Water

[Jennyknight]

After putting my enclosure pictures on and adjusting the lighting - thanks. I don’t know what to do with his water. Everything I try he just tramples in and turns into mush within 20 minutes. I bathe him three times a week and he has a little bit of veg with water in it every day. If I have to put water in how can I do this without him just destroying it? I’ve tried sunken, raised and a tortoise ramp into water to no avail. Will he drink from one of those water holders like a bunny has? I know when he had his bloods before Xmas the vet said all fine except a little dehydrated so want to get this right. Thanks. Also just found out he has hookworms so got to try and get panacur in the stubborn git. Took sedation to get bloods from him lol.

 

[Tom]

After putting my enclosure pictures on and adjusting the lighting - thanks. I don’t know what to do with his water. Everything I try he just tramples in and turns into mush within 20 minutes. I bathe him three times a week and he has a little bit of veg with water in it every day. If I have to put water in how can I do this without him just destroying it? I’ve tried sunken, raised and a tortoise ramp into water to no avail. Will he drink from one of those water holders like a bunny has? I know when he had his bloods before Xmas the vet said all fine except a little dehydrated so want to get this right. Thanks. Also just found out he has hookworms so got to try and get panacur in the stubborn git. Took sedation to get bloods from him lol.

Can we see a picture of the enclosure and water bowl placement for this thread?

You might need a larger enclosure, and you need to move the bowl to a low traffic area. Most tortoises travel along the walls, so sometimes moving the bowl to the middle of the enclosure away from the walls will help. Put the bowl where the tortoise walks the least, in other words.

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Hello!
You may try to make a "border zone" around the water dish: use large ("non-swalloable") flat pebbles or a layer of orchid bark. The water dish should be shallow terracota saucer, no ramped bowls (while it's less a concern for the adult tortoises).

I'm not sure if you can train him to drink from a water holder... And they really like to soak themselves.

 

[Jennyknight]

Can we see a picture of the enclosure and water bowl placement for this thread?

You might need a larger enclosure, and you need to move the bowl to a low traffic area. Most tortoises travel along the walls, so sometimes moving the bowl to the middle of the enclosure away from the walls will help. Put the bowl where the tortoise walks the least, in other words.

I’ve tried placing pebbles around and placing away from edge. I can’t do a bigger enclosure s as it’s in my front room and is always a quarter of room it’s about five foot x five foot

 

[wellington]

My leopards like to trash their water dish too. I added a small water dish to hold water that will stay cleaner for drinking. They still like to trash it, but they can't fit into it so it stays cleaner. Then they still have their large dish they can soak in.

 

[_The_Beast_]

I put a 1.5 shells wide (current shell size) of flat rocks around the sunken water dish and that seemed to really help cut down the mess, but sometimes a tort's just gotta party in that water dish. I re-fresh it every morning and variable amounts of chaos ensue as the day proceeds. I re-fresh it again when I get home or before bed.

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

I’ve tried placing pebbles around and placing away from edge. I can’t do a bigger enclosure s as it’s in my front room and is always a quarter of room it’s about five foot x five foot

I guess, all the mess comes from a substrate (it looks like coco coir or soil). Perhaps, a thin layer of orchid bark is the only option... It won't protect from the mess, when he burrows and then goes for a bath, but will make things better. Also, you can tramp the substrate a bit.

And another idea is to make a second level in the enclosure (2x3 feet, for example), covered with orchid bark and move the water dish there.

For the next substrate change (in a year or two) you can go with the plain orchid bark - it's the fine substrate and the least messy of all.

 

[Sarah2020]

I managed to get a flat stone that the rim of the plastic water dish locks on and seems to halt all flipping water dishes.

 

[Jennyknight]

I guess, all the mess comes from a substrate (it looks like coco coir or soil). Perhaps, a thin layer of orchid bark is the only option... It won't protect from the mess, when he burrows and then goes for a bath, but will make things better. Also, you can tramp the substrate a bit.

And another idea is to make a second level in the enclosure (2x3 feet, for example), covered with orchid bark and move the water dish there.

For the next substrate change (in a year or two) you can go with the plain orchid bark - it's the fine substrate and the least messy of all.

Another level might be fun