Help! my yearling radiated doesn't poop

[kelogz08]

Hi everyone,

I recently have a radiated tortoise yearling exactly a week ago. However, the only time the tort pooped is when i got him. He pooped in his box during the transport. Ever since, he has not pooped. He is still eating but not finishing up the whole dish. I fed him spring mix, kale, grassland tortoise pellet (soak in water) once only. Now trying to feed him nopales cactus, aloe vera and canned pumpkin.

He is not lethargic but not that active walking around my 75 gallon tank

I still have him in a closed chamber with cypress mulch as substrate. initially with a baking temp of 95-98 degrees for 14 hours together with a tube UVB, and in the past 2 days i have raised the basking to >100 degrees. At night i turn everything off and temp is around 70 degrees. humidity is controlled between 65->80%

am I missing out something? I dont want to lose the little guy. I have seen thread with poop problems, I was wondering if there is a specific thing i must do for radiateds

I will really appreciate your input

 

[Yvonne G]

They sometimes eat it before you see it, but if you think he's getting stopped up, leave him in the soaking water extra long. When he starts clambering around to get out, it usually causes lots of pooping to happen.

 

[kelogz08]

ok i'll try, he does hate the soak. I'll leave him in the water inside his chamber under the basking lamp to maintain temperature. hopefully he will poop

 

[Yvonne G]

Hating it and scrambling to get out is what makes them poop. Be strong.

 

[zovick]

You should be soaking your Radiated Tortoise in lukewarm water for 15-20 minutes every day. Once in a week is not enough.

That being said, it most likely pooped out almost everything it had eaten when you brought it home. It may take a full week for its intestines to fill back up with digested material, especially if it isn't eating a lot, which many Radiated Tortoises don't after they have been moved to a new home. Start soaking it daily and keep feeding it, and it will reward you with some poop shortly.

 

[kelogz08]

thank you so much for all the inputs. Should I give it 1 more week before sending the guy to the vet if there is not much improvement?

 

[zovick]

thank you so much for all the inputs. Should I give it 1 more week before sending the guy to the vet if there is not much improvement?

I would give it another week as long as it is eating a little and moving around daily. Keep soaking it every day and it should go poop before the week is over. If it doesn't eat or move and appears "depressed", then take it to the vet. Otherwise, you should be OK with holding off for a week.

You could also ask the seller what some of its favorite foods were and offer it those items in an effort to get it to eat more for you.

 

[zovick]

If you give me your email address, I will send you some Radiated Tortoise care info which I have written after 50+ years of keeping this species.

 

[jorg]

If you give me your email address, I will send you some Radiated Tortoise care info which I have written after 60+ years of keeping this species.

Can you also send it to me please?
[email protected]

Thanks

 

[kelogz08]

Please, i would appreciate it.

[email protected]

 

[8james8]

My very first did the same thing. Slow appetite to start after the trip but it picked up. Daily soaks are a must for young tortoises.
I also copied the diet from the person I bought her from.

It was long after she feel into the routine that she began to flourish and acclimate. I also had the same advice from Bill you see above.

Each animal reacts differently to a change in environment and the stress from the trip itself.

 

[Pearly]

ok i'll try, he does hate the soak. I'll leave him in the water inside his chamber under the basking lamp to maintain temperature. hopefully he will poop

Mine used to hate it too, and that was pretty distressing for me to watch as well, and then someone on this forum posted pics of their tort soaking in the sink... which made me think "why not a tub?" Which is exactly what I started doing in our unused small bathtub. Not sure if I'd want to share mine with torts, the cleaning would probably take way too long. but this was a magic move for my babies, bcs they seem to love their bath time. I always put some treats in there for them, and they just chill. Did it daily their first year and now they are 2 yrs old my goal is every other day and if I can't then at least 2x week. they also seem to enjoy the deeper water as I always see them march towards the drain side of the tub where the water is deeper for them I typically put something green in there and some other munchies this is my pooper scooper and drain strainer (I cover the drain with it to trap any bigger stuff from going down the plumbing) Using gun thermometer- keep their bath water betw. 95-104, with starting with cooler water that matches their owb body temp and then slowly warming them up, so towards the end of their bath their body temps are more like this, the goal is always to slowly raise their carapace temp reading to at least 85F. I hope this helps you in some small way until you figure out your own system. Radiated is such gorgeous tortoise! Enjoy yours and good luck!

