Kat132
New Member
Please help. My sulcata tortoise ate the side of a soda can. He is pretty big, probably max size for a sulcata, but I am so worried. Never would I think he would eat something like that but he did. Please help, what should I do?
Help!!! Sulcata tortoise ate a soda can!!!
- Thread starter Kat132
- Start date
Jan A
Well-Known Member
Welcome to the forum. They'll be some experts along here shortly to give advice. Is he exhibiting any signs of discomfort, chocking, coughing, not eating, or other odd behavior? How long has it been since he swallowed it, if you know? How long have you had him? How big was the piece he swallowed?
People on this forum are experienced tort owners & always working on improving tort care. You can also word search on the forum, like "swallowing" or "foreign objectc or just go to the sulcata section & look at topics while you're waiting on replies. So hang in there!!
Kat132
New Member
Like a few pieces of the can, he isn't chocking or coughing he swallowed it about 6 hours ago. I've had him about 2 weeks. Looking at his size he is very big and he chews his food very well so I'm hoping he chewed it enough that it passes, but I'm just really worried.
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Soda cans are very sharp.
Other than it getting hung up in his intestine, I think cutting tissue and bleeding might be your biggest worry.
Do you have pellets like Mazuri or ZooMed Grassland food? If so, I would feed him a pile of soaked pellets. It's kind of late now, but it still may help to coat the edges of the metal.
Give him some cactus, aloe, cucumber...wet foods to encourage the pieces to keep moving through.
Soak him..you want him to drink, again to keep things moving.
And monitor his poop...you want to see if you think it all went through and came out.
If at any time he seems to be in pain, or you see any bleeding, get him to an exotics vet immediately.
And by all means, come back and tell us how things turned out.
Maybe someone else will chime in with more ideas.
Other than it getting hung up in his intestine, I think cutting tissue and bleeding might be your biggest worry.
Do you have pellets like Mazuri or ZooMed Grassland food? If so, I would feed him a pile of soaked pellets. It's kind of late now, but it still may help to coat the edges of the metal.
Give him some cactus, aloe, cucumber...wet foods to encourage the pieces to keep moving through.
Soak him..you want him to drink, again to keep things moving.
And monitor his poop...you want to see if you think it all went through and came out.
If at any time he seems to be in pain, or you see any bleeding, get him to an exotics vet immediately.
And by all means, come back and tell us how things turned out.
Maybe someone else will chime in with more ideas.
Tortoises don't have teeth so they don't "chew". They bite off a chunk and swallow it whole.
Kat132
New Member
How long will it take for him to digest it if he does. He's still asleep but then it is still pretty early. He still seems to have the same amount of strength to pull away from me. But I'm giving him aloe vera and other moist foods for a few days. I usually feed him every other day but till I know for sure I will be feeding him this every day.
I would be pretty seriously concerned about this, as Yvonne says, they dont chew their food. Aloe vera and extra hydration is not going to help stop sharp edges of aluminum from cutting his insides all up. An x-ray is in order at the very least, if they find that it has ingested bits of can, I would think they will need to be removed surgically. This is an emergency in my opinion. If you wait your just rolling some dice with your torts life.
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He will not digest it. It's metal. What it will hopefully do is travel through his stomach, into his intestines, and get pooped out. For that to happen without cutting him inside or the piece(s) getting caught, we have to hope the pieces of metal are small.
I don't know exactly how long it will take. You need to check his poop every time he goes.
Do you still have the can? Keep it...the vet may want to see it. Maybe you could post a picture of it here?
I do think you should call an exotics vet and tell them what happened. Let them decide if he should come in for an x-ray now.
BTW, you should feed him every day all the time.
Groot’s Home
New Member
Call the vet ASAP.
Besides everything said about the can.
His enclosure should be checked every day for objects/garbage that don't belong there.
Here is some advice about feeding.
Do it every day! In the wild they would eat/graze every day. You eat every day.
Feed him every day.
His enclosure should be checked every day for objects/garbage that don't belong there.
Here is some advice about feeding.
Do it every day! In the wild they would eat/graze every day. You eat every day.
Feed him every day.
Kat132
New Member
Ok, I will feed him every day. The reason I fed him every other day is because before I got him I did some research that they eat every other day. But on the days I don't feed him lettuce and fruits and veggies I do feed him some dried grass. So in all truth he does eat every day. I just don't consider the days I feed him grass as an actual meal
Please read this
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
That info you found is wrong and out dated so ignore all of it and read the info we have on this forum. It's the only place with correct updated info
If this happen to one of my Torts I'd be heading straight to the VET immediately.
I too would like to see a picture of the aluminum an that’s been chomped on. A pix might give us all a better idea as to the size of tin we are dealing with.
Kat132
New Member
I unfortunately do not have the money to rush him to the vet, I am going to try with very watery food and food that makes him poop and hopefully it will flush out the pieces. If not then I will rush him to the vet as my last resort. This is an eye opener though that sulcata tortoises will eat anything.
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Do you have any pellet food like Mazuri or ZooMed grassland? If you do, give him some that's mushy.
Kat132
New Member
Ok, I will. I was also going to give him more hay to kind of line everything and help push it out. He seems to just poop out hay whole, so maybe it will help
I really think you need a vet for this,
If you have ever cut your finger on a can you'll know how much damage it could do internally as it passes through his system.
Do you have any animal charities that could help in LA?
If you have ever cut your finger on a can you'll know how much damage it could do internally as it passes through his system.
Do you have any animal charities that could help in LA?
