Dry Poop Stuck

[Victorvelasquez0612]

I really hope this isn’t too concerning because I’ve been taking care of her exactly as I read online. So 2 days ago, while soaking my baby tortoise I noticed she has a hard poop stuck on her bottom. It immediately brought a red flag to me as I didn’t know what to do. I do keep giving her greens such as lettuce and there has been small progress as the picture shown is today where her poop is more out than 2 days ago since I’ve been soaking her with warm water after I got information here on what to do in this situation. However it still concerns me that it hasn’t fully come out yet. What do I do? Please let me know as soon as I can. I don’t want to panic yet.

 

[I Love Tortoises]

It's best to ask an expert @Yvonne G @Tom @wellington. But I have some advice too. If you dont have a water dish, put one.It may be caused by dehydration. How long do you soak it for? Everyday for 30 mins is reccomended.

 

[zolasmum]

It's best to ask an expert @Yvonne G @Tom @wellington. But I have some advice too. If you dont have a water dish, put one.It may be caused by dehydration. How long do you soak it for? Everyday for 30 mins is reccomended.

Have you any mineral oil or similar? If you put a blob on the area, and attempt to spread it around there a bit, it might help loosen it. Try again in half an hour or so, and repeat often. I'm not an expert, but that might help.
Poor little thing !
Angie

 

[Victorvelasquez0612]

It's best to ask an expert @Yvonne G @Tom @wellington. But I have some advice too. If you dont have a water dish, put one.It may be caused by dehydration. How long do you soak it for? Everyday for 30 mins is reccomended.

Usually 30 minutes I keep her soaked and she does enjoy it. As I did mention, the soaking in warm water has helped a bit for the dry poop to come outside a little more. Could it perhaps be the lettuce? Am I perhaps not giving her the right greens? I’m very close with her and I’m very concerning that I’m not taking care of her properly despite looking at how to take care of her and what to give her.

 

[Victorvelasquez0612]

Have you any mineral oil or similar? If you put a blob on the area, and attempt to spread it around there a bit, it might help loosen it. Try again in half an hour or so, and repeat often. I'm not an expert, but that might help.
Poor little thing !
Angie

I shall look for that and hopefully it could work. I’ve had her for 6 months now and I do wish to see her grow up.

 

[I Love Tortoises]

Usually 30 minutes I keep her soaked and she does enjoy it. As I did mention, the soaking in warm water has helped a bit for the dry poop to come outside a little more. Could it perhaps be the lettuce? Am I perhaps not giving her the right greens? I’m very close with her and I’m very concerning that I’m not taking care of her properly despite looking at how to take care of her and what to give her.

What is your tortoises diet?

 

[wellington]

I'm no expert either, but the info given already is very good.
What we do also need to know is what info online have you been following? Most is wrong and outdated.
Please follow our caresheet and closed chamber threads. Lettuce should be a very small portion of a diet not the main or only diet.
Right now while she has this problem watery foods like lettuce may help get it thru. Once it's out you need to add better diet foods. Optunia cactus, mulberry and grape leaf, grass, safe weeds, orchard grass hay. I believe the caresheet may have a list.

 

[Maro2Bear]

I'm no expert either, but the info given already is very good.
What we do also need to know is what info online have you been following? Most is wrong and outdated.
Please follow our caresheet and closed chamber threads. Lettuce should be a very small portion of a diet not the main or only diet.
Right now while she has this problem watery foods like lettuce may help get it thru. Once it's out you need to add better diet foods. Optunia cactus, mulberry and grape leaf, grass, safe weeds, orchard grass hay. I believe the caresheet may have a list.

Yes…all of this! But this tort is probably too young to feed orchard grass hay…..Unless it’s cut up in very small snippets & soaked to make it pliable. But…variety is good! Greens, dandelion, grape leaves, opuntia, aloe vera chunks, etc.

 

[Tom]

View attachment 349669
I really hope this isn’t too concerning because I’ve been taking care of her exactly as I read online. So 2 days ago, while soaking my baby tortoise I noticed she has a hard poop stuck on her bottom. It immediately brought a red flag to me as I didn’t know what to do. I do keep giving her greens such as lettuce and there has been small progress as the picture shown is today where her poop is more out than 2 days ago since I’ve been soaking her with warm water after I got information here on what to do in this situation. However it still concerns me that it hasn’t fully come out yet. What do I do? Please let me know as soon as I can. I don’t want to panic yet.

