Bleeding from cloaca?

[Avuwyy]

Today I was soaking my tortoise, and I found he was straining really bad to defecate, so usually if he is struggling I will take him out of the water for a moment and keep him in my palms to keep him warm, rubbing his stomach gently as I do so. This works typically and I would put him back afterwards to finish his soak, but today, he did defecate, and after I wiped him up, he made a small squeaking noise and released some sort of red substance, it wasn’t as dark or thick as blood, but it was red and almost like water. Afterwards all of his feces flooded out.

I’m not sure if this is a massive concern, I recently changed his bedding from aspen because aspen isn’t good, and changed it to a tortoise bedding mix (note: it DOES have sand and gravel, but the aspen was affecting his eyes. And I ordered top soil online but it has failed to be delivered and alas I have no money to spend on a safe soil for his habitat so this substrate was all I could get). For the first day he was trying to eat the gravel before he realised that gravel doesn’t taste good, and since he got his new bedding he seems a whole lot more active, and is even walking towards his food dish to eat (and getting stuck face first into his food), which was a serious issue in the past.

I only have enough money now for travel to work, I hardly have enough money for my food, so I literally cannot afford a vet bill right now. I’m hoping it’s nothing serious...
And yes I know it’s not advice I can get from the average tortoise keeper, and I should consult a vet, I know for certain I will if it happens again, but for now I just want to see if this is normal.. he has been eating a lot of radicchio recently so I’m not sure if that would be a cause...

Thanks in advance..

 

[wellington]

Jumping to the vet is not the best first thing to do anyway as many do more harm then good so your good for now not going
What I would do is soak him 2 times daily and in a large container or your bath tub so he can move around a lot. Moving and warm water helps get things moving. I would also feed him some cucumber daily or romaine for a couple days. Its added water and will also help him pass anything that might be getting hung up inside. Do these things until all seems normal or 3-4 days. If it keeps happening then get him checked for parasites.

 

[Avuwyy]

Jumping to the vet is not the best first thing to do anyway as many do more harm then good so your good for now not going
What I would do is soak him 2 times daily and in a large container or your bath tub so he can move around a lot. Moving and warm water helps get things moving. I would also feed him some cucumber daily or romaine for a couple days. Its added water and will also help him pass anything that might be getting hung up inside. Do these things until all seems normal or 3-4 days. If it keeps happening then get him checked for parasites.

I always soak him twice a day (I didn’t today which is weird, I didn’t have the time so I extended his one soak). I’ll try him in the bathtub, I’m just concerned about his size in the tub, he’s only 5cm ^^; and he always has a small piece of cucumber diced in his food bowl to encourage water intake. Infact after I found this red substance, I put him to bed an hour later waking him up with a bit of cucumber to chomp on and helped lure him to his humidity box to sleep (He enjoys sleeping there and for some reason he was sleeping in the open which was unusual).

 

[wellington]

I wouldn't give him the romaine or cucumber every day for a long period. For a couple days, 2-3 days and then dont give it. You can give a little one day a week but if hes drinking he wont need it.
The tub will be fine, you always keep your eye on him during soak. The water should not be too deep, just a little higher then where the top and bottom shell meets.