Help!!!!! My sulcata is constipated and can't poop

[GregUnd]

Last week I noticed my 1 1/2 year old sulcata was having trouble pooping, not being able to poop at all. What she's done is taking a liking to her cypress mulch. She likes to eat it.... Anyways, I left out of town and had someone feed her and soak her but she wasn't eating at all and when I got home and soaked her, she turned her nose up at her food and went back into hiding. I could see the poop at her poop hole that she was trying to pass for over a week so I got a pair of tweezers and very carefully helper her by extracting some. It's cypress mulch, some surprisingly large sticks and pieces... So this appears to be more of an impaction rather than constipation. I held her poop hole under running water and she try's and try's to poop but can't.


What else can I do?

 

[ascott]

Mineral oil, canned pumpkin (not the pie filling), squash, cucumber, watermelon---now, if your tort is not eating I would begin long warm water soaks (a couple times a day at least) also, I would remove that substrate----this is one of the reasons I am not partial to that type of substrate)...while anything consumed can contribute to impaction--some material is much more harmful...

I would soak soak soak...and if you are offering food---I would only offer foods right now that are way high water content...and if you can get the tort to take a few bites then in those treat bites I would inject mineral oil....

Now you must keep an eye on your torts behavior closely...you really need to lube the tort up from the inside out as well as soaking the tort....

 

[GregUnd]

I thought about taking a syringe and shooing a little "lubricant" up there, could it hurt? The poor girl, I can tell she's miserable. She knew what I was doing with the tweezers because she would actually hold her tail out and allow me to gently open her poop hole to get a good look inside, it's for sure clogged. I'm just worried how far up the impaction goes....

---

Also, I'm moving her from her habitat and putting her in a "hotel" so that I can monitor her poops, if she has one. At what point should I be looking to take her to the vet? In other words, should I do these things for another week or until she poops or is this an immediate emergency room visit?

 

[Laura]

well REMOVE the mulch and use something else...
try the above.. and a LONG soak.. make her crawl the walls.. or walk a lot..

 

[ascott]

How many days has she gone without poo'g? Have you been offering long warm water soaks? you would be surprised at how helpful soaks are....NOW, since you have a baby I would have a concern about going to the vet....one; you will encounter a vet that truly has no idea how to treat and would be rough and cause more damage....Also, if they do treat---what exactly will they be doing, you know what I mean....

I would really really try a couple days of soaking soaking soaking, I personally would do this a couple days before I considered the vet...NOW, that is what I would do...and in no way am telling you to not take your tort to the vet....I would just be a bit more worried about a baby going for this potential issue....

I hope you have a positive outcome and wait around a bit for some additional opinions to give you a bigger pool of experience....I had a CDT (adult) that was so impacted solid with sand that it took 5 to 6 weeks of 2 hour long soaks two and three times a day before he moved the sand and then after that he was poo'g perfectly round sand balls (perfect round)...then after he passed all the sand he suddenly had an appetite....so I hope you can get those damn sticks out....with as little stress as possible to the baby...and yes, I have heard of folks gently administering a touch of the mineral oil as your questioned...Yvonne has experience in this (emysemys) and perhaps you can pm her with your request for her method...

 

[GregUnd]

30min soaks daily is her normal routine, I'll soak her for a couple hours twice a day and try the above, hopefully she passes. I've been watching her try over and over again for 2 hours straight now.

 

[ascott]

30min soaks daily is her normal routine, I'll soak her for a couple hours twice a day and try the above, hopefully she passes. I've been watching her try over and over again for 2 hours straight now.

Man, this is a tough thing to go through...and even worse when it is a baby....be very gentle when dealing with her little butt...remember that you are dealing with wood slivers so tearing can occur....lube her up and soak her....if you are not confident in doing this and if you have a reptile vet you are comfortable with then take her onto the vet....

 

[alben909]

Soak many times a day in luke warm water. I would also use a syringe to inject mineral oil. Well, at least that's what my uncle did when his tort ate a woodchip.

 

[Laura]

and dont let her get cold.. keep her warm.
Will she eat anyting at all?

 

[GregUnd]

So me being me and had a hard time watching her suffer, I grabbed a head set flash light and took another good look up her....butthole.... I could see exactly what it was. I took a round set of tweezers(not sharp or pointy) and opened up her rear end a bit and took another set of tweezers and started to break the piece of mulch down. I finally pieced it apart enough to where I thought I could try to extract it, as I was pulling gently she started to push, it was a team effort. I got it out after a couple of pushes from her and me pulling constantly but gently. There was no way in hell she would have been able to pass this thing in any timely fashion.... I don't know how she ate it, it's as big as her head.... I took pics that I'll post tomorrow. I put her back in her soak, she's walking around normally and not trying to push anything out, so hopefully theres not another piece like that in there. Truly amazed at how she ate this. She's sleeping in her "hotel" tonight and getting new substrate tomorrow. Wow....

 

[dmmj]

You are gonna want to use a substrate that if she decides to eat, will be easily passable, wood chips is not one of those items.

 

[GregUnd]

I've always seen that cypress mulch was a great choice but apparently not for her. She has sphagnum moss in her hideout, doesn't seem to eat that, would that be a better, yet expensive choice?

 

[EKLC]

I'm a big fan of coco coir, but organic peat moss (not spaghnum) is similar and is relatively cheap at a hardware store. the peat moss tends to stick to them more though

 

[GregUnd]

Just an update - about a week and a half ago she finally cleared all her blockage, this final piece was unexplainably large..... But after a couple of days, she has come out of hiding and is a completely new tort. She's eating 3 times a day and is more active than I've ever seen. I replaced her substrate with Forrest moss, she seems to love it. She can burrow in it, move it around, and eat it. She's back!

 

[JoesMum]

Glad to hear things have improved

Do you use a coloured lamp in her enclosure?

Tortoises love things that are coloured red and sometimes the light from a coloured bulb can confuse them into eating non-food items.

 

[DeanS]

If you can find some aloe vera...chop it up super small...and see if the little one eats it...that'll definitely help the process!

 

[GregUnd]

Nope, just the zoo-med UVB bulb

 

[Yvonne G]

For future reference concerning a constipated tortoise:

Clean out your bath tub real well and rinse it good. Put in enough warm water to come up to the middle of the tortoise's sides.

The combination of lots of walking around in the tub and scrambling to get out, in the warm water usually makes them poop.

This probably wouldn't work with a blockage, but it works well for general constipation.

 

[Tom]

Greg, Glad the problem has passed, but did you ever determine the cause of her wanting to eat the substrate? If it wasn't a colored bulb, there may be a dietary deficiency. What were you feeding at the time she was eating her cypress mulch and what are you feeding now?

 

[GregUnd]

Tom,
She has always eaten a spring mix, Fresh Express, at least once a day. I have no idea why she eats her substrate, but she eats her Forrest moss too. Any ideas?