Just curious how often these should be cleaned? One a week? Sometimes my little guy tracks a lot of peat moss into it. Last time I cleaned it, it looked a little grimey, but I just used hot water. Should I be using anything else? Thanks! 
Terra Cotta Water Dish - How Often Do You Clean?
- Thread starter Oxalis
- Start date
My poor tortoises. After reading what all you go through here on the forum to keep your tortoises happy and healthy it makes me think my poor animals are abused. In the house, I take the waterers outside and squirt them off with the hose (because I don't want all that substrate going down my kitchen drain). Outside I do the same. I never sterilize. I never scrub off the algae. Dump and squirt.
I bought about six or seven of each size and I just change them every other day or so for the Sulcatas and about twice a month for the Leopards. I rinse them off real good and then wash them in the dish washer with no soap so they get sterilized. I think this process may cause them to leak though. The Leos are dainty and don't ever drag dirt into their water and only poop in there once in a blue moon. The sulcatas wait for me to clean it, go get shovels and wheel barrows and fill the thing up with dirt about five minutes after I clean the thing. I tried placing it in different locations and even tried putting two or three in for them. Same thing. Filled to the rim with substrate within minutes. I found some old rubber matts with ridges so I am going to place those in the table with the water on top and see if that helps.
Oh, cool! I hope the rubber mats work! Thanks for the tips; I figured my little Russian is fine as long as it gets cleaned regularly. He doesn't seem too interested in his water dish though. Only every once and a while.
Oxalis said:
My Russians ignore theirs 99% of the time but I always make sure they have one available just in case. I have adults so I only soak them once every two weks or so when they are above ground. They live outside so they get watered everu other day along with the plants in their garden.
As long as it's going back into the same enclosure, I normally just wash with dish soap and rinse well. I like (when it's warm enough) to let them sit in the sunshine as long as possible.
As Peter is outside I clean a bit with a brush and cold water and let it dry in the sun. My vet told me that UV is a great way to desinfect stuff. I do this every few days.
i scrub and clean with hot water and white vinegar every other week. my leo does not drag a lot of dirt in hers but it does get slimy on the bottom. and my eastern box turtle hardly uses her now but because it is not sealed terra cotta it gets green algae a lot.
