Avuwyy
Active Member
Just a question of curiosity. I have recently began giving my tortoise nutrazu in order to get him to eat hay as no matter how small I cut it up he will go out of his way to shovel it off any food he’s eating. So I’ve been introducing a few new foods to him, and I’m just wanting to make sure this is a common thing when altering a tortoise’s diet. But whenever he defecates in his soaks, white mucusy stuff comes out first, followed by his stool.
This mucus is white, but not really worm looking. It is stringy but it only comes out during the first push as he is defecating, and no other stool has this so I’d assume with worms they would be more frequent throughout his bowel movements (Instead of just picking to show themselves each time he first opens his bowels). It might be worth noting I used to see urates a lot when I first got him, perhaps due to the bad conditions he was being kept in at the time (Grainy urates), but now I don’t see those same urates. If these are urates then they don’t look like any urates I’ve seen in images…
Once he’s finished his soak I’ll make sure to pull it from his bath and lay it out on a piece of toilet roll just to show what I mean (If it will show on toilet roll). But in the meantime, is mucus normal for tortoise’s to pass when defecating? I’d assume a little bit is normal… This may be due to dietary changes as I did note changes to his diet above.
Sorry if this is everywhere, struggling a bit with my ability to type and comprehend my own typing right now. Any information on fecal mucus, or other possibilities in the meantime would be greatly appreciated (gives me stuff to research and familiarise myself with). Thanking you all!
This mucus is white, but not really worm looking. It is stringy but it only comes out during the first push as he is defecating, and no other stool has this so I’d assume with worms they would be more frequent throughout his bowel movements (Instead of just picking to show themselves each time he first opens his bowels). It might be worth noting I used to see urates a lot when I first got him, perhaps due to the bad conditions he was being kept in at the time (Grainy urates), but now I don’t see those same urates. If these are urates then they don’t look like any urates I’ve seen in images…
Once he’s finished his soak I’ll make sure to pull it from his bath and lay it out on a piece of toilet roll just to show what I mean (If it will show on toilet roll). But in the meantime, is mucus normal for tortoise’s to pass when defecating? I’d assume a little bit is normal… This may be due to dietary changes as I did note changes to his diet above.
Sorry if this is everywhere, struggling a bit with my ability to type and comprehend my own typing right now. Any information on fecal mucus, or other possibilities in the meantime would be greatly appreciated (gives me stuff to research and familiarise myself with). Thanking you all!