Red Footed Tortoise Reduced Eating and Runny Green Poops

Mr. Tortoise

New Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2017
Messages
9
Location (City and/or State)
Buck Lake, Alberta, Canada
Over the past couple weeks my red footed tortoise (8-10 years old) has started to eat drastically less. Usually he eats a lot and never passes up on eating cooked chicken but recently he has been eating much less and even passed up on his favorites. He has also had a handful of very green and runny poops he still has normal poops sometimes but every now and again he has a runny green one. We have had him for 5 years and his diet hasn't changed. His diet consists of 40ish% lettuce 30ish% veggies (peppers, kale, carrots, mushrooms, zucchini) 25% fruit (banana, strawberries, mango, papaya) and 5ish% protein (chicken). We took him to the vet and they said he looks very strong and healthy, his diet was good, and just to keep an eye on him. In late May we recently started letting him roam around in his outdoor enclosure when the weather permits. It has been quite hot and for about a week his indoor enclosure was on the high end of the temperature range so we moved it to the basement to cool him down. In his outdoor enclosure he has a burrow to hide in, grass, petunias, marigolds, and a blueberry shrub (this is a fairly new addition however it doesn't appear to be eaten). Any help would be greatly appreciated!!! Thank you all very much!
 

ZenHerper

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Joined
Feb 27, 2020
Messages
2,078
Location (City and/or State)
New Jersey
The veterinary office needs to do a stool analysis for intestinal parasites/bacterial overbloom.

In the meantime, in case there is a general disruption of the digestive flora, start using a reptile probiotic.
Forex:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0058DVVAM/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

Make sure that temperatures stay reliably around 80*F...too much change up-down, back-and-forth, indoors-outdoors (dry-humid) can cause immune dysfunction, which will impact digestion. This species is very sensitive to temperature. Make sure the outdoor enclosure has plenty of shade cover from direct sun and a good, safe pan for soaking - staying in shade and in shallow water is how Redfoots moderate internal body temps in the wild.
 

TammyJ

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Joined
Jun 21, 2016
Messages
7,119
Location (City and/or State)
Jamaica
Good stuff from ZenHerper! Vet visit for stool analysis - definitely.
 

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