- Joined
- Mar 7, 2016
- Messages
- 27
So one of my rescued sulcatas has been making some straining noises the past week or so, pulling its head in, bulging its eyes, and squirming to push something out. I soaked him in warm water a couple times last saturday and he appeared to poop out a few large very dry logs of grass. So i thought great problem solved. Today I noticed he is still not moving around much like my other torts are, yes it's not as warm because of winter time but it's still 70 degrees here in so cal, so i decided to soak him in warm water again. There he starts pushing, straining and making those constipated noises again. I decided to put him away in his heated house and turn on the day bulbs and heat emmiter, check back after an hour and he's having even a harder time. I picked him up and was blown away by what i saw. His tail with his "butt hole" opening was huge and there was a huge white object stuck crowning like he was giving birth. I gloved up and tried to grab it, massage it, anything, with no luck and my wife telling me go to the vet... i proceeded to a great vet that deals with exotics. Took about 5 min for him to remove the object with a special curved tool and some lube he was able to pull it out... Now i'm left wondering what am I doing wrong!? I have 3 sulcatss and the other 2 are fine, normal urates sometimes a little hard but usually like tooth paste. It is either the water which is heavy in minerals "hard water", or it's just a combo of him not getting enough water and the quality of it. They only eat grass weeds and turnip greens twice a week or so, with a soak twice a week. I am also thinking maybe too much calcium powder on their turnip greens, maybe that is an issue as well. Anyhow your thoughts opinions and advise are all welcome, just want to figure this out so i can avoid this in the future, not cool to see any animal in pain passing a huge stone. He is all good for now and sleeping in his toasty house, I will be monitoring him closely the next few weeks. Thanks and enjoy the pics.