Pooping in the Tub

[Pottergalval]

I got Joey 2 days ago and he is getting very well acclimated. He even ate from my hand a few times! But one thing he HATES is getting soaked. He always runs around his tub looking for a way to escape, which becomes very problematic when he poops. I feel as if he isn't getting any cleaner from the soak, but dirtier because he's stepping in his feces. Any suggestions?

 

[Jodie]

Adjust the temp of the water and see if you can find a comfortable temp for him. Mine seem to enjoy the low 90's best.

 

[gamera154]

pooping in the tub is good for your tort he's saposed to do that and trying to get out is normal did you like taking a bath when you where little



also welcome to the forum

 

[MPRC]

Let him poop, rinse him off and then soak him a little longer.

 

[ileoyu]

You lucky your tort does it while being soaked, it's so much easier to clean that way, because you could just dump the water into the toilet. My tort poops in his enclosure and it's such a pain to find it, let alone cleaning it.

 

[Sandy Martinez]

I got Joey 2 days ago and he is getting very well acclimated. He even ate from my hand a few times! But one thing he HATES is getting soaked. He always runs around his tub looking for a way to escape, which becomes very problematic when he poops. I feel as if he isn't getting any cleaner from the soak, but dirtier because he's stepping in his feces. Any suggestions?

He's probably just not used to being soaked which is why he's reacting like this to soaking. Mine did the same thing when I first got him -- I don't think the previous owner soaked but now he loves to relax in the warmth of the water. Definitely helps keep his enclosure cleaner and sooo much easier to just dump out the water than have to clean it in the enclosure!

 

[W Shaw]

My russian used to get totally freaked out by soaks. He still hates it but tolerates it now. Pooping in the soaks is normal. Based on advice from folks here, I got a taller, more opaque tub for Ronan and that turned his bath from a traumatic event to an annoyance for him. Also, I realized that my apartment is colder than his enclosure, so I now soak him under a heat lamp. He likes the water just a touch cooler than I like for showering -- nice and warm but not so hot that he has to adjust gradually. I put him in and then immediately go and fill up a 2nd tub. When he poops, I scoop him up and put him in the clean tub, then take the first tub to rinse and refill. It generally takes longer to rinse and refill than it does for him to poop again, so bath time is just a continual cycle of rinse, refill, swap and repeat. I leave him in as long as he'll put up with it -- 20 minutes or so -- and then when he gets really insistent, I wrap him quickly in a towel, pat off most of the water and set him back under his heat lamp.

Also, you probably already know, but the soaking isn't to get him clean -- it's just to let him get hydrated.