Help! New tortoise

[Aaduran]

My tortoise had been doing great and eating great for a month. Suddenly he doesn't want to eat and is walking funny. He gets up on his back legs and lowers his head to ground. He looks like he has trouble walking and his tail is HUGE. Definitely looks swollen. Any help would be greatly appreciated thank you!

 

[johnsonnboswell]

Vet care.

 

[ascott]

My tortoise had been doing great and eating great for a month. Suddenly he doesn't want to eat and is walking funny. He gets up on his back legs and lowers his head to ground. He looks like he has trouble walking and his tail is HUGE. Definitely looks swollen. Any help would be greatly appreciated thank you!

How often do you soak your tortoise? He may be a bit backed up? What type of substrate does he live on? What type of uva/uvb exposure does he get? How long have you had him and what is an example of what you offer him in the way of diet?

 

[tortdad]

Also tell us what temps you keep it at. Definitely sounds like it's constipated. You'll need to get that taken care of before it leads to prolapse.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

+1
A good, warm water soak and some natural laxative like cucumber, if he'll eat it.
There has been a lot of talk about vets..To go or not to go. If it were me, I'd see a vet like yesterday!

 

[Jodie]

I agree with the above. I would coat a cucumber with mineral oil. I have had great luck putting mineral oil on food for constipation. This seems to be pretty severe case. Prolapse is Definately a concern. I would be concerned he is trying to pass a stone or other obstruction. Good luck.

 

[Yvonne G]

Take a good look at the cloaca (the hole on the underside of the tail) and see if you can see a stone or hardened poop at the opening. If so, you can pick at it and try to help it out. You can squirt mineral oil from a dropper all around the stuck object to help lubricate it.

 

[Aaduran]

How often do I need to soak him? Hot water or warm? He eats cabbage daily

 

[leigti]

Warm water. Definitely not hot. Try soaking him in the water for at least 20 minutes.

 

[Aaduran]

i was never aware that I needed to soak him. How often and in what temperature of water? I feed him cabbage daily and keep a temperature of around 80-90 degrees

 

[crimson_lotus]

Eating the same thing daily is not good. Please vary the diet a bit more. I personally never feed any cabbage to my tortoise as it is not ideal food.

Check this site out:

http://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/site/plants_19.asp?catID=621

 

[Aaduran]

Thank you for the suggestions!! Will definitely take them! New to having a tortise

 

[crimson_lotus]

I would soak daily until whatever he has in there passes. Once it does I would personally reduce the soaks to 2-3 times a week.

 

[Aaduran]

What do you feed your tortise?

 

[leigti]

Don't wait around to do the soak. Do it now. Before or after the soak see if he'll eat some cucumber. My Russian tortoise loves cucumber. If he doesn't pass anything tonight I would take him to the vet tomorrow.

 

[crimson_lotus]

What do you feed your tortise?

My tortoise is a completely different species and requires a different diet. Judging by your tortoises butt I am going to guess he is a Russian. Here's a huge list of foods (mostly leafy greens and weeds) that you can choose from:

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...ises-marginated-greeks-russians-sulcata.5823/

I buy seed mixes and grow them for her to eat because I live in a cold climate and I stink at identifying weeds in my yard

Also, I don't know about anyone else, but I've never seen my tortoise poop so much after eating some cactus pads.

Did you look under his tail yet to see if anything is visibly stuck?

 

[Aaduran]

Thank you! I went a bought some more greens this evening. Nothing under his tail is visibily stuck but I soaked him earlier tonight and a whiteish brown "poop" came out. Hopefully this will help him.

 

[leigti]

Thank you! I went a bought some more greens this evening. Nothing under his tail is visibily stuck but I soaked him earlier tonight and a whiteish brown "poop" came out. Hopefully this will help him.

That's a good start. I would soak him every day for a week. Cactus is great for them, I scrape the spines off. Check out the list posted above, there are a lot of great things to choose from. I also buy Russian tortoise seed mix and grow it myself in the outdoor enclosure. I grow it indoors for the winter.

 

[leigti]

Check out the Russian tortoise section here on the forum. It will give you all the information you need for your tortoise. And don't hesitate to ask questions.

 

[Aaduran]

Thank you!