# My Tort Has Diarrhea-Please Help!



## Gillian M (Mar 20, 2015)

My tort has had *diarrhea* for the past two days. The strange is that its diet has not changed: It's been eating Roman lettuce and only Roman lettuce since I bought it. It ate tomatoes for a while but when I was adviced not to feed it tomatoes, I stopped. Therefore, it went back to Roman lettuce, but in the past my tort used to "suffer" constipation, and never had diarrhea.

What am I to do to stop this diarrhea? Anyone's *quick* help/advice would be highly appreciated.

Thank you.


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## ZEROPILOT (Mar 20, 2015)

Since romaine is at least 90% water, I would imagine that this would be common.
Could you ad more fiberous food to the menu?
Mine get this whenever I make a big change to the menu, but it always goes away in a few days.
Make sure he/she is able to re hydrate with a nice bath.
I have Redfoot torts and can offer no help on the diets of other species.
I'm sure an expert on your species and it's food will be along soon.


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## lismar79 (Mar 20, 2015)

Romain has almost not nutritional value. Your torts going to need a diet change to get better. What kind of tort?


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## Gillian M (Mar 20, 2015)

lismar79 said:


> Romain has almost not nutritional value. Your torts going to need a diet change to get better. What kind of tort?


 I do know that Roman lettuce is not the right diet, but my Greek tor thas refused to eat anything else except tomatoes. I've tried changing its diet but...no way would it eat.

Thanks very much your prompt reply and help.


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## Gillian M (Mar 20, 2015)

The "funnny" thing is that my tort has eaten Roman lettuce ever since I bought it, and has usually had constipation. Only two days ago diaarrhea began and so far it has not stopped. I've been giving my tort warm "baths" as you mentioned.

Thanks a lot your help, which I really do appreciate.


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## ZEROPILOT (Mar 20, 2015)

Hopefully with the baths, he'll soak and drink. He needs water back in.


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## newCH (Mar 20, 2015)

How about Mazuri for fiber ?


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## mini_max (Mar 20, 2015)

I am wondering if this could be a parasite/worm issue, because it can cause runny poop. When you got your tort, did you have a fecal sample done? If not, it seems likely to me that he/she may have had some amount of parasite load to begin with which over time, and possibly with his dietary stubbornness, has grown to a level that is now producing symptoms.


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## ZEROPILOT (Mar 20, 2015)

It seems that tortoises other than our Redfoot types aren't as fond of Mazuri.
I do ad a little Diatomacious Earth to my feedings once a week as a worm preventative.
Although I would pause before recommending it to others, It was in fact told to me by an exotic vet and it has worked for me.
A professional would have to determine if that is in fact your issue.


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## CourtneyG (Mar 20, 2015)

The diet needs to change. You can either slowly mix in different greens with his food while slowly decreasing the romain, or you could go cold turkey and remove the romain completly. Grassland and mazuri need to be introduced in the diet as well. I doubt it is parasites, just sounds like a poor quality diet that has no fiber.


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## Gillian M (Mar 20, 2015)

ZEROPILOT said:


> Hopefully with the baths, he'll soak and drink. He needs water back in.


 Fair enough, I'll keep giving my tort baths to make up some of the water it lost. Once again, *thank* *you* *very* *much* *your* *help*.


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## Gillian M (Mar 20, 2015)

CourtneyG said:


> The diet needs to change. You can either slowly mix in different greens with his food while slowly decreasing the romain, or you could go cold turkey and remove the romain completly. Grassland and mazuri need to be introduced in the diet as well. I doubt it is parasites, just sounds like a poor quality diet that has no fiber.


 Thanks your alert as well as your help.

Believe me I've tried endlessly to reduce Roman lettuce, but..no way would my tort eat. I'll give it another try with a totally different diet, but what if the naughty little thing refuses to eat? That breaks my heart! I too doubt it's parasites and hope it isn't, even though I'm not an expert in the subject. Once again thanks very much your help-appreciate it.


