Cleaning your sulcata

[warpling]

Hello everyone. I have a sulcata named Jack who's about 7 and you guys have been a great resource.

Recently I've been noticing how dirty Jack is. He has quite a lot of land to himself to roam, and loves to push and get himself dirty. His behind, tail (which we rarely see), and this leg scales are all quite dirty. I've thought about it and can't figure out how tortoises would clean themselves in the wild in the desert. Jack has a water bowl that he can soak in, but he usually just walks through it. I've tried spraying the hose up where he hides his tail, but he doesn't like it very much and the stuff is really caked on. On his legs his scales are quite dirty and gunky in places. I want to clean him, but I don't know if it's necessary –as he doesn't seem to mind– or if it would bother him too much. What do you guys think?
Thanks

 

[Laura]

kind of all depends on what he is dirty with. Feces>? Then he might have diahrea, and that isnt good. Dirt? then a good soak might be all he needs. I dont wash mine, they are what they are. you can take a soft scrub brush with water to wash the shell. I wouldnt scrub much.

 

[tortoisenerd]

I would always clean up any fecal matter like Laura says. As an outdoor tort you expect a lot of dirt on it. I however am a rather clean person so I'd probably give the tort a warm hose down, but wouldn't scrub (use hands to rub if needed). That's my opinion though. Some people would never think of cleaning up their tort. If it stressed out the tort I would also stop.

 

[Yvonne G]

I have a 100+lb male sulcata and it would be impossible to turn him over to scrub off all the poop he has accumulated under him. He poops in his house, then sits in it overnight. I clean the house every morning, but it doesn't help clean the tortoise.

I'm sure they have poop stuck to them in the wild too. But if it offends you, I suggest you figure out some way to allow him to soak, where he can't get out of the water. It would take about 15 minutes of sitting in water to loosen the poop off the tortoise. Then you might be able to stand him up on his back legs and brush off the loosened poop. Some people buy those little blue kiddy pools and soak their larger sulcatas in there. I've seen a couple of pictures where the side was cut down like a little doorway and the tortoise goes in and out on his own. But if you do that, then the tortoise will climb right back out, and you don't get the advantage of the 15 minute soak.

My Dudley loves his fresh water. As soon as I bring the hose into his pen and clean out his waterer, he gets in there and pees and poops. But after a drink he gets out, and the poop is still stuck.

Yvonne

 

[DAC8671]

Yvonne, I was waiting to see what you and Maggie said about this. You two, I am pretty sure, have the two oldest/biggest torts with Dudley and Bob.

Hehehehe I would love to see you both try to scrub poop off of each of them, as big as they are. hehehehe OOOOOOOOhhhhhhh can you imagine how mad they'd be???

 

[warpling]

Thanks for the responses. It is poop mostly, not diarrhea though, it's just accumulated junk from pooping. On his front I think it's more congealed dirt and stuff. He does get bothered when I try to scrub or spray it off and he doesn't like to soak for long although I think I may try.

 

[DAC8671]

Rubbermaid tubs work for us for soaking. They can't get out. After soaking, you can lay him on his back to scrub gently.

Ralph is dirty with poop too. If there is a chunk, I'll wipe it off. If it's smeared, oh well.

 

[VaderWS6]

My Sulcata is still a hatchling, but I clean it up after every soak. I mostly just make sure the underside is clean, and wipe its rear with a wet paper towel. After the soak, I pour water over its shell & head, just to get any accumulated dust off.

 

[bettinge]

The only time I clean is after a soak and before I weigh. I do not want a false weight reading with dirt. Other than that their as dirty as they like!

 

[aka2tal]

I am in So. Calif and I soak our 3 Sulcatas in he small kid wading pools. They soak for 15 minutes. We run water over them during the bath, but no scrubbing. We usally go 15 minutes or whenever the poop is extreme in the bath.

 

[spring pace]

i started cleaning up galileo early in life so hes used to the action and doesnt give me any trouble once he understands what im doing, he really likes it. its getting harder now that hes 27 lbs but i still try and maintain a sort of clean tort only because i know in general its healthier for the tort and me because i like to have lots of hand contact w/ him, i really dont like the flies hanging around him during the summer. galileo & spring big smiles

 

[TKCARDANDCOIN]

My tort likes to be hosed down every so often and that helps keep some dust/dirt off his shell.As far as the poop that gets caked on his belly, he likes to climb over a rock/wood pile and that helps knock alot of it off his plastron.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I used to put Bob in for a soak in a kiddie pool or the bath tub, then I'd take him and pull him backwards up so his carapace is against my legs and he is basically on his back legs then I'd scrape off and clean his plastron. I take a hard scrub brush and scrub off the rest of the stuff off legs and scales. Everybody I know screams NO!!! You can't use a hard scrub brush, use a soft one...BS! I use a hard scrub brush after he's been soaked and I scrub him hard. Man, it's a fight too. I tried using a soft brush, but that just didn't work, so I've made Bob pretty mad scrubbing him so hard, but I don't care, the job needs to be done. His back leg area is very dirty, so I run the hose up where he tucks his tail and I rinse and rinse. I try to scrub there with the brush too. I know they don't clean themselves in the wild, and they also don't eat grocery store greens giving them soft poop in the wild. If the job needs to be done, do it! The heck with what the tortoise thinks...better have an area free of collected feces and dirt and whatever else, you also don't want getting a skin disease from having mud or feces dried hard for long periods on the skin either...did that make sense?

 

[tortoisenerd]

I agree Maggie! As long as his skin doesn't get raw, etc, I think it's necessary. Good point about the grocery greens and runny poop. Runny poop is rather relative. My vet's office asked if he had been having runny poop. I said no because it's no worse than usual. It's usually runny. No difference though. They wanted to know about symptoms of parasites. I'm going to do another post on it so I won't go into details...just wanted to agree with Maggie.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

In reread my above post it sounds kinda mean...but I don't hurt him and I don't scrub him raw, I just am making him put up with something he doesn't want me to do. I raised 3 kids, well 2 and a half and I just don't fool around. I told him over and over if you're gonna get poop on your plastron I'm gonna wash it off...but it wins, he's gotten too big for me to scrub him...so now he's smelly but his legs are scrubbed clean!!!

 

[tortoisenerd]

Haha I understand Maggie. That's just a note to anyone else who may think of using a similar method.

 

[mwindman]

My little 6 pound guy loves to soak and I clean him regularly and he likes it when I take a paper towel and wipe his face; I think if you get them use to it it will be easier; every once in a while I will take a soft toothbrush and clean legs and around anal area; He does also sit in his feces;