Help in pancake care

[apromann4]

I have read in different sites that they do not soak adult pancakes daily, so i do the same? Any tips for basic carein soaking and providing water dish or not, website say accure water from moist food? Which one i will follow? Am helping a friend who buy adult pancakes do more research for the best care thanks

 

[Yvonne G]

I don't keep pancake tortoises, but once my tortoises are big enough to find the waterer in their habitat, I don't soak them anymore. They usually will drink on their own. If you don't think your tortoise is getting enough water, you can spritz water over the food when you feed them.

There really isn't enough water content in food for you to be able to depend that the tortoise gets enough water from eating. He needs a water source in the habitat where he can climb in and soak himself, and get drinks.

 

[Chef]

I soak my pancake tortoise once every 1-2 weeks for 30 minutes in room temperature water. I have read that this can help with digestion as well as proper shell growth. I also have a humid hide box to keep him at the right humidity. If you have enough space in your enclosure, having a water dish would help too. You will want different conditions throughout the enclosure, one end hot and dry, and another cool and wet, as well as a humid hide box. This gives the pancake options.

 

[turtleescape]

I do the same soak once every 1-2 weeks. I do keep a water dish in the tank at all times. I use a chicken waterer ( the smallest one they sell)
If the water runs out all five of my pancakes will be up on the glass waiting for me to refill it. My thought has always been if they want water that bad I will keep it available at all times. I have been keeping them this way for over six years now.

 

[tortadise]

My guys gets soaked once a week to every other week. Mainly because they are excrement factories. They love there water dish in the enclosures, and like the soak. They have a much smaller gut than typical tortoises do. Because yah know they're flat. Ha. The best thing to remember is better safe than sorry saying. If something on the internet days don't do this or do that. I'd question it. Especially in animal care. Most websites are very outdated and really just copy and past bad information from somewhere else.

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

Here's what I do, not saying it's right, left, moderate, or conservative. I always have a short sides water dish with water filled in it. In the past, I would daily spray down their enclosure with a garden pump sprayer when I'd feed. On days I would skip feeding from the uneaten food in the enclosure, I'd still spray. I started to realize that with the spraying, the three of them would all come out, wander around in the spray, go to the water dish and climb in, crap in the water dish, you get the idea. They would become very active. Then after awhile, they'd head back into their deep dark hide chamber. Well I had a zoomed fogger laying around and the plan was to hook it up to a Hydrotherm. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any “real" research on the humidity needs of a pancake tortoise so I bagged that idea and instead hooked the fogger up to a timer. I have it run for 1hr. 4 times a day with the first being just before lights on to simulate morning dew. Logic dictates that the hide has a higher humidity than the external environment,(in the real world) so I have the fog discharge tube above and out in front of the mouth of the hide. Fog settles and freely flows into the hide, raising the immediate humidity plus providing a longer lasting humidity as this is on the “cool" side-it's still 81°f under there but cool compared to the warm, to me, hot basking side. The results? Active pancakes when the sun comes up and at 6 hr. intervals that crap in the water dish to their hearts content while fully soaking on their own. Then they'll eat for awhile, bask, play cards, and go to local flea markets looking for cheap items they can turn into tortoise stuff, ( ok, I made the last part up. They can't drive cause they can't see over the dashboard) but I think you get the idea. I was never real comfortable soaking them because of the raised, open, overlapping nature of their leg scales. I've never heard of it being an issue, it just seems a great environment for microbes to have a swingers party in. I hope this helps. I had fun writing it and yet still giving you a clear idea of what I do. Please, if you have any questions ask. I only do what works for me. Keep in mind, my male regularly engages in the “grown-up"thing, but I have yet to get any eggs. This is the year that will change. I've been pumping ,“Barry White" music into the enclosure and that worked so well in the 70's and 80's I figured it couldn't hurt. Seems my male really is into, “You're the First, The Last, My Everything"