My Ornate pooped wood.

[Melinda]

My 16 year old Ornate had be switching her tail and moving her back feet like she does when she wants to clean her rear end. She has also been laying in her water bowl a lot. After not wanting to eat for almost a week I thought she was with eggs but a trip to the vet and x-ray confirmed NO eggs. Tonight she pooped a piece of wood approximately 1 inch long and a quarter of an inch thick. It looks like substrate or she may have picked it up outside (I allow her to run in the yard, supervised, on warm sunny days) If by chance she has eaten more than one piece of wood, should it pass also..? She acts interested in food but will not eat and again today she is soaking in her water bowl with her back legs extended.

 

[Kasia]

My 16 year old Ornate had be switching her tail and moving her back feet like she does when she wants to clean her rear end. She has also been laying in her water bowl a lot. After not wanting to eat for almost a week I thought she was with eggs but a trip to the vet and x-ray confirmed NO eggs. Tonight she pooped a piece of wood approximately 1 inch long and a quarter of an inch thick. It looks like substrate or she may have picked it up outside (I allow her to run in the yard, supervised, on warm sunny days) If by chance she has eaten more than one piece of wood, should it pass also..? She acts interested in food but will not eat and again today she is soaking in her water bowl with her back legs extended.

The piece you show does not look like a reason for a long time constipation for an adult - how big is your tortoise? that x-ray you took, could you scan or make a photo and paste it? did you notice any intestine mass on it?
For now soak your tort daily - give it natural laxatives like opuntia, cucumber so your shell can pass whatever more easily. If you see it struggle go to the Vet for advice.
Good luck.

 

[Melinda]

On April 8th I took Shelly to the vet because she was doing the 'egg' dance. The doctor did an x-ray and no eggs. So she continued to not eat, switch her tail and move her back feet like like she was wiping her rear end. All she wanted to do was lay in the water bowl. So back to the vet again yesterday to check for blockage and the first x-ray shows THREE gigantic eggs. The vet told me he was pretty impressed at how 'in tune' with my Shelly and her behaviors I am because I knew she had eggs even before they could be seen on the x-ray. She has had a Oxytocin shot, a calcium shot and a shot of anti inflammatory. Hopefully before the end of the week she will have my Triplet Grand Eggs. Today I caught her eating the sand in the nest box and I promptly removed her from it. She still prefers to lay in the water bowl so I change it twice a day and make sure it's warm.

 

[Sara G.]

Does she have enough moist substrate to dig in?
Substrate that's deep enough I mean.
She might be laying in her water dish because there's no where else for her to lay.
I don't know the exact requirements for an ornate but I don't think I would use sand for a nesting box (or anywhere in the enclosure for that matter ).
I know my tortoise prefers deep, moist substrate to lay her eggs in. Granted she's a humid loving species, but I can't imagine there wouldn't be many tortoises that would 100% prefer laying substrate that isn't deep and moist/damp.

And holy cr*p are those eggs huge!!!!! O_O

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

Whoa - those eggs aren't too big to pass? That's shocking!

Thanks for sharing this story.

 

[Melinda]

The last two of Shelly's eggs were laid this evening sometime. (I wrote this Friday night) April 8th I had noticed she wasn't eating and was doing the 'egg' dance, switching her tail, laying in the water bowl all spraddily legged and flipping her back legs and feet to rub her rear end. Vet did x-ray, no eggs. She continued with the egg behavior but it had been almost a month without eating, back to the vet. May 2nd x-ray shows THREE eggs. So we begin the calcium and oxytocin shots. Four days later, Friday the 13th, she lays one egg while at the vet's office, she also got a tube feeding since it's now been almost 6 weeks without eating.
I continue with the soaking her in the tub and calcium shots at home, but now we have an antibiotic added in case there is an infection in her reproductive tract. Back to the vet today for another feeding, she got one more oxytocin shot and finally this evening the last two of my three grand eggs were laid.
Now the poor thing is soaking in her warm water bowl because, I'm sure her little butt hurts terribly.
She hasn't had eggs for the past two years. Up till then she had only had one egg at a time. The first time she laid an egg, I and the vet were still under the assumption that she was a HE because of the red eyes, the smaller size and because her shell is so misshapen from where she wasn't taken care of properly as a hatchling, she didn't fit the male 'picture'.

 

[Yvonne G]

She hasn't been with a male?

 

[Melinda]

Nope, and only goes outside under my supervision in an enclosure (big kiddie pool with grass, dirt, wood, large rocks). She has never even seen another turtle since I got her approx 16 years ago. She was kept with a sibling hatchling for the first six or so months of her life. Not tended to very well as you can see from her metabolic bone disease. Reptiles are like chickens, correct..?. There does not have to be a male around or a mating taking place in order for the females to develop eggs..? Vet says these eggs are not viable, they have no embryo/baby in them.
She is back to eating (ravenously) and she does really seem to like digging around in her nest box.. still. She comes out to eat, I give her a good soak in a deep water bowl, she basks for a bit and goes back in the wooden hut and bulldozes the sand/dirt mixture around. Maybe she is trying to push it all OUT.. LOL Gives her something to do I guess..

 

[Sara G.]

My female tortoise produces eggs even though, to my knowledge, she's never been with or even seen a male in her life so it does happen.
However, that's very worrying that she had such a hard time laying eggs. Does she get enough calcium?

 

[Melinda]

The vet seems to think she is doing fine on calcium, the eggs formed the leathery shell before I did the calcium shots. The shots also help with her bones and muscles for contractions. When I feed her she eats a supplement called ZooMed Caloric Jumpstart. I have used that for years with her and with my Iguana. I also dust meal worms with calcium dust plus on occasions I will scrape a dusting of cuddle bone on her food. She goes outside about three times a week during the summer and I have the correct UVB bulbs. The vet has done blood samples before to check but that was a couple of years ago. I had asked if she was suffering because of the metabolic bone disease, he said he thought not, she didn't seem stressed. I can't make up for what she missed the first few months of her life but I can do good by her from here on out. He also told me I must be doing something correct or she wouldn't be this old or producing eggs yearly.
I hope I am doing good by her.. <3

 

[samsmom]

glad shes doing better!

 

[Sara G.]

16 years isn't that old. I thought the ornate box turtles lived to be 30+?
I have a 30 year old Forsten's who still produces eggs yearly. That's the only reason I asked.

Poor baby, must've been tough trying to get those eggs out. I'm glad she had you to keep such a good eye on her.

 

[Carol S]

Poor little girl. Those eggs are huge and must of very painful to lay. She must be exhausted from laying them.