Rescued tortoise dont drinks water

Joined
Feb 26, 2019
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Washington
i have a few tortoises.
Last Month i rescued a greek tortoise.
he doesnt Drinks at all. His previous owner kept him without water and fed him only lettuce...... hes aprox 15 years old.

Can tortoises forget what water is?

I soak him daily but he doesnt drinks...
I make his food very wet but dont know if it is enough?

Can tortoises extract enough water from there diet to survive without drinking?
 

Tom

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He's taking on water during the soaks, one way or another. Between doing the soaks and wetting the food, he should be getting enough water.

Hopefully he will start drinking on his own soon. Its also possible that he's drinking while you aren't watching.
 

MichaelL

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I have only seen my Russians drink twice.

They get their soaks and absorb the water through their skin and cloaca, and even when they are outdoors and don't get soaks often their urates are still very wet, never dry.

Many like Russians and Greeks from arid areas are able to survive by mainly extracting it from their foods, I think yours will be fine. Especially since the food is wet. I would look at the urates and see if they are more wet or dry.

If they are dry, I would worry.

But most likely yours is okay, even though the previous owner did not give water, lettuce has a very high water content so it wouldn't have needed a lot of additional water anyway.

I have wondered if they even realize that water is water sometimes, because they so rarely drink even when it is available. I'm not really sure why they don't take advantage of it when it is available.
 

ZenHerper

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Keep up the soaks as part of his daily routine.

If you can get some fresh cactus pads, they are a nice water-rich food.
 

Ink

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My new to me, Hermann isn't used to water either. He was in a very very dry enclosure too. I started him with two soaks a day now one a day. I haven't seen him drink however he is still getting use to his surroundings. He is alert, eats and poops and is walking around his enclosure exploring. Good luck and enjoy
 

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