Hi, I have a red foot; ~2-3 years old. He has an outdoor cage with misting system that I turn on twice daily, a covered underground tunnel so he can escape the heat, 4 water dishes spread throughout his enclosure, and I feed him a varied diet of greens and fruit. Yesterday I gave him a hard boiled egg; I had done this in the past but only a little bit and yesterday I gave him a whole one. This morning when I went out to check on him, he was sitting in one of his water dishes and there was white "stuff" in it. I assumed it was feces that were white because of the egg, however today I gave him some greens and cantaloupe, and saw him eating them, but when I checked on him a little while later, he had thrown up the food. Now I am wondering if the egg was thrown up or if there is something else going on. Naturally this would happen over 4th of July weekend when it will be hard to find a vet, but I am in a city with a vet school/hospital so I could take him there if need be. Should I continue to monitor him or find somewhere to take him soon? Could the egg have upset his stomach?
red footed tortoise throwing up
- Thread starter mary a.
- Start date
Turtlepete
Well-Known Member
The egg just upset his stomach. Do not feed your tortoises hard boiled eggs. It will often give them diarrhea, or cause other problems. It's unlikely to do any lasting harm though. Just monitor him closely. Give him a nice warm soak and he will be fine in a day or two. And don't feed him egg again.
Thank you so much! I do not give him egg very often, and now I won't ever again. Should i hold off feeding him for a day or two to give his stomach time to settle? Why is it recommended for them? There is so much contradictory information: feed tortoise pellets; don't feed tortoise pellets: feed greens; watch the amount of greens: same with fruit: yes bananas; no bananas! Will he get enough protein just from his diet?
I don't own Redfoots, but do give him a warm soak too, and monitor him very carefully. Not sure I'd offer food at this point. Make sure he stays warm (outside is fine if it is warm enough).
Turtlepete
Well-Known Member
A lot of contradictions can be found in tortoise info, mainly due to old information still present. I don't know why some recommend boiled egg...I've heard of so many people having the same problem as you. It's not for red foots. Honestly, if fed a good diet, red foots have no need for meat protein anyways. As far as banana's, I'm not sure where it comes from that they are bad....Nothing wrong with them at all. Anything is bad if you overdo it, but once or twice a week? Completely fine.
I really don't understand the meat protein thing. The theory I've heard is they get "needed amino acids" from meat protein. In light of that, I have a 6-7 year old (I don't quite remember) female that I hatched, and will be producing f2 offspring probably by next year. Never fed meat protein, not once, and she has perfect, smooth growth, active. The picture of health. I don't see it as necessary. If you do want to provide meat protein though, use things like cooked chicken and turkey, not eggs.
I would just offer food; if he eats it, it won't bother him. If he doesn't, then he doesn't. Won't hurt him if he chooses to, though I doubt he will if he is still throwing up/having diarrhea.
