laurenhodgec
New Member
Hi all,
First of all, apologies my first post is not a positive one - but in need of some advice!
My three year old Spur Thighed called Speckles fell ill around a week ago, his appetite had dropped, no pooping, and very lazy and lethargic which is the complete opposite to his usual self. I gave it two days but he only got worse, I took him to the vets straight away, as we arrived and I opened the lid to the box I had transported him in, there was blood in his wee
The vet took him for an X-ray straight away and confirmed he had Fecal Impaction and pretty badly too. She said she could see a "sandy" texture and suggested that he's been eating too much of his substrate - which was surprising because his substrate does get in his food sometimes, but after doing lots of research before I bought it it was highly recommend and labelled as safe to be eaten! Unfortunately, it just hasn't agreed with my little tort - they advised me to remove the substrate immediately (for anyone wondering it was a mixture of top soil and sand) he's now on some medicine and back to the vets on Monday to see how things are progressing.
Now I'm in a position of going back to finding a new substrate, we tried wood chips before but they was a no no as I caught him eating one of those before too, I'm now looking into "hemp bedding" but have read quite a few scary stories of them being digested and then causing sharp cuts in the guys which sadly results in death. I would like to find something that's safe, and that he enjoys as he's never buried in the 50/50 soil & sand is this is something I'd like him to be able to do. There are so many voices and opinions on the internet, it becomes hard to know what's best and I feel like I'm being torn in a lot of directions.
I will be asking the vet for their opinion on Monday, but I know there is a lot of people on here with lots of experiences so any advice would seriously help!
P.S I have just came across coconut substrate... would be great to hear people's experience with this?!
First of all, apologies my first post is not a positive one - but in need of some advice!
My three year old Spur Thighed called Speckles fell ill around a week ago, his appetite had dropped, no pooping, and very lazy and lethargic which is the complete opposite to his usual self. I gave it two days but he only got worse, I took him to the vets straight away, as we arrived and I opened the lid to the box I had transported him in, there was blood in his wee
The vet took him for an X-ray straight away and confirmed he had Fecal Impaction and pretty badly too. She said she could see a "sandy" texture and suggested that he's been eating too much of his substrate - which was surprising because his substrate does get in his food sometimes, but after doing lots of research before I bought it it was highly recommend and labelled as safe to be eaten! Unfortunately, it just hasn't agreed with my little tort - they advised me to remove the substrate immediately (for anyone wondering it was a mixture of top soil and sand) he's now on some medicine and back to the vets on Monday to see how things are progressing.
Now I'm in a position of going back to finding a new substrate, we tried wood chips before but they was a no no as I caught him eating one of those before too, I'm now looking into "hemp bedding" but have read quite a few scary stories of them being digested and then causing sharp cuts in the guys which sadly results in death. I would like to find something that's safe, and that he enjoys as he's never buried in the 50/50 soil & sand is this is something I'd like him to be able to do. There are so many voices and opinions on the internet, it becomes hard to know what's best and I feel like I'm being torn in a lot of directions.
I will be asking the vet for their opinion on Monday, but I know there is a lot of people on here with lots of experiences so any advice would seriously help!
P.S I have just came across coconut substrate... would be great to hear people's experience with this?!