I use city water. If I collected it, it would have worse stuff in it. My tortoise is not dried out.
Stephanie Logan said:I sympathize with Waterboy's sentiment. One of the reasons I left this forum was that I was so tired of seeing "Help, my tortoise is sick" or "My tortoise passed away" threads, especially in the Sulcata section. The only more common thread title was "Hi, I'm a new Sulcata owner and brand new to tortoise keeping!"
And the beat goes on...
Tom said:If the guy has them outside in CA with out a proper heated shelter, that's not cool.
If he's feeding it fruity pebbles tortoise food, that's probably not too cool either.
If its eating piles of dog crap everyday... Do we really need to argue whether or not this is a good thing?
Of course there are a lot of ifs here, but why are you guys giving Waterboy such a hard time when this sure SEEMS like a case of somebody not taking very good care of their tortoise?
And Eric, we're all tired of hearing about how you don't soak your tortoises. You would not have the same results if you lived here in CA where it hardly ever rains and when it does rain its during our cold winters. It's great that you live where it rains all the time and it's super humid. What works for you there is not going to work for most of the rest of the country.
EricIvins said:So these animals need to be soaked if they have access to water? I'll call BS on that any day......Any Tortoise that is not chronically dehydrated knows what water is and how to utilize it......What is the point of force soaking animals that do not need it?
lovelyrosepetal said:I think that soaking your tortoise, especially in its first few years of life is not going to hurt your tortoise and it could do it a lot of good. I have seen pictures of old tortoises that have very bad to moderate pyramiding and they were when everyone said that they did not need water and that too much of it was bad for them and I have seen pictures of tortoises with relatively little to no pyramiding that had these forced soaks with constant access to water and I for one think that the tortoises with little to no pyramiding show the proof that forced soaks and constant access to water is a good thing and can only help the tortoise. It is just my opinion, but I think that knowing it won't hurt and does help should be a reason to soak them and give them water.
I also disagree that it is BS that a tort does not need soaks. My torts dry out quickly and if it wasn't for the "force soaking"s that I give my torts, along with the constant mistings than my torts would be dry and would have no way to get moist because they do not spend all day in their water dish. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and I agree with Tom and countless other people on this forum that soakings are beneficial to sulcata tortoises. Whether we agree or disagree with each other methods I think we can all agree that we love our torts !
lovelyrosepetal said:I do not mean to be rude to EricIvins, I just don't know the particulars of what I do, I just know mine seem better off for them, the soaks. I would like to know what EricIvins would do differently. Everything I have read here seems to back up the opinion to soak and I have not read anywhere here that would have you do differently so I wonder, is there a better way to keep them from getting dry? Is there a better way to prevent pyramiding? If there is I would appreciate your opinions on that. Sorry if I came off as being a little bit rude.
EricIvins said:Tom said:If the guy has them outside in CA with out a proper heated shelter, that's not cool.
If he's feeding it fruity pebbles tortoise food, that's probably not too cool either.
If its eating piles of dog crap everyday... Do we really need to argue whether or not this is a good thing?
Of course there are a lot of ifs here, but why are you guys giving Waterboy such a hard time when this sure SEEMS like a case of somebody not taking very good care of their tortoise?
And Eric, we're all tired of hearing about how you don't soak your tortoises. You would not have the same results if you lived here in CA where it hardly ever rains and when it does rain its during our cold winters. It's great that you live where it rains all the time and it's super humid. What works for you there is not going to work for most of the rest of the country.
So these animals need to be soaked if they have access to water? I'll call BS on that any day......Any Tortoise that is not chronically dehydrated knows what water is and how to utilize it......What is the point of force soaking animals that do not need it?
tortadise said:The best way I can describe the benefits of all around hyrdration, is on different levels. Especially with young tortoises they grow at such an accelerated rate, that their are different elements of keeping them hyrdrated. One of those elements or factors is soaking numerous times a day. Others are constant humidity, allowing the hyrdration to keep with the growth of the baby in an ambient circumstance. humidity will keep moisture(ie hyrdration) to its skin, carapace, and exterior make up. Soaks keep the internal as well as the exterior hyrdrated. In the wild most "dry" climate or topographical "desert" species (sullies really arent desert at all, they come from grassland savanas) hatch out during the wet seasons in the location where they are found. As well as living in conditions that are more moist and humid. Essentially they are living in a micro climate. The grasses and burrow they live in while so small is like a forest to them, so they get a totally different exposure to elements that we as a large animal would see as wow its hot and dry. But if you were to place your hands and get into the lower systems of grasses and bushes where these wee ones are growing up in it would be very humid, wet condition in relation to their size. Its like the rainforest they have diffrent levels of tree canopies, and heights which in turn make mircro climates at each level of canopy. This is just on a smaller scale. hence the total hydration method, of keeping the constant soaks, as well as the humidity up for an all around hrydrated baby.