Tortoise poop!

[Dudley The Sulcata]

Over the past few days I've noticed that Dudley's poop has little red specks in it. Is that normal? Also, he has been pooping literally right after he eats. I feed him orchard hay, carrots, spring mix, dandelions, prickly pear cactus, and then I usually take him outside to eat the grass in the yard and soak up some sun. Do you think the prickly pear cactus is what is making him poop so quickly?

 

[Tom]

Picture?

They don't digest everything completely. Lots of things just pass through. Might it be bits of carrot?

 

[Dudley The Sulcata]

Here's the poop! Haha!

 

[Yvonne G]

I was thinking carrots too, Tom.

It takes a while for the food to pass through the digestive system. Feed Dudley some cantaloupe including the seeds then watch to see how long it takes for the seeds to come out the other end. Sometimes it takes up to two weeks.

And because of the volume sulcatas eat, there is usually not much room inside for more, so when a tortoise eats a big meal, he gets rid of what is waiting in the 'holding area.'

My Dudley (110lbs sulcata) poops several logs two or sometimes three times a day and there is usually about 4 or 5 logs in one sitting.

 

[mike taylor]

Looks like the carrot .

 

[Dudley The Sulcata]

Great! Thanks guys!