2935 said:

How do you keep it warm the whole time? Mine starts out warm and then by the end of his soak the water is cold

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Use a large bowl - a larger volume of water is slower to cool. A washing up bowl is ideal.

Change the water if it gets too cool.

krl2935 said:

How do you keep it warm the whole time? Mine starts out warm and then by the end of his soak the water is cold

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You can also place the soaking dish in the enclosure under the heat lamp.

Yes mine hate it too, they are somewhat relaxed the first 5 mins or so then they just fight their way to get out. All the movement does help get their bowls moving which is good thing.

I soak in the bathroom sink when they are really small and just drain the water and refill when it gets cold or dirty.
I use a wash tun in the bathroom sink when they are bigger and I dump the dirty water into the toilet and refill with warm water. Keeping the water warm is very easy.

My guy loves his morning soak. He would stay alot longer but i'm done changing water several times. He likes 92 to 95.