I recently rescued a severely dehydrated tortoise.
In this case, it was a Hingeback who'd been kept in much drier conditions than they need, but tortoise keepers often face this issue with new tortoises, or tortoises that get sick for whatever reason.
I did some research into hydrating soaks, did some thinking about modifications to the basic formula that would make sense for me, my tortoise, the goals I have for the soaks, and the ways in which I soak my tortoises... I came up with this formula and method for soaking that seems to be working very well for my tortoise.
I tried to think about what ingredients I would want to soak in myself, or soak my son in if he was sick. You could certainly find less expensive ingredients to substitute in for the ones I detail below, but if you think about how much one vet visit costs, you'll probably decide my ingredients list isn't that pricey after all.
I used sea salt because it's natural, is loaded with trace minerals, and doesn't have extra stuff added (like anti-caking agents)
The brand we all have in our refrigerators is 100% pure sodium bicarbonate, so you don't need to get tricky.
I wanted to use a sugar that hadn't been bleached out and had all of the trace elements removed in the process... demerara sugar works equally well
Honey has antimicrobial benefits, and raw/unfiltered honey has other health benefits as well... if we're adding sugars to the mix to rehydrate, adding sugars that benefit the one being soaked in other ways as well seems a good idea.
Because my tortoise appeared to have some eye and mobility issues as well, I wanted to round out the soak with something that would help in this area as well... carrot baby food is often mentioned as a good soaking ingredient (because of the vitamin A, I assume). I think organic babyfood without a lot of ingredients is better than not, and banana brings potassium to the mix, while mango and sweet potato bring vitamin C and more A (and a host of other good stuff).
The idea was to have all the ingredients and trace elements I wanted, with none of the extraneous ones you can get from using inferior brands.
By mixing the above ingredients in the proportions I mention above, you end up with a concentrated soaking mix for your tortoise that will be stable in your fridge (so you don't have to make a new batch every time you soak the tortoise).
Based on the size of the soaking container I have been using with Nelson, I get two days of twice-daily soakings out of one batch of this stuff (or four days of once-a-day soaks if that's all your tort needs)... 2 cups of concentrate (from the fridge) added to 6 cups of hot water, which yields a tubful of warm soak for the tort.
I made another batch this morning, and thought I would post this here... obviously, it's not the only (or even the best) way to soak your tortoise... it's a way that makes logical sense to me and seems to be working for me and for
Nelson, so I thought I'd share it.
Jamie
In this case, it was a Hingeback who'd been kept in much drier conditions than they need, but tortoise keepers often face this issue with new tortoises, or tortoises that get sick for whatever reason.
I did some research into hydrating soaks, did some thinking about modifications to the basic formula that would make sense for me, my tortoise, the goals I have for the soaks, and the ways in which I soak my tortoises... I came up with this formula and method for soaking that seems to be working very well for my tortoise.
I tried to think about what ingredients I would want to soak in myself, or soak my son in if he was sick. You could certainly find less expensive ingredients to substitute in for the ones I detail below, but if you think about how much one vet visit costs, you'll probably decide my ingredients list isn't that pricey after all.
I used sea salt because it's natural, is loaded with trace minerals, and doesn't have extra stuff added (like anti-caking agents)
The brand we all have in our refrigerators is 100% pure sodium bicarbonate, so you don't need to get tricky.
I wanted to use a sugar that hadn't been bleached out and had all of the trace elements removed in the process... demerara sugar works equally well
Honey has antimicrobial benefits, and raw/unfiltered honey has other health benefits as well... if we're adding sugars to the mix to rehydrate, adding sugars that benefit the one being soaked in other ways as well seems a good idea.
Because my tortoise appeared to have some eye and mobility issues as well, I wanted to round out the soak with something that would help in this area as well... carrot baby food is often mentioned as a good soaking ingredient (because of the vitamin A, I assume). I think organic babyfood without a lot of ingredients is better than not, and banana brings potassium to the mix, while mango and sweet potato bring vitamin C and more A (and a host of other good stuff).
The idea was to have all the ingredients and trace elements I wanted, with none of the extraneous ones you can get from using inferior brands.
By mixing the above ingredients in the proportions I mention above, you end up with a concentrated soaking mix for your tortoise that will be stable in your fridge (so you don't have to make a new batch every time you soak the tortoise).
Based on the size of the soaking container I have been using with Nelson, I get two days of twice-daily soakings out of one batch of this stuff (or four days of once-a-day soaks if that's all your tort needs)... 2 cups of concentrate (from the fridge) added to 6 cups of hot water, which yields a tubful of warm soak for the tort.
I made another batch this morning, and thought I would post this here... obviously, it's not the only (or even the best) way to soak your tortoise... it's a way that makes logical sense to me and seems to be working for me and for
Nelson, so I thought I'd share it.
Jamie