Hello. I hope your all well. I have a bit of a dilemma with my girl. She is an Iberian Greek. She is 11 inches long and 8 inches wide. We have a big enclosure for her but I always feel so sad for her in the winter. Anyway, we put a very big water bowl in the enclosure for her and she baths frequently in the bowl. Problem is she drags half a ton of substrate into the bowl with her. If we're out it means she has no drinking water. If I put something smaller in for her drinking water she climbs all over it. I've been wracking my brain what to put in, even a chicken water drinker so she can't climb on top of it. I was just wondering what other people do. Am I raising a problem tortoise lol. Thanks in advance. Mel.
Water bowl.
- Thread starter mellie101
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It’s a part of tortoise husbandry. 🤷♂️ Clean it out & refresh in the morning, then do it again in the evening. You can make sure the substrate is moist & firmly packed down around the dish. In the end, it’s what tortoises do. Just because there is some substrate in the dish doesn't mean it’s not drinkable.
Ps - where is the dish located within the enclosure? Sometimes, moving more centrally is better.
Ps2 - what kind of substrate?
PS3 - maybe a larger enclosure will help.
Ps - where is the dish located within the enclosure? Sometimes, moving more centrally is better.
Ps2 - what kind of substrate?
PS3 - maybe a larger enclosure will help.
I agree with what Mark said.
Where are you? Please go into your user CP and add a location for us. Perhaps outdoor housing could work if done correctly.
You could just put a large rock in the middle of the smaller dish so her head fits to drink but wouldn't be quite so easy to climb over
This will not hold a lot of water, and it will evaporate quickly, but could work for water (I use for food): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R4WCMT8/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20
If your setup is large enough, as it should be for your tortoise, you can get some large flat stones and set the pool down into a hole in the middle, so she walks over the stones or tiles before she can reach the pool. This will help keep a lot of the substrate from ending up in the water. Please post some pictures of the tortoise and the enclosure? Thanks.
