Will the tortoise drinker tag paper around it harm the tortoise?

qiangzhu

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I have a 2.5 year old sulcata tortoise which is around 20cms in the belly shell. I got a tortoise drinker for him like this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002AQE6W/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20. Today, I found him pushed the drinker down and started to eat the tag paper. I threw the the paper when I found that but he has already eaten some of them. The tag paper looks not pure paper. The outside is polished and I am not sure it is plastic or some kind of polished paper. I am worried about this health now.
 

LaLaP

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I think he’ll be fine. They eat all kinds of weird things. Just soak a lot to help him pass it.
The waterer doesn’t look very functional for a tortoise though. It’ll be awkward for him to drink from it and he can’t soak himself in it which is important. A terra-cotta plant saucer would be a better choice. Or if he likes this waterer you could provide both.
 

qiangzhu

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I think he’ll be fine. They eat all kinds of weird things. Just soak a lot to help him pass it.
The waterer doesn’t look very functional for a tortoise though. It’ll be awkward for him to drink from it and he can’t soak himself in it which is important. A terra-cotta plant saucer would be a better choice. Or if he likes this waterer you could provide both.
Thanks! I use this waterer is that I don’t want him to soak in the waterer. Otherwise he will make the water in the waterer pretty dirty and messy. I cannot look at his enclosure and change water for clean water for him all the time. I don’t know if it is good for him to drink unclean water. But I do soak him 4 times a week. 1 hour each time.
 

Maro2Bear

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Don’t worry about the paper at all. Torts eat all kinds of good & bad & neutral stuff. I really doubt you will be able to get your tort to drink from this.....maybe if you bury the saucer down into the substrate your tort might drink from it..

How large is your enclosure, maybe get a much larger auto waterer...

Torts drink all kinds of clean and “dirty” water. Change it once/day & you will be fine.
 

qiangzhu

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Don’t worry about the paper at all. Torts eat all kinds of good & bad & neutral stuff. I really doubt you will be able to get your tort to drink from this.....maybe if you bury the saucer down into the substrate your tort might drink from it..

How large is your enclosure, maybe get a much larger auto waterer...

Torts drink all kinds of clean and “dirty” water. Change it once/day & you will be fine.
Maybe you are right. I never see my Sulcata or Russian drink water. Neither from this nor at the time I soak them. But I do see my radiated tortoise drink a lot of water from this and when I soak him.
 

Tom

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I agree with the other posters. I don't think eating a little bit of the tag will hurt him, and I would not recommend a waterer like that for a tortoise. Use a terra cotta saucer sunk into the substrate and change the water once or twice a day if needed.
 
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