 

[Pearly]

thank you so much for all the inputs. Should I give it 1 more week before sending the guy to the vet if there is not much improvement?

I would also look into diversifying the diet. Incorporate finely chopped cactus pad (opuntia) or aloe, or add chopped cucumber, chop up food, mix with soaked mashed pellets and add finely diced cucumber, for flavor and scent. And, one week with no poo isn't really the end of world. Before worrying anymore, I'd start daily baths, and change diet, keep him warm/humid, allow some outdoor exercise out in the sun, and all will be well

 

[kelogz08]

Thank you all so much for the advices. So far im doing daily extra long soaks under the basking lamp, feeding her cactus pads and aloe (because my tort hates canned pumpkin). Basking temp is now around 100-110 degrees in a closed chamber which makes the cooler side 74-87 degrees. He continues to roam around, eats a little then roams around again. So far still active but he goes to bed early

 

[xiaobochu]

I soak my rad babies twice a day before I feed them. If babies do not poops in water with 10 mins (Usually they will poop in 5 mins), I will rub their bellies lightly for 20 sec. they will poops less than 5 mins

 

[kelogz08]

NEWS FLASH! the tortoise finally pooped! it was MASSIVE! lol

 

[kelogz08]

I think what also helped was the bene bac that bill suggested in his article. Thanks again bill

 

[8james8]

Good news keep it up and things should become regular

 

[tglazie]

Sorry to get into this thread so late, but I just wanted to reinforce the advice given here with a bit of personal experience. Hydration is absolutely critical with tortoises in general, and I know this from having been a fool for years who didn't hydrate my animals properly. In the early 2000s when I was trying to raise a colony of leopard tortoises from hatchlings, I could never understand why all six of my babies died on me. I now understand that they perished as a result of the fact that I was putting them outdoors while watering them only two times per week. This was nowhere near enough to ensure that these delicate babies would survive. The common wisdom back in those days was that babies hatch into the same environment as adults and should therefore be treated the same, but this is simply untrue. I've seen many Texas tortoises on my various excursions into Choke Canyon and other wild areas south of San Antonio, but of the hundred or so Texas tortoises I've seen, I've only seen one juvenile (it wasn't even a hatchling; I'd figure the animal must've been at least two or three years old). This is because babies stay hidden. They're not subject to the harsh, rocky, sun baked landscape that their parents traverse every morning and evening. One must also contend with the fact that most don't survive to adulthood.

Anywho, I find that rads, more than the baby margies I'm most accustomed to raising, are absolutely enthusiastic about bath time. Perhaps this is a result of personality differences particular to each given species, but I find that rads especially enjoy bath time. They even maintain this Pavlovian response that I've not seen in other species where the void urine and feces when I bring them indoors in the evening. See, every morning, I put my baby rads outdoors, but before this, I give them a bath. When I bring them back indoors, they always get a bath, and in anticipation of this, more times than not, they start voiding urine and feces before they even hit the water. I've theorized that they have come to learn that when I put them in the container to go indoors for the night that I will give them a bath before putting them away, so they start going to the bathroom immediately. Perhaps this can be chalked up to a scare response, but honestly, I don't handle them for more than a second, and I've seen only the wildest of tortoises do this, and when they do, they're typically in my hand, not in a crate. I don't know if this can be stated with absolute certainty. But I've noticed that this doesn't occur so frequently with my other tortoises.

Regardless, their enjoyment of bath time is something that can't be denied. They stretch out their legs, raise up their heads, and periodically dip their mouths into the water. They can sit this way for up to thirty minutes before getting restless, though I'm not sure if that thirty minute time period is universal. Generally, two of my rads end up getting restless, and when they bump up against the others, it causes something of a bath time stampede. If I compare this with my margies, though, margie babies, especially young ones, become incredibly restless in the bath almost immediately, especially if they've been outdoors frolicking.

Whether they enjoy bathtime or not, though, is irrelevant, in my view. I make sure to soak all babies twice per day and allow them access to lightly moistened coco coir to ensure that they stay hydrated. A hydrated tortoise is generally a healthy tortoise.

T.G.

 

[kelogz08]

Thanks tg for that well written reply. I appreciate everybody's input. So far my little guy is pooping 2-3x per week during her daily soaks