You have a serious problem there and you need to get your tortoise to a tortoise vet right away. Where in CA are you?

There should not be a turd stuck in the cloaca like that for days. I would soak that tortoise for hours a day until that breaks up and comes out. Let the tortoise march around in clean warm water. This will rehydrate and soften up the feces, and hopefully let it pass.

If your tortoise survives this problem, here is the correct care info to follow:

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

Questions are welcome.

 

[wellington]

@Yvonne G
Can they try some tweezers and gently pull on it or at least try to break up what is on the outside?

 

[TammyJ]

Is it a turd or something else? A prolapse? Needs a real tortoise vet for sure like Tom said.

 

[jsheffield]

View attachment 349669

I think I'd try a long day of soaking your tort in warm water (I generally keep the soaking water warm by placing the soaking vessel in the tort enclosure, near a heat source... 4-6 hours in warm water deep enough to keep the "whatever it is" in the water the whole time.

If it doesn't resolve at the end of that extensive soak, I'd schedule a vet visit.

Good luck!

Jamie

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

View attachment 349669
I really hope this isn’t too concerning because I’ve been taking care of her exactly as I read online. So 2 days ago, while soaking my baby tortoise I noticed she has a hard poop stuck on her bottom. It immediately brought a red flag to me as I didn’t know what to do. I do keep giving her greens such as lettuce and there has been small progress as the picture shown is today where her poop is more out than 2 days ago since I’ve been soaking her with warm water after I got information here on what to do in this situation. However it still concerns me that it hasn’t fully come out yet. What do I do? Please let me know as soon as I can. I don’t want to panic yet.

If you can, try to find and feed some raw aloe Vera leaves. This should help get things “moving”!

 

[zolasmum]

It's so difficult when they are so small, isn't it. Did you manage to get any mineral oil ? It might be possible to put some on a cotton-wool bud, and gently rub and press it round the edge - or, if no oil, maybe during the soak, to try to loosen the skin a bit. I wonder if the skin is still firmly stuck to the turd, in which case, whatever you feed her won't get to the right place.
Angie

 

[Victorvelasquez0612]

UPDATE: So it’s a small update but the poop is now a little more out once again today like it’s slowly but surely coming out. I appreciate you guys feedback, I noticed a lot of you were telling me to keep soaking her with warm water and trying out a few other methods while I saw only 2-3 of you telling me to take her to the vet. Should I keep soaking her with warm water and giving her a different type of food for her?

 

[wellington]

How is she acting? If she is acting normal I wouldn't run to a vet just yet. If the vet doesn't know much about tortoises they could do more damage then good.
Keep soaking.
Did you get the mineral oil?

 

[Maro2Bear]

Right now, a vet won’t do anything more or less than what you have been advised to do. Make sure that you are soaking in a large enclosure so Mr Tort has lots of room to move all about.

 

[AmandaF]

View attachment 349669
I really hope this isn’t too concerning because I’ve been taking care of her exactly as I read online. So 2 days ago, while soaking my baby tortoise I noticed she has a hard poop stuck on her bottom. It immediately brought a red flag to me as I didn’t know what to do. I do keep giving her greens such as lettuce and there has been small progress as the picture shown is today where her poop is more out than 2 days ago since I’ve been soaking her with warm water after I got information here on what to do in this situation. However it still concerns me that it hasn’t fully come out yet. What do I do? Please let me know as soon as I can. I don’t want to panic yet.

I hope all goes well for you

amanda x

 

[Victorvelasquez0612]

HUGE UPDATE: God is truly great. It is when a big heart to announce that my little girl finally pooped out the dry poop that was bothering her. After leaving her soaking for 20 minutes I come back to see the poop finally out, she has a little bit of a red mark but no bleeding or pain from her. Thank you all so much for the feedback and help. I do want to make sure this doesn’t happen again so if you guys can, please let me know what to feed her besides lettuce to help her grow and prevent this problem again.

 

[Victorvelasquez0612]

How is she acting? If she is acting normal I wouldn't run to a vet just yet. If the vet doesn't know much about tortoises they could do more damage then good.
Keep soaking.
Did you get the mineral oil?

She’s been acting normal actually, there was no sign of her being in pain or constipated. She would still eat normally and drink normally as well. But with the poop finally out of her, I gotta be more careful