Cloaca bleeding

[Krista S]

I’m in a bind with Dozer, my 2 year old Eastern Hermann’s tortoise, and not sure what to do. The last few days he’s been hyper aggressive…to a degree I’ve never seen before. He’s been so revved up that he has been paying extra attention to a rock in his enclosure which he usually ignores. On Friday he was humping the rock for so long that he had a little bit of a sore on his cloaca from all of the rubbing. I took the rock away and left it out for the rest of the day. Part way through yesterday I put it back and kept a watchful eye. He only went to the rock once and I went up and distracted him and he left it alone. Well now, I checked the camera and noticed he was at it again so I went to his room and I noticed blood smeared on the rock. I was up in his room 10 min prior, so it hadn‘t been that long, but regardless, he’s basically rubbed a good sized area of his cloaca raw. I took the rock out again and will do my best to keep the raw area clean, but is there anything I can do to help the sore or should I just let it heal on its own? Because of where the raw area is, I was nervous to put anything on it without weighing in with the experts first.

Any guidance is appreciated.

 

[wellington]

A picture of the area is needed. In the meantime I would take out all substrate or put him in a hospital enclosure with no substrate until it heals.
With a pic we can say whether something should be put on it.
Also keep the rock out for good or at least for a very long time before you try again. Like when he is acting his old self. If he does the same then, leave it out for good.

 

[Krista S]

A picture of the area is needed. In the meantime I would take out all substrate or put him in a hospital enclosure with no