Help? (pees in food dish)

[morahstar]

Hi im new to this app, and i was wondering is someone could help me out with my RT. I cant get him to stop peeing in his food dish, and its a hassle to have to take it out and scrub it down before i feed him. Can anyone tell me why he might be peeing in it or how to get him to stop?

 

[tortoisetime565]

Help?

Slot of times they will go somewhere where they know it will be cleaned up. A food dish for instance. I always remove their food dish after they are don't eating.

 

[morahstar]

Help?

Thank you!

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: Help?

This is usually an action an animal takes to ensure other animals don't eat their food. There's nothing you can do about it. I feed on a flat rock or a tile and not in a dish.

 

[gtc]

Nothing wrong with our tort peeing in the dish. The dish should be cleaned once a day anyway due to bacterial biofilm development. You dont have to clean it right after he pees.

 

[Moozillion]

My Hermann's, Elsa, ALWAYS pees in her food dish and frequently poops in it as well. It's gross to us, but it's what they do and doesn't seem to do her any harm. They often eat their own poop too. I clean her dish daily- it's just part of the world of reptiles!!!!

 

[AZtortMom]

Yup *raising hand* happens here too. In fact just happened this morning. As soon as Moe finished eating, he lifted his head, while sitting in his food bowl, and proceeded to leave a nice steaming pile of poop. thanks buddy

 

[lisa127]

My box turtle does that too.

 

[TortsNTurtles]

My Rt does it too so she gets small ammounts of food until I know she peed since her routine is to pee at breakfast time. If your tortoise has a routine then you can soak when you know she is going to per or remove her from the bowl. Tortuga is a creature of habit she does the same routine every day. Also for cleaning I have a water can that I just rinse the urine etc. into the toilet right away. I would rather clean her bowl then the bacteria get into the substrate .

 

[TortoiseRN]

I tend to agree with Yvonne. It's a territorial behavior. I have a very large female RT that will lay on the food while eating. My other RTs will sit and watch her eat. When she's done she moves off and the others move in and eat their fill.

 

[Andrea M]

My Hermann pees in his food bowl every day and occasionally poops in it

 

[smarch]

My Russian, Franklin prefers to use his water as the bathroom almost guaranteed every time, makes it a very often changing process but at least I know he's going and it doesn't get lost in his mulch attracting bugs.

 

[tortoiseowner101]

My greek uses his water dish as a toilet seat