Funny but weird

[moonraser]

HI,

Yesterday evening I spray my Redfoot’s enclosure (daily routine) and when I spray the soil around “Q” she did not move out of the way but stuck out her neck as much as she can and wanted me to spray her? I did spray her and she like it…spray all over her and she even close her eyes! That lasted for 2-3 minutes then I guess she had enough and went back to her hide.

I believe she was dehydrated but she doesn’t like it when I soak her. Every time I but her in her soaking dish with warm water she tries to walks out right way.

Weird isn’t it? Any of your Redfoot acts the same?

 

[Neohippy]

My newest cute little gaffer Horace puts all my other redfoots to shame for soaking. He'll spend hours soaking, looking up at me with his goofy overgrown beak like he never had a soaking pool in his entire 6 years. All my other torts seem to have more interesting things to do than sit and soak, but Penny seems to love a good spray down. She's always too busy looking for her next meal to destroy instead of sitting and soaking.

It's friggen' cute when they jack their head all the way out like that eh? Like a cat when you scratch under it's chin.

 

[terryo]

I never soak my Cherry Head....even when he was a hatchling. Every day when he comes out to eat I spray him "til he drips", while I'm spraying the plants. He's used to this and he also sticks his neck all the way out to get the "rain".

 

[Madkins007]

Is it weird that an animal from a place where it rains almost daily much of the year likes rain?

My guys vary- some enjoy the misting days, others sit in the water dish. Only one even sort of likes my rare forced soaks.

As long as my guys are above the Dooghue Ratio, I don't soak at all, mostly using humidity, moist food, drinking water, and misting.

(Donoghue Ratio- straight line carapace length in centimeters cubed, times 0.191 gives you the minimum expected weight in grams, or "SCL in cm^3 x 0.191 = WT in gr". Works for most tortoises except hatchlings, which may be a little lighter.)

 

[llamas55]

I soak 2x a week in tepid water in the kitchen sink ( think a soak without walls, yes she'd try and escape) because she loves it, stretches her back legs out luxuriously, gets a happy look. and it is easier to clean up the poop that way. how are you guys cleaning: paper towel each time, or? emptying little pond areas?

 

[Neohippy]

I don't know if it's common for all redfoots, I notice a correlation between age and love of soaking for the most part (in my own little herd). The older the tort, the more time it seems to spend lounging in the pool. My 2 torts under 2 years old are almost never completely in the pool, but the 2.5 year old can be seen lounging in the pool on occasion, and on the bright side no less, just soaking it up. As for the adults, I find their water dish/pool empties rather fast, and is mostly due to water displacement from when they relax, limbs everywhere. Quite messy, but always humorous to watch.
I just figured it was one of those instinctual doo dads from their wild past. Little torts get snapped up when they are lounging near water, whereas adults tend to be a bit more resilient to such native creatures, hence their success in their given native land... Etc...or something.

 

[matt41gb]

All of my red foots soak constantly. I had a custom dog house type enclosure built for the for the winter. I have the 250 watt red heat lamp in the corner pointing toward their water bowl and it creates steam and keeps the water warm. They love it! I took the water catch from under my old water heater to use as their soaking bowl, it works perfectly and it's huge.

 

[Shalon]

Edna hates being sprayed and will try to get back into her hide as fast as she can. She is not a big fan of soaking really either.