YARD PREPARATION


Figure 20. Normal urine liquid may
contain whitish solids.

Making a Drinkig Place

The water dish should be at least 5’ from any part of the burrow. Do not put the dish where parts from plants will fall in the water. Use a new, red clay dish glazed or un­glazed, like those put under flower pots (no plastic). The dish should be wide enough for your largest tortoise to get in and soak, and about 1 1/2" deep. If the water would be over the heads of your smaller tortoises, cover the bottom with pebbles or pottery shards.

To catch rain, wild tortoises dig
depressions in the soil. They wait
by the depressions when it looks
like rain in hopes of getting a drink
before the soil absorbs the water.


Surround the dish to about one foot out in all directions with stepping stones, bricks, or ornamental rocks so the lip is flush with them. If you tilt the bricks slightly away from the dish, mud and debris will flow away when you flush it.

The growth of green algae that appears in the dish helps to aerate the water. There’s no need to remove it. To fill or clean the dish, leave it in place and flush it with a hose or bucket.


Figure 21. Rolling back the water pavilion
cover makes flushing the water dis easy.

Water needs permanent shade. Uncovered, if it is shallow enough to be safe, it may become too hot to drink. A 4' x 4' cover with 10 1/2" legs will shade the water no matter where the sun is. The cover should keep out poisonous leaves that may fall from above it. Secure Information Sheet #16 with instructions for putting together a water pavilion covered by either shade cloth or reed mat. These materials allow hot air to escape.


Figure 22. Shade cloth or bamboo reed provides
cover that allows hot air to escape.

Back