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My year old redfoot hasn't pooped in a week. I have him on coco coir so I don't think he is impacted. I soak him everyday for half an hour. Any advice would be appreciated. Temps are in the 86-75 range.
No poop? :(
- Thread starter cristal redfoot
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He may have just eaten his poop. They do that sometimes.
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mattgrizzlybear said:
I hadn't thought about that actually. It does seem like a very good possibility. Although I still am a worried because I've never seen him eat his own poop before.
cristal redfoot said:
My red foot tries to but if I see him do it then I quickly poop scoop
I'd keep up with the soaks and exercise! 
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Alan RF said:My red foot tries to but if I see him do it then I quickly poop scoop
I didn't think my RF was pooping either, I just caught him the other night eating his own poo! I was horrified! I asked him what was he thinking, and he just looked up at me with his poo covered mouth and I swear he grinned! I am now obsessed with checking his enclosure so I can remove it before that nightmare happens again!
If he is eating, he is probably pooping. Put him in the tub to soak, more room for him to move all around. The warm soak and the moving/walking all around the larger tub will help get things moving if he is a little constipated. Also, your temps, 86-75 range. You do have a basking spot of 95-100 correct?
This may seem stupid, but is it bad for them to eat their own poo? Since ill be at school from 8-4 chances are if i get a boxie it'll be eating its own poo.
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dannel said:
I don't really know but we can wait and see what others. I am also away for school so it was very helpful of you to ask that question
wellington said:
About the soaking I do it in a spring mix container. Yes basking spot is always in the 90's but he hardly ever goes under it.
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cristal redfoot said:I don't really know but we can wait and see what others. I am also away for school so it was very helpful of you to ask that question
About the soaking I do it in a spring mix container. Yes basking spot is always in the 90's but he hardly ever goes under it.
How big is he? I soak mine in a under the bed sweater box, so he has plenty of room to walk around
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3 and a half inches. He is almost a year but not quite.
dannel said:
Anyone have an answer?:shy:
dannel said:
I think I have read that torts are opportunistic eaters. So, in the wild they may eat poo if its available. I think it's not ideal because it has a lot of protein in it? But it won't hurt them? Again, I think this is what I read somewhere.
Coprophagy (poop eating) is common in a lot of animals, especially hind-gut fermenting vegetarian species. Snow shoe hares, tortoises, naked mole rats, etc. derive a lot of nutrients that was not absorbed the first time through the small and large intestines. They also regain some symbiotic bacteria and can re-ingest pathogens and parasites.
So it's not necessarily bad for them, but if you think about this behavior in a captive setting, when they are always in the presence of fecal material when it's not removed by us, the lines become more blurred. A tortoise walking around in the wild may turn around and eat some of its feces or it may keep walking, leaving a nice pile for the decomposers. This also leaves any pathogens/parasites that were in the feces from re-entering the host [tortoise]. In captivity, they are coming into contact with their bowel movements within a very contained space, so they likely will eat more feces than they would in the wild and this can be problematic when we think about parasite/pathogen re-introduction.
If your tortoise's general behavior has not changed, s/he is probably eating the poop before you're getting to it. It can be tough to keep up with removal prior to them eating it...
So it's not necessarily bad for them, but if you think about this behavior in a captive setting, when they are always in the presence of fecal material when it's not removed by us, the lines become more blurred. A tortoise walking around in the wild may turn around and eat some of its feces or it may keep walking, leaving a nice pile for the decomposers. This also leaves any pathogens/parasites that were in the feces from re-entering the host [tortoise]. In captivity, they are coming into contact with their bowel movements within a very contained space, so they likely will eat more feces than they would in the wild and this can be problematic when we think about parasite/pathogen re-introduction.
If your tortoise's general behavior has not changed, s/he is probably eating the poop before you're getting to it. It can be tough to keep up with removal prior to them eating it...
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