how often do you bath / soak your red foots?

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scholar

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How often do you bath/soak your red foots and do you do it more often if you cant keep your humidity up ? please post your humidity level in your tank and how often you soak them just like every were else you read there are tons of opinions on this subject
 

PeanutbuttER

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scholar said:
How often do you bath/soak your red foots and do you do it more often if you cant keep your humidity up ? please post your humidity level in your tank and how often you soak them just like every were else you read there are tons of opinions on this subject

Perhaps one of the mods would be so kind as to move this to the redfoots forum.

I'm sure there will be many who can give you plenty of great advice about this.
 

HarleyK

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I began soaking my rf in a zoo med dish a week ago and he truly enjoys it. The key is to use WARM WATER. He stays in there about 10-15 min and defecates. To increase your humidity use a water abosrbing substrate like moss (mosser lee moss @ lowes will do) and spray it down. I use orchid bark chips as the bottom layer (keep dry) and the moss is wet.

I soak him everyday. Everone has different opinions but since I see how my tort likes it I'm going to stick with it.
 

jackrat

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Outdoors,I turn the sprinklers on for about an hour in the evening.In the indoor room,I have about 6" of cypress mulch.I totally soak it and them at least once a day,sometimes more.In addition,I keep a vaporizer running 24-7.You can cut the humidity with a knife,but they seem to thrive on it.
 

Madkins007

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Let's break this down.

1. WHY to soak? According to studies done on other chelonians, there is no sign that tortoises absorb measurable amounts of liquid through the cloaca or skin during a soak. This does not mean it does not happen with tortoises, or that there are not other benefits to a soak.

Other benefits might include triggering a drinking, defecation, and/or urination reflex; cleaning the tortoise; etc.

2. Do you NEED to soak? It is my opinion that we should aim for well-hydrated tortoises- tortoises that are heavy for their size and getting their moisture needs from the air, food, and drinking.

Every keeper's situation is a bit different- my struggles with hydration are not the same struggles that someone in Florida or Winnipeg would have. Soaking may well be a good tool in this struggle.

3. Does your tortoise have ready access to drinking and soaking water already? I see a lot of photos of tortoise habitats with water dishes too high, or too shallow, or too whatever for tortoises to access.

My ideal water dish is big enough for the tort to completely lay in, easy to get in and out of, deep enough to go about 1/2-2/3rds of the way up the shell, sunk to the rim, in a location where it can be accessed from most sides, made from a material I would drink water from, and kept as clean and full as possible.

If your tort already drinks and soaks freely, why force soak it?

SO... Personally, I rarely soak- mostly about once a month or so when I am going to take photos and do a close examination, and then the main goal is cleanliness more than hydration.

HOWEVER if I felt at all like my guys were dehydrating, I would definitely add a daily or so soak to their schedule. It may not help a lot, but I wold try pretty much everything.

(Note, the care points mentioned are aimed for Red-foots and other high-humidity tortoises.)
 

terryo

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I have never soaked mine. He has a large enough water dish to sit in if he wants and a pond outside. Even when he was a hatchling, I never soaked him. If he was sick, or dehydrated, I would definitely soak, but I never saw any reason force him to sit in water if he didn't want to. Just my HO.
 
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