Soaking

[Malorey]

Sorry if there is a topic about this somewhere .... I did a search on it, but didn't get exactly WHAT it is, mostly just questions asking for how long people should do it for their Tortoise.

Anyways ...

What exactly is soaking? What does it do? Do you have to do it? Do you just set your Tortoise in warm water? How deep and how long?

Thank you!

 

[bikerchicspain]

Soaking is where you bathe your tort to help with hydration.

Some torts do not go in the water of their own accord so we ,do it for them.

Torts hydrate through their bottom, so a good soak every few days is good for them.

Put them in a bowl and put some water in, not too cold and not too hot, just enough water to cover their cloaca, then leave them for 15/20 mins,
We also use this method with I'll torts and when they are not eating we will soak them in baby food.

My older torts soak themselves but my smaller one's do not, so I have to do it for them.

Soaking is a good thing especially in summer months, in winter you will need to use tepid water in a warm room.

 

[ascott]

Hi...soaking is essential (or I should clarify, hydration is essential )

Here is what I would do/suggest;

Soaking can take place for young tortoise as much as 1 time per day. Adults will vary depending on what you observe your tortoise doing, drinking on their own or not so much.

You will want to get a dish/container that is plenty big enough in diameter to allow the size of tortoise you are soaking to completely settle their entire shell and legs into the container and rest.

I usually put the tortoise in the container first ,then take your tepid/luke warm water and gently pour it over the back end of the shell moving slowly forward (not soaking the head) and go back and forth on the shell until you have enough water in the container to reach just under the chin of the tortoise (lower if you are dealing with a sick or weak tortoise).

Then let them be for at least 30 minutes...you can keep the water warm if you would like, however, not entirely necessary. Be sure to keep an eye/ear open for them to make sure that they have not tipped themselves over (more so for the youngins that jeuv/adults)

I then would have a towel handy, remove the tortoise from the container and place on the towel....and wrap em up to stay warm and sit em on your lap and give em a leg rub or something nice like that..the last part of what I do is because, well, I enjoy this part

 

[Missy]

Just to add, I put my soaking pan under the heat bulb to keep my hatchling warm while soaking. You can also set the pan on a heating pad on low. I soak her till she poops or up to 20 min.

 

[Malorey]

Awesome! Thank you for the help guys! Got everything I was wondering!