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## Randi (Mar 20, 2015)

I noticed that the only thing it consumes is Romaine Lettuce.. Romaine Lettuce has little to no nutrition. Your tortoises' diet NEEDS variety. If this was my animal, I'd completely remove Romaine Lettuce. If your tortoise doesn't eat the new food, you must wait. A hungry tortoise will eat. I think you should go back to the thread you made about tomatoes and read. There were many great choices and alternatives listed that your tortoise would love and benefit from. Improving your diet should definitely improve the stomach issues. Best of luck to you and yours.


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## ZEROPILOT (Mar 20, 2015)

It's been asked many times before. Eventually he'll eat. I went through that myself.


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## Gillian M (Mar 20, 2015)

Randi said:


> I noticed that the only thing it consumes is Romaine Lettuce.. Romaine Lettuce has little to no nutrition. Your tortoises' diet NEEDS variety. If this was my animal, I'd completely remove Romaine Lettuce. If your tortoise doesn't eat the new food, you must wait. A hungry tortoise will eat. I think you should go back to the thread you made about tomatoes and read. There were many great choices and alternatives listed that your tortoise would love and benefit from. Improving your diet should definitely improve the stomach issues. Best of luck to you and yours.


 Thanks your alert. I was able to stop offering tomatoes because there was Roman lettuce to replace it which my tort loves. I'm going to give it yet another try and remove Roman lettuce completely, as you kindly suggested in your alert. But....suppose my tort refuses to eat?

Once again thanks your alert as well as your help, both of which I very much appreciate.


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## Randi (Mar 20, 2015)

There are better choices for filling that belly up without using any Romaine. If it is used, I have a feeling your tort will pick it out and eat only that. So, let's remove it completely and give a new diet a try. I would not worry if your tortoise goes a few days, even a week without eating. I'm sure it can go longer. I'd soak the tort everyday so if it doesn't eat, it's still hydrated. Patience will win this battle. You must not give in. Just continue offering the new diet. It will take. Persistence is key. I think once it tastes all of these wonderful things, it will gladly switch over to a new, varied diet. Your tort will thank you - you will also find it fun to try new safe food items. I am growing a lot of weeds and grasses indoors. I chop them up into grocery store greens. I have a Herbal Salad Mix for tortoises (Carolina Pet Supply) that I throw in the food. I have Optunia powder as well Rose of Sharon powder that I use every second day on food. In the enclosure, mine has a side growing weeds and grasses as well as some flowers to munch on. Once the snow is gone, it will be paradise outside for mine. Safe flowers growing everywhere. I'll be relying on food that's growing outside for three months. It's fun to plant things and feed.


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## lismar79 (Mar 20, 2015)

I went through the romain only with my russian. What I did was: minced up other good for her foods really fine & added Mazuri that was moist to make a paste. I then spread the paste onto the romaine leaves. I call it a Tort taco. I hand fed her this to make sure she ate it. After a while I started using bigger pieces of other things & slowly decreased the size of the romaine. Torts are stubborn & do not like change at all, this will take you a lot of time but its worth it to save his life right


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## Tidgy's Dad (Mar 20, 2015)

Good advice already given by many members, but if I could add that if you offer your tortoise a bit of romaine and then when it opens its mouth pop in a morsel of something more suitable or some mazuri, this will help with the transition to a different diet. I've tried this and it works, though sometimes the food has to be placed deep in the mouth or the tortoise may spit it out.
Good luck


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## Gillian M (Mar 20, 2015)

lismar79 said:


> I went through the romain only with my russian. What I did was: minced up other good for her foods really fine & added Mazuri that was moist to make a paste. I then spread the paste onto the romaine leaves. I call it a Tort taco. I hand fed her this to make sure she ate it. After a while I started using bigger pieces of other things & slowly decreased the size of the romaine. Torts are stubborn & do not like change at all, this will take you a lot of time but its worth it to save his life right


 Thanks a lot your help. As I said I have made my mind up: I'm going to give it yet another try without Roman lettuce. Mind you, even here there's an obstacle: here in Jordan there is little if no care for animals particularly torts. Thus, I don't know any pet store where I can buy my tort the right food.

Oh, you bet torts are stubborn, and definitely don't like change.But on the other hand I am an extremely patient person, so we'll see who'll win the battle.


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## Tidgy's Dad (Mar 20, 2015)

Gillian Moore said:


> Thanks a lot your help. As I said I have made my mind up: I'm going to give it yet another try without Roman lettuce. Mind you, even here there's an obstacle: here in Jordan there is little if no care for animals particularly torts. Thus, I don't know any pet store where I can buy my tort the right food.
> 
> Oh, you bet torts are stubborn, and definitely don't like change.But on the other hand I am an extremely patient person, so we'll see who'll win the battle.


Know what you mean, Morocco is the same. No care for animals at all. Horrifying sometimes. Luckily I often go to Spain for my supplies, but not so easy for you I guess.


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## Gillian M (Mar 20, 2015)

Tidgy's Dad said:


> Good advice already given by many members, but if I could add that if you offer your tortoise a bit of romaine and then when it opens its mouth pop in a morsel of something more suitable or some mazuri, this will help with the transition to a different diet. I've tried this and it works, though sometimes the food has to be placed deep in the mouth or the tortoise may spit it out.
> Good luck


 Thanks a lot your alert and your help.

Believe it or not I've tried "your" method, but my tort refused to eat! There's an exception to each and every rule: what works with one tort may not work with another.


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## Gillian M (Mar 20, 2015)

Tidgy's Dad said:


> Know what you mean, Morocco is the same. No care for animals at all. Horrifying sometimes. Luckily I often go to Spain for my supplies, but not so easy for you I guess.


 Most Arab countries are like that I think. And this is why it took me *SO* *LONG* to buy a pet: a dislike (if so I may put it) for animals, little or no care for them and consequently no pet stores, no or few vets, no no, no. Too bad isn't it?


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## Tidgy's Dad (Mar 20, 2015)

Gillian Moore said:


> Most Arab countries are like that I think. And this is why it took me *SO* *LONG* to buy a pet: a dislike (if so I may put it) for animals, little or no care for them and consequently no pet stores, no or few vets, no no, no. Too bad isn't it?


Yeah, I didn't buy Tidgy, I rescued her from a family who were torturing her and had actually cut out one of her scutes to use as jewellry. The kids used her as a toy car, the adults kicked her around and they were feeding her on lamb.
She nearly didn't make it, but she's a tough girl and wanted to live. Now, over 3 years later, she's a happy little girl.


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## Gillian M (Mar 20, 2015)

Tidgy's Dad said:


> Yeah, I didn't buy Tidgy, I rescued her from a family who were torturing her and had actually cut out one of her scutes to use as jewellry. The kids used her as a toy car, the adults kicked her around and they were feeding her on lamb.
> She nearly didn't make it, but she's a tough girl and wanted to live. Now, over 3 years later, she's a happy little girl.


 I too have seen people bullying animals, such as: torts cats and even birds here. It's heart-breaking. They wouldn't dream of bullying a dog. Know why? I've noticed that most Arabs are scared of them. I know a Jordanian lady living in a villa. One day she found torts outside and such a sight angered her. Know what she did? She gave many of them away and fed the remaining ones her leftover food! Here I mean: rice, meat, bread and so on. How do you like that? What a shock I got!


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## Tidgy's Dad (Mar 20, 2015)

Gillian Moore said:


> I too have seen people bullying animals, such as: torts cats and even birds here. It's heart-breaking. They wouldn't dream of bullying a dog. Know why? I've noticed that most Arabs are scared of them. I know a Jordanian lady living in a villa. One day she found torts outside and such a sight angered her. Know what she did? She gave many of them away and fed the remaining ones her leftover food! Here I mean: rice, meat, bread and so on. How do you like that? What a shock I got!


Yeah, I've seen grown men scream and run away from the dogs at night. Very funny.
The dogs are harmless and just go through the bins. Every couple of years the police go round and shoot a few strays and some loose owned dogs.


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## Lyn W (Mar 21, 2015)

My tort is a picky eater and won't eat dried grass so over the winter while I have had to use crispy salad mix I have followed the advice from here and blended it to a fine powder so that when I sprayed it all with water it would stick to the wet salad leaves - a nifty trick to get some fibre in - maybe that would work for your tort too.


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## [email protected] (Mar 21, 2015)

Gillian Moore said:


> My tort has had *diarrhea* for the past two days. The strange is that its diet has not changed: It's been eating Roman lettuce and only Roman lettuce since I bought it. It ate tomatoes for a while but when I was adviced not to feed it tomatoes, I stopped. Therefore, it went back to Roman lettuce, but in the past my tort used to "suffer" constipation, and never had diarrhea.
> 
> What am I to do to stop this diarrhea? Anyone's *quick* help/advice would be highly appreciated.
> 
> Thank you.


check for parasites, common parasites as amoeba, flagellates induce diarrhea, I would not believe the romaine muth, because google the nutritional value of romaine you will see how wonderful romaine is. it is low in protein and it offers great hydration which the tort needs when it has diarrhea, I offer all my trots romaine, spider, egypt, westerns and going close to aestivation time and hot summer it beside a variety of other greens very much recommended.


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## [email protected] (Mar 21, 2015)

lismar79 said:


> Romain has almost not nutritional value. Your torts going to need a diet change to get better. What kind of tort?


not true, google nutritional value of romaine.


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## Tidgy's Dad (Mar 21, 2015)

Romaine is high in water and therefore good for rehydrating a tortoise. It is arguable whether it's nutritional value makes up for the fact that a tortoise can fill its tummy on romaine and not get enough of the nutrients. Romaine is low in fibre and this will be necessary to make your tortoise better. You should try to vary the diet, even if the tortoise is stubborn. It will eat when hungry enough. (probably)


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## Randi (Mar 21, 2015)

[email protected] said:


> check for parasites, common parasites as amoeba, flagellates induce diarrhea, I would not believe the romaine muth, because google the nutritional value of romaine you will see how wonderful romaine is. it is low in protein and it offers great hydration which the tort needs when it has diarrhea, I offer all my trots romaine, spider, egypt, westerns and going close to aestivation time and hot summer it beside a variety of other greens very much recommended.



The problem is that the tortoise has diarrhea and more then likely the diet (being fed only romaine) is the problem. Romaine wouldn't be a problem if it was offered with a variety of greens, but it is the only thing being offered. We can suspect worms but it seems more important to fix the dietary concerns first before assuming that. 

And Gillian Moore, just go to a grocery store and visit your produce section. Most things can be obtained there. I purchase my seeds, herbal salad mix and powders at Carolina Pet Supply.com


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## lismar79 (Mar 21, 2015)

[email protected] said:


> not true, google nutritional value of romaine.


Just going off this, and what other on here have told me.
http://m.thetortoisetable.org.uk/m/plants_19.asp?st=true&mode=main&catID=85


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## [email protected] (Mar 21, 2015)

Randi said:


> The problem is that the tortoise has diarrhea and more then likely the diet (being fed only romaine) is the problem. Romaine wouldn't be a problem if it was offered with a variety of greens, but it is the only thing being offered. We can suspect worms but it seems more important to fix the dietary concerns first before assuming that.
> 
> And Gillian Moore, just go to a grocery store and visit your produce section. Most things can be obtained there. I purchase my seeds, herbal salad mix and powders at Carolina Pet Supply.com



I feed my russians since 10 years mostly romaine and hey, that's it, no diarrhea, I started to change their food by adding more variety, now they have loose stool. And parasites will kill your tort specially with loosing hydration over runny stool.


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## Gillian M (Mar 21, 2015)

[email protected] said:


> I feed my russians since 10 years mostly romaine and hey, that's it, no diarrhea, I started to change their food by adding more variety, now they have loose stool. And parasites will kill your tort specially with loosing hydration over runny stool.


 Personally, I don't think it's the Roman lettuce causing loose stool, due to the fact that my tort has been eating it since I've had my tort: almost four years now. Moreover, my tort used to have constipation. Only a few days ago diarrhea began.


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## HLogic (Mar 22, 2015)

[email protected] said:


> not true, google nutritional value of romaine.



http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/3036?manu=&fgcd=
http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=9444

95% water, 1:1 Ca : P, 2% fiber, relatively high Vit A (as would be expected in a leafy green vegetable), 0.33g oxalates/100g (16.5x that of kale but less than collards @ 0.45g/100g).

Is that good? Not particularly, in my estimation, but better than iceberg lettuce.


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