washing question

[heyprettyrave]

i was told that i should use a tooth brush to brush my tortoise's shell with antibacterial soap. i did this today, but she seemed to hate it.

I was curious as to if its truly necessary to do and if so, how i should go about doing it and how often.

 

[terryo]

I've never done that or heard of it either. If she gets really dirty, just give her a soak for a few minutes.

 

[heyprettyrave]

Yeah i was told at Petco that i had to do it. and she hated every minute of it..
i didnt see where it was necessary unless she was extremely dirty anyways.
but thank you

 

[dmmj]

some people wash them with like warm water and stuff, but I jus sprikle them sometimes when they are outside. I personally have never heard of using anti soap though.

 

[heyprettyrave]

so would that be bad for her to have on her shell, i rinsed it off

 

[dmmj]

I can't say bad, but I would imagine it is not good to have soap of any kind on a turtles/tortoises shell, I would just avoid it altogether honstly.

 

[heyprettyrave]

wow. so basically do not listen to the people at petco. ha ha from now on i take my advice from the experts

thanks

 

[Madkins007]

Several studies suggest that antibacterial handsoap is not that good for humans either, I would definitely not use it for torts.

I would bet that they were trying to tell you to wash YOUR hands after handling it, but got the message garbled.

I rarely wash my torts, but when I do (usually for a show or photos), I just use warm water and an old washcloth or soft brush, and maybe some salt if I need more scrubbing power.

 

[heyprettyrave]

im positive thats what the guy said.
but i agree

 

[Stephanie Logan]

You aren't the first person on this forum to get bad info from a pet store! They are in the business of selling products, not of doing things simply, inexpensively, and sparingly to protect the tortoise from unnecessary stress.

You would be wise to ask the many vastly experienced tortoise keepers here for their opinions before acting on any advice that doesn't seem "right".

 

[matt41gb]

Brushing a tortoise with a tooth brush is also very stressful. They're wild animals and don't need to be brushed like that. It would be better just for you to use it on yourself instead. Yeah, you have to be careful with what pet store people tell you. They normally don't know what they're talking about.

 

[grettas mom]

Ok. I hope I dont offend anyone, if I do, I aplolgize ahead of time. I honestly will never trust Petco, but I guess I am biased because I work at a Petsmart. Now I dont defend any specific petstores, because most of them dont know what they are talking about when it comes to animals, much less reptiles in general. But I would honestly say that Petsmart is probably going to be more reliable that Petco because we go through quite extensive training before we are able to work in the petcare department and we are trained to not answer a question by a customer if we are not 100% sure of the answer.

 

[heyprettyrave]

i am alittle upset with everything ive heard from the pet stores. everything they have told me was either wrong or it didnt work and i wasted alot of money on things that havent worked for her. but thank you

 

[Itort]

I have found that my redfoots enjoy being muddy. In the outside enclosure I have created a mud wallow (if I didn't they make their own) in addition to the pool.

 

[Redfoot NERD]

Ok. I hope I dont offend anyone, if I do, I aplolgize ahead of time. I honestly will never trust Petco, but I guess I am biased because I work at a Petsmart. Now I dont defend any specific petstores, because most of them dont know what they are talking about when it comes to animals, much less reptiles in general. But I would honestly say that Petsmart is probably going to be more reliable that Petco because we go through quite extensive training before we are able to work in the petcare department and we are trained to not answer a question by a customer if we are not 100% sure of the answer.

Virtually the evil of 2 lesser's gretta's mom...... hopefully you can bring 'some' wisdom to them - but you will be talking to those that are still "PET" mentality! I do hope y'all understand what I'm saying here...

NERD

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Ok. I hope I dont offend anyone, if I do, I aplolgize ahead of time. I honestly will never trust Petco, but I guess I am biased because I work at a Petsmart. Now I dont defend any specific petstores, because most of them dont know what they are talking about when it comes to animals, much less reptiles in general. But I would honestly say that Petsmart is probably going to be more reliable that Petco because we go through quite extensive training before we are able to work in the petcare department and we are trained to not answer a question by a customer if we are not 100% sure of the answer.

I just talked to a girl at Petsmart a couple weeks ago when I was there for cat food and noticed 2 Russians and a Redfoot in the same enclosure...she was very concerned about "her" tortoises and told me she'd been reading up on them and loved watching them and caring for them, so I recommended this forum and didn't have the heart to criticize the iceberg lettuce with carrot mixed in that was the only food in there. Certainly she seemed to want to do what was right, and they did have a hide and lights and clean substrate...