Seeking Suggested Soaking Schedules

[jsheffield - In Memoriam]

Howdy,

I've got a redfoot, Darwin, that came to me as a tiny hatchling... I used to soak him every day, but now that he's over a year and over a pound I've backed off to 3-4 times per week.

I recently had a Russian rescue, Chili, come to live with me and although I believe he's an adult, I tried getting him on the same soaking schedule as Darwin... no luck.

Darwin loves his baths... He seems content to eat and soak and explore and poop for as long as I'd leave him in there.

I'm not sure if Chili had ever had a bath before he came to live with us... he doesn't eat, seems uncomfortable, and climbs out of the water onto his food dish to try and escape the soak and soaking container. He dropped some urates in the bath the first few times, but not since (darwin's never deposited urates so far as I've seen, either in his bath or his enclosure).

My question is two-fold:

1) is continued, regular soaking of benefit to all tortoises, and assuming the answer is yes, how often?

2) how does the TFO braintrust get a reluctant tortoise to accept their trust soaking with more dignity, or at least with some tolerance?

Thanks,

Jamie

 

[xMario]

Howdy,

I've got a redfoot, Darwin, that came to me as a tiny hatchling... I used to soak him every day, but now that he's over a year and over a pound I've backed off to 3-4 times per week.

I recently had a Russian rescue, Chili, come to live with me and although I believe he's an adult, I tried getting him on the same soaking schedule as Darwin... no luck.

Darwin loves his baths... He seems content to eat and soak and explore and poop for as long as I'd leave him in there.

I'm not sure if Chili had ever had a bath before he came to live with us... he doesn't eat, seems uncomfortable, and climbs out of the water onto his food dish to try and escape the soak and soaking container. He dropped some urates in the bath the first few times, but not since (darwin's never deposited urates so far as I've seen, either in his bath or his enclosure).

My question is two-fold:

1) is continued, regular soaking of benefit to all tortoises, and assuming the answer is yes, how often?

2) how does the TFO braintrust get a reluctant tortoise to accept their trust soaking with more dignity, or at least with some tolerance?

Thanks,

Jamie

Have u tried diffrent water temperatures ?

My sulcata is perfectly comfortable and relaxed if the water has a temperature of 102-106 F but if it drops to just 101f or is too high at 107f he tries to get out and constantly climbs. I measure the water temperature with a baby water thermometer they are super precisely.

1. I soak every day cause I have the time for it but I think with the right humidity and enough moist food plus a water dish that is big enough for the tort to chill in it won't do harm doing it only every other day.

2. At the beginning of soaking my tort I could only chill her down by dropping little pieces of salad in his soaking bin he was so intrested in eating the salad that he forgot hes in a unknown place.
Now after doing soaking for a few months
He just enjoys staying inside the warm water until ofc the temperature drops slightly then he becomes hulk.

I hope some more people respond to ur questions[emoji846][emoji106][emoji217]

 

[LaLaP]

So I rescued a Russian last year that had never been soaked and he hated it when I first tried. I do it in my bathroom sink so there's no way he could climb out but he sure tried. It made me feel terrible to see him panicking and flailing but I kept at it everyday at first. I knew he was very dehydrated. It was probably a week before he began settling down in the soak and now he loooooooves his spa time. I'd say keep at it and maybe he'll begin to like it.

 

[jsheffield - In Memoriam]

Thanks to both of you for your responses... I think I'll try varying the temperatures to see if it makes him more comfortable and also just pushing through the first few weeks, even if he seems to hate the soaking.

Again, thanks!

Jamie