Is a water dish really necessary?

[dmmj]

CDT's don't have access to water regularly, they get it when it rains or when they happen to find some while digging I imagine.

 

[CtTortoiseMom]

Great question, your enclosure sounds great for them.

 

[EricIvins]

Thanks for all of the respones. Water dish it is! I was going to put one in anyway but I was just wondering about the subject. I have been to the areas where CDTs live and find it hard to believe they have regular access to water other than from the foods they eat. I understand that RTs come from conditions at least as arid as CDTs so this was a natural question to ask. I was just curious. Besides, my RTs hate being soaked!

Tom - The sprinklers hit only part of their enclosure every two days. I have included three hiding spaces for them I made out of wire armatures and mortar. These hides are very strong and provided good shade as well as protection from rain or the sprinklers.

The enclosure I made for them is very strong evidence that I love these little torts and would never "torture" them as another poster implied. It is 3 by 12 and has 13 inch deep concrete footings all around. We are getting two Border Terriers at the end of September and I wanted to be sure they are safe and happy.

I will take some pictures and post them probably tomorrow.

You'd be surprised how much moisture they have "access" to........

As a Human, you'd be pretty oblivious to it.........But as an animal that needs to survive in it, they know where, when, and how to get it on a consistant basis.........Otherwise they wouldn't be here..........Just because there isn't a huge lake in the Desert doesn't mean there isn't moisture to be found.......

 

[fgately]

Eric - Consider the native habitat of the CTD. The Mojave Desert gets an average of LESS than 5 inches of total precipitation per year. Four months per year the average daytime temperature is over 100 degrees. So it's very hot and very dry. Since I live in the LA area, I have visited this habitat many times. Other than a very rare spring, there is NO water in these deserts during the warm season. The burrows are humid and the foods the CDTs consume contain moisture, but there is no water to be found. I am still amazed at how the reptiles in particular thrive in such arid conditions.

Years ago I was camping at a place called Corn Springs that is east of Palm Springs. It is a great place to see herps. We saw chuckwallas, desert iguanas, side blotch lizards, collared lizards, desert spinys, granite spinys, and even banded geckos at night. It got up to 119 degrees the second day we were there. When it's that hot all of the herps go underground and all we did was lay around and drink all that we could just to stay hydrated.

Somehow these amazing animals thrive with almost no water for most of the year. I'll bet my three RTs would do just fine without a constant water source, considering all of the moisture rich foods they consume and the humid night time conditions of their hides. I am currently providing them with a water dish, and am happy to do so.

I will not let my torts go without water. I was just wondering about the subject and figured I would ask for opinions.

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

I rinse my tortoises' food in warm water and let the moisture cling to the leaves, so that when the torts feed, they are automatically getting plenty of moisture in their meal. Therefore, they are very well hydrated. I rarely see them drink from their shallow water dish, but they do occasionally. Also, sometimes they wade in it, soak in it, and eliminate wastes in it. Overall, I'd say it gets pretty good usage, so I make sure it is full to the brim with fresh water everyday. If I were to miss a day or even a week, they would probably be just fine, but I wouldn't want them to go longer than that, just to be safe.