Problem with my tortoises poop :(

[JoshGoldberg]

Lil'zilla was just eating grass and weeds when she pooped, at first it was normal, black in a ball and slightly moist but now it's stuck and Hard! I'm worried and don't know what to do please help me

 

[JoshGoldberg]

She just pooped it out but I think it hurt her, her poop hole(don't know how else to describe it) looks swolen and is quite large

 

[Tortoisefanatic88]

Did you examine it after? From the picture it looks like a small object or a rock it might have eaten?

 

[JoshGoldberg]

Did you examine it after? From the picture it looks like a small object or a rock it might have eaten?

There was nothing inside, it was just hard

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Maybe she could use a little more hydration.. ?

Does the tort have a water dish? Does it ever use it?
Do you ever soak the tort, like give it a bath?

Next time it's got a hard, straining poop put her in a shallow tub of warm water. Give her 20 minutes or so and it should help loosen things up, or at least make it easier to pass.

Best to prevent constipation though by keeping her well hydrated and feed the right foods.

 

[JoesMum]

If your tort is passing hard poop it does suggest a hydration problem. Daily twenty minute soaks to ensure that your tort takes enough water on board will help to soften it. Soak food stuffs before feeding too; serve leaves wet so your tort can't help taking in water.

 

[JoshGoldberg]

Maybe she could use a little more hydration.. ?

Does the tort have a water dish? Does it ever use it?
Do you ever soak the tort, like give it a bath?

Next time it's got a hard, straining poop put her in a shallow tub of warm water. Give her 20 minutes or so and it should help loosen things up, or at least make it easier to pass.

Best to prevent constipation though by keeping her well hydrated and feed the right foods.

I soak twice a day about 15 minutes à day, sometimes I put get in a water bowl outside with food floating inside, she always drinks, rarely poops and doesn't pee a lot either, she only eats grass and dandelions

 

[JoesMum]

Tort poop and pee can be hard to find, especially in an outdoor enclosure. A well hydrated will passon a tuny amount of white urate which makes that tell tale sign hard to spot... and a small tort like yours will be doing relatively small poops. A bigger tort like my Joe passes a lot more poop... actually I'm starting to wonder if there's a small elephant out back at the moment as there is so much on the grass!

It sounds like you may have diet issues if your tort is only eating grass and dandelions... they will hold out for what they like best, so sometimes you have to be a tough parent and only feed other stuff. They will eat it when they're hungry and won't come to any harm going on hunger strike for a while.

Do you weigh your tort? (Weekly is plenty and try to do it at roughly the same time of day each time) Is he otherwise fit well and active? As was suggested earlier, it could just have been a rock that was eaten by accident that made the poop hard.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

As well as the water soaks, something that contains a lot of water, like cucumber can be fed in small quantity.
And YES. They eat rocks, dirt clots and love items that they find roaming around inside of a house.

 

[JoshGoldberg]

Tort poop and pee can be hard to find, especially in an outdoor enclosure. A well hydrated will passon a tuny amount of white urate which makes that tell tale sign hard to spot... and a small tort like yours will be doing relatively small poops. A bigger tort like my Joe passes a lot more poop... actually I'm starting to wonder if there's a small elephant out back at the moment as there is so much on the grass!

It sounds like you may have diet issues if your tort is only eating grass and dandelions... they will hold out for what they like best, so sometimes you have to be a tough parent and only feed other stuff. They will eat it when they're hungry and won't come to any harm going on hunger strike for a while.

Do you weigh your tort? (Weekly is plenty and try to do it at roughly the same time of day each time) Is he otherwise fit well and active? As was suggested earlier, it could just have been a rock that was eaten by accident that made the poop hard.

Her poop isn't that small!! It's bigger than her head

 

[JoshGoldberg]

Also what do you mean diet issues? She eats on the lawn all day every day

 

[JoesMum]

Also what do you mean diet issues? She eats on the lawn all day every day

I said "may" as variety is good and just grass and dandelions is not variety. However, your tort is grazing and not living indoors being given just those so assuming your lawn, like mine, has a variety of weeds in it variety will be there.

My tort does seem to be clover obsessed at the moment, but I do know he is eating more than that and do supplement his diet too, especially when the weeds aren't growing as well as they are now

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I have an adult female RF that poops everywhere and it is disturbingly large. However, my even larger male seldom has poo visible in his enclosure. They eat the same diet and live in the same yard.
All pooping is different.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Can you share with us the species and age of this tortoise?
From the small photo it looked to be a hatchling Sulcata to me. But you mention it lives outside and eats grass...so I'm confused.

 

[DawnH]

Also what do you mean diet issues? She eats on the lawn all day every day

I thought you said on another thread she was not eating grass?

 

[DawnH]

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/baby-sulcata-wont-eat-grass.122169/#post-1128139

 

[JoshGoldberg]

Tort poop and pee can be hard to find, especially in an outdoor enclosure. A well hydrated will passon a tuny amount of white urate which makes that tell tale sign hard to spot... and a small tort like yours will be doing relatively small poops. A bigger tort like my Joe passes a lot more poop... actually I'm starting to wonder if there's one a small elephant out back at the moment as there is so much on the grass!

It sounds like you may have diet issues if your tort is only eating grass and dandelions... they will hold out for what they like best, so sometimes you have to be a tough parent and only feed other stuff. They will eat it when they're hungry and won't come to any harm going on hunger strike for a while.

Do you weigh your tort? (Weekly is plenty and try to do it at roughly the same time of day each time) Is he otherwise fit well and active? As was suggested earlier, it could just have been a rock that was eaten by accident that made the poop hard.

How do I know if she is hydrated enough? She just spent 7 hours outside and won't drink a lot of water or eat a lot of cucumber, how do I know if she is hydrated or not?

 

[JoshGoldberg]

I thought you said on another thread she was not eating grass?

I took away the weeds and now she eats dandelions and a lot of grass

 

[Yvonne G]

When soaking a baby tortoise, you use a small bowl with tall sides that the baby can't climb out of, add enough water to come up to the middle of the baby's sides and leave him in there for 15 or 20 minutes. If he scrambles around that's ok. Some of them don't like it and some do. He will absorb a bit of water through the thin skin on his neck and around his cloaca (cloaca=poop hole).

I'm assuming you're cutting the grass and feeding it to him? If that's the case, you can also spray water over the food right before he eats. They get water that way too.

That really hard poop says he isn't hydrated enough.

 

[JoshGoldberg]

Can you share with us the species and age of this tortoise?
From the small photo it looked to be a hatchling Sulcata to me. But you mention it lives outside and eats grass...so I'm confused.

Even I am confused! She doesn't live outside, she is less than a year, a sulcata, and she is only outside if there is shade and she is out side for about 7 hours, but she does have a water bowl and a shaded area to go to that is about 10-20 degrees cooler than the sun

When soaking a baby tortoise, you use a small bowl with tall sides that the baby can't climb out of, add enough water to come up to the middle of the baby's sides and leave him in there for 15 or 20 minutes. If he scrambles around that's ok. Some of them don't like it and some do. He will absorb a bit of water through the thin skin on his neck and around his cloaca (cloaca=poop hole).

I'm assuming you're cutting the grass and feeding it to him? If that's the case, you can also spray water over the food right before he eats. They get water that way too.

That really hard poop says he isn't hydrated enough.

Oh and no I dont cut the grass! She eats it by her self, and sometimes its like she doesnt even chew... and I put down water on the whole area that she eats on.