Undigested Leaf in Stool?

[Madzparrow]

Hey TF!

I've had my Russian Tortoise for about a month now. he's healthy, eats all his food, roams around his cage, and poops regularly. Today I found a whole leaf hanging out of his butt. (I chop his food up into thin strips, what I found was an entire undigested strip)

I change up his greens regularly to make sure he has variety, every other week I've purchased a bag of spring mix from the coop and I pick out the spinach for him. Are there other leaves typically in grocery salad mixes that he shouldn't be eating?

Another thing I saw was that he might be lacking fiber and that I should be chopping up his food even finer. Would fixing this help? I hadn't seen a case on the forum before of an ENTIRE leafe still found in the stool and I'm worried I fed him something bad.

 

[ZenHerper]

Sometimes this happens. Especially if they are swallowing the leaves whole.

But.

The bagged baby greens are very low in fiber (and they are too young to have a full nutrient complement); it is better to choose heads of mature leaves. Larger, 'woodier' leaves also make torts bite more, so the pieces are smaller and more digestible.

Buy nice handfuls of collards, dandelions, curly endive, etc.. Wash them in a large batch, wrap them in paper towels to prevent rotting of the softer edges, and stack them in the fridge for the week.

 

[Madzparrow]

Sometimes this happens. Especially if they are swallowing the leaves whole.

But.

The bagged baby greens are very low in fiber (and they are too young to have a full nutrient complement); it is better to choose heads of mature leaves. Larger, 'woodier' leaves also make torts bite more, so the pieces are smaller and more digestible.

Buy nice handfuls of collards, dandelions, curly endive, etc.. Wash them in a large batch, wrap them in paper towels to prevent rotting of the softer edges, and stack them in the fridge for the week.

Thats good to hear! This last week i've been mostly feeding him leaves like that and I'll make note to keep adding them in