The water bowl situation

[smarch]

My little Russian Franklin has a horrible habit of making a mess out of his water bowl, sure it gets dirty so I cram and refill everyday, but he's got into a horrible habit of spilling it... Everywhere I came home the other day to find the container on the othe side of the tank water spilled completely in his mulch. Dried it all out the best I could, but is there any way to help curb this behavior?

 

[Tom]

You need a bigger better water bowl that he can't tip. I like to use terra cotta plant saucers and semi-bury them so they are flush with the surface.

The cleaning thing is unavoidable. If you keep the water bowl away from the sides they tend to walk in it less, but you still need to clean it at least once a day if not more.

 

[Yvonne G]

Its always good to give your animals fresh water daily anyway. Because tortoises tend to walk the perimeter, if you move the waterer to the middle of the habitat and he'll stay out of it unless he wants a drink. Steppe tortoises, in my experience, aren't that fond of soaking.

 

[smarch]

Thanks, I'll look into a better bowl one more dense. And Franklin isn't too find of forced soaks, but is actually quite fine when he goes for a dip himself, and since I k ow he gets the water I give him a soak every 2 weeks. And I do give him fresh water daily, don't think I specified that cuz I know it's impossible to stop that cuz he uses it as a nice toilet, gross but easy to clean his enclosure.

 

[safari_lass1]

Thanks, I'll look into a better bowl one more dense. And Franklin isn't too find of forced soaks, but is actually quite fine when he goes for a dip himself, and since I k ow he gets the water I give him a soak every 2 weeks. And I do give him fresh water daily, don't think I specified that cuz I know it's impossible to stop that cuz he uses it as a nice toilet, gross but easy to clean his enclosure.

And a great way to know that he is soaking mine usually won't go potty until they have been soaking at least 8-10 minutes

 

[RosieRedfoot]

My Rosie soaks half the day it seems.. Usually just with like two feet in the pool and her body under the heat lamp. Her own personal spa! She also poops after soaking but it's usually by the water and not in it. She does drag tons of moss into the water dish and sometimes her greens too, so when I revamp her enclosure I'll be putting washed large flat river rocks around her ceramic planter dish in an attempt to keep it cleaner!

 

[mainey34]

I agree with Tom terra cotta saucer is the way to go. Its heavy enough.. good luck.

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

I've found that some tortoises just have the need to burrow under their water dishes. What I've found works very well is to silicone the water dish to a piece of tile, (12"x12") and bury that in the substrate. They will still go for trying to get under the dish but won't be able to flip it. Do this clean though, for some reason tortoises find dried silicone appetizing and they will try to eat it.