soaking in dirty water...

[herpgirl24]

So, my hingeback seems to only enjoy soaking in the water once it is filthy! She will stay out of the water all week until I soak her. The she immediately gets into the water dish, poos and sits in it all night! It is so disgusting and smelly!

Just wondering if I have an odd tortoise, or if hingebacks are just like that?

 

[ascott]

Ewww.pee uuuuuu ....maybe rename your tort "Stinky".....lol

Maybe your tort thinks his s&&t don't stink....lol ok I will Stop now..

In all seriousness, perhaps it is a deep seeded instinct that if ya smell bad maybe you wont be as likely to be eaten?? I honestly could not tell you what they think when they do things we go ewwwww at....

Maybe after your tort does it business you have warm clean water ready and quickly empty the dirty water and refill with the clean warm?

 

[Jacqui]

My hingebacks are always in and out of their water dish it seems, but especially when I replace it with fresh clean warm water. Then of course they often do their bowel movements, but that is because warm water tends to cause them to release and cleanse their systems. I am a bit amazed that your hingeback apparently never soaks on it's own. Is that correct?

Of course none of them care , if the water is dirty. When they are in a mood to soak, they soak and some stay there for a long time. To an animal, clean water is not a necessary thing, nor is dirty water a bad thing. They are just glad there is water when they want and need it.

 

[herpgirl24]

I try to change the water but she usually does this at night. I even tried to soak her in the sink to try and get the poo in there, but no. So odd. When the water is clean she sits in there all pulled into her shell. When it is dirty she spreads all her limbs out and enjoys.

Maybe she thinks it is a mud bath?

 

[ascott]

Maybe the all tucked in is her reving up to poo....then when it is done she spreads out like ahhhhhhhhh ....lol

 

[Yvonne G]

I've always wondered about the ecology of poopy water. It would be perfectly ok to poop in, say a river or a stream, because the moving water keeps the stream more or less clean. But pooping in still water that has no refreshing to it, I never understood that. I've seen programs on hippos where the camera is under water, the water looks pristine, and the hippo lets go with this HUGE, ugly poop. There were fish in attendance, taking care of the waste matter. So maybe the tortoise expects the movement of the water or the fish and water creatures to clean his water for him?

 

[ascott]

Sounds good to me Yvonne.....but what does not sound good to me is coming into the world as a poo eater fish....what a crappy deal..bu dum bumb....lol

 

[Jacqui]

Sounds good to me Yvonne.....but what does not sound good to me is coming into the world as a poo eater fish....what a crappy deal..bu dum bumb....lol

It's a shitty job, but somebody has to do it. Honestly, I think we are spreading this a bit deep. It does however create fertile thoughts to ponder on.

 

[ascott]

LMAOFFFFFFF.

 

[Madkins007]

I'm not really sure the tortoise gives a crap about this one way or the other. I hate to admit it but my Red-footeds seem to prefer dirty water as well.

 

[chairman]

I often wondered why my torts would soak in poopy water, but after having a sulcata that occasionally eats her own poop... makes the hingebacks seem more refined.

 

[Jacqui]

I think the actual reason tortoises poop in their water, is the same basic thought as eating the poop straight. Years ago, we were told that if a rabbit would eat it's own poop, it would get more food value then it does eating it the first time around. So pooping in the water actually may be baby food soaks, tortoise style. That along with hiding its scat from would be hunters. Just would be yet another amazing survival technique they have learned in their many years on earth.