Something sticking out of its behind!
- Thread starter _emf
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You have a male tortoise with an erection. It should have receded back into the body by now. If not, try soakinh the tortoise and coaxing it back in. If it won't go back in, coat it with a wet sugar slurry in a damp wash cloth and get him to a reptile vet ASAP. Do NOT let it dry out if it is stuck out.
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You have a male tortoise! That is the penis. If it doesn't retract back into the body in a short time, you do need to get him to a vet. The risks are that the organ can become infected from dragging on the ground and getting scraped up or that it will lose blood circulation and need to be amputated. It already looks a bit anemic to me in your photo.
Can you post another photo with a better view of the area? Maybe just turn the tortoise over for a minute and get a good picture of the lower half of the plastron with the tail, etc. in focus.
Hi! Thank you for the information! I haven’t seen his erection like this so i was really worried it was something else. Also, usually when he does have an erection I usually leave him to his privacy.
But you mentioned it looks anemic, how are you able to tell? Any advice on what i can do on my side?
I wasn’t home, my husband took the picture and by the time I saw your response and asked my husband to take a better picture the tortoises erection had receded.
LOL that one caught me up for a minute!
I corrected it. Thanks for saying what you though Tom meant. I was laughing so hard, never did figure it out lol.
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I was going by the color. It was not as bright red/pink as what I expect to see, so it seemed that possibly the blood supply could have been compromised. Since it has now retruded on its own, there should be no problems.
Not sure if you have ever seen how vets look at dogs' gums to see if they look "pink" or if they instead are a whitish pink which indicates the animal is in shock. The blood supply to the dog's gums is reduced in a shock situation to make sure that adequate blood is available to the vital organs, resulting in the change in color.
Hence a lighter color than normal indicates decrease or lack of blood supply. The penis (to me) looked lighter than what I normally see, but it may have just been the lighting.
HA! Thank you for correcting it, but your correction needs to be corrected!
Bad day for spelling lol.HA! Thank you for correcting it, but your correction needs to be corrected!
