I want to talk for a moment about soaking time for our tortoises and Classical Conditioning. I noticed quite a while ago that none of our four California Desert Tortoises truely enjoyed their time soaking. Their response to a warm soak was hiding within the safety of their shells, or more often attempting to escape the confines of the Rubbermaid bathtub. These responses seemed to demonstrate stress to me. Distress is the last thing I want to heap upon our charges. I also noticed that they seemed to seek out a mud puddle on a rare California rainy day. No distress there. How could I encourage our torts to seek out a good soaking, without the mud. It was then that I remembered the Classical Conditioning I'd been taught in school. Well, our tortoises would do about anything for a tasty red hibiscus flower. I then placed a tort in a shallow bath of warm water . . . before he could make a hasty exit, I placed a big, red flower in front of his nose. Ta-da! Tortoise eats hibiscus and stays in warm bath. This worked for each of our CDTs, but now they eagerly go into their soak, as long as a tasty treat is in their spa as well. Well . . . did I trick our poor babies? I guess so . . . maybe. But it works. Come to think about it, my wifes been using similar tricks to get me to do something she wants for years . . . hummm. I don't like stress, and neither do our tortoises. I don't know if the tortoises like their warm soaks, but at least they no longer have to be forced into the water. Try some Classical Conditioning on your tortoises . . . everybody comes away happy.
