How do I bathe my tortoise

[Tyler Fulco]

So I have a DT and he’s hibernating right now but I need info on how to bathe him (He’s 15-20). So a tortoise owner I know said that if I bathe my tortoise in warm water it could get sick and possibly die. He told me to rinse him lightly with the hose. Now, his torts are around 50-60 years old, so I have mixed opinions. Can someone please help? Thanks.


(P.S. his torts are DT’s to)

 

[Gattu N'Coco]

I don't know much about DTs but if it's winters it's okay if you don't bathe them once a while don't do it daily.. if you still want to clean them up take a warm rug and wipe them gently that would do the job. Don't ever use hot water whenever in summers if you bathe them use lukewarm water and make sure to dry them and don't use any soap. Just think like them. Would they be taking a lux bath if they were by themselves in the wild?

 

[Yvonne G]

None of my tortoises are "bathed." I prefer to call it "soak." I soak my tortoises in a receptacle that has sides tall enough he can't climb out, but a small floor space. I add enough water to come up to the middle of his sides (where the top shell meets the bottom shell), and I leave him in there for about 15 minutes.

Some people mistakenly feel that because it is a "desert" tortoise they don't need water. This is wrong. Desert tortoises don't have a regular water source in their home range, so they have to wait until it rains and search out puddles to drink from. At that time, they take in as much water as they can, and they keep that same water inside of them until the next rain event happens and they find another puddle. Well, we're not keeping our desert tortoises in the desert. We give them access to food daily, and we should also give them access to clean water daily. And because some tortoises won't drink on their own, we soak them.

While my desert tortoises are hibernating, I don't fool with them. I give them a good soak prior to hibernation and another when they wake up, but I don't disturb them while they're hibernating.

 

[Tom]

What Yvonne said….

I soak extensively before and after hibernation, but not during hibernation.

The "tortoise owner you know" is wrong and spouting off old, out-dated, incorrect info. Many many DTs die every year due to dehydration related problems because some people are still giving out the incorrect care advice coupled with predictions of death, shell rot and respiratory infection if you don't follow their advice. Its all hogwash. False. Wrong. Opposite of the truth. I soak babies daily and adults once or twice a week in hot summer weather. If soaking them did harm I would have a collection of dozens of DT shells from all the death and destruction. I don't have any DT shells at all in my shell collection...

 

[Yvonne G]

Another thing to think about - quite a few desert tortoises end up with large bladder stones due to dehydration. This kills them if not operated on to remove it.