runny poo - normal for some?

[marcy4hope]

i have a little sulcata. don't know his age for sure. i was told he was 5 months when i bought him a month ago, but he looked much smaller than that. anyhow, he has had firm poo since i've had him until this past week, i noticed it was runny and very bright green. it had been firm and dark green and very easy to clean out of his substrate, but now it's runny and harder to clean up.

he eats spring mix. he ate red leaf lettuce only when i first bought him. that's what the previous owners fed him. i gradually changed him to spring mix and he's been fine for 3 weeks until just this past week. i soak him once a day for about 20 minutes - sometimes twice a day.

i have also noticed that he's laying under the heat light a little more than he used to.

hoping he's not sick. i did order some mazuri tortoise diet to add to his food, but the place i ordered it from sent me water turtle food instead, so am waiting to get that returned so i can get a little mazuri started in his diet.

any suggestions are welcome. just wondering if eating all of that spring mix means that poos will be runny most of the time. and wondering about him under the heat lamp a little more than he had been before.

thanks!

 

[wellington]

What are your temps and humidity. With a 80% humidity the over all temps shouldn't be lower then 80, with basking 95+. If your humidity is not as high as it should be your over all temps can be lower. Read the threads at the bottom of my post by my signature. They will help a lot.
The runny poop, my be the change of diet? But wait for others to help out on that. I am not sure.

 

[marcy4hope]

lowest temp is high 70's. i soak the cage everyday with a sprayer. humidity is around 80%. but, mid-day it gets down to 60%. i spray it down again in the evening. i did notice he was back in his hide box this evening again and not under the light anymore. hoping that's a good sign.

 

[wellington]

He is probably getting to cold. The temps with that humidity, should not be lower than 80. If they are wet and cold is when they can get sick. I would kick the all over temp to 80.

 

[Tom]

It does occasionally get a little runny on a baby. Not usually something to be overly concerned about. Its great that you are so tuned in to your baby. Keep an eye on him. Can you find any grass or weeds right now? The fiber might firm him up. How abut some bermuda grass hay? Like from a horse supply place. If you chop it up finely and drop some on a pre-wetted pile of your spring mix and then mix it all up, it will rehydrate and look like fresh grass again.

 

[marcy4hope]

i have a little timothy hay - i can use that and add a little that i shred up to his mix. he hasn't been thrilled with it at all since i've tried it with him.

also - today i'm going to redo his habitat and get him up closer to the heat so he'll warm up some more.

also i had suspected another thing and found out for sure last night - he's now PEEING ON HIS FOOD! what's up with that??? he eats awhile and then he pees all over the remaining food and then leaves the bowl. he always climbs in his feed bowl, which is great, but then after eating awhile he's peeing on all of it and then he's done. he poos almost every time i soak him. but, i'd noticed he wasn't peeing in it anymore. now i know why. is that a "normal" habit to be going on his remaining feed. makes me aggravated cause then the rest of his leftover feed is no good for later.

 

[Tom]

Some of them just do that. Its likely he will grow out of it. Timothy hay and orchard grass don't work as well as Bermuda grass hay for babies because it is much coarser. Bermuda hay is pretty fine and soft. Much easier for a baby to handle.