The importance of the Tera cotta dish.

[Elohi]

So this morning, shortly after I turned the lights on in my Leo hatchling enclosure, I went to check on them. I peeked in and discovered Freckles, the ever upside down tortoise, was yet again on her back. This time she was in the water dish! This is a good time to point out to those newer than myself at tortoise keeping, that Tera cotta dishes save lives. She was struggling to turn herself back over and all the while thrashing her head in the shallow dish. I immediately reached in and rolled her over. The importance of this story is, don't risk those deeper reptile water dishes, ramp or no ramp.

Freckles is the little queen of roll overs and she could have drown in anything deeper because it is obvious she isn't good at turning herself back over. I really have to keep an eye on her

 

[Tom]

Glad she's okay. Thank you for sharing this experience.

 

[Jacqui]

I am glad this had a happy ending. Please keep in mind however, it was not the tera cotta dish that made the difference, it is the fact that you selected a water source that gave the correct depth so your tortoises could use it, but still be able to keep the head above the water once on the back. Even using a terra cotta plant saucer, you can have a tortoise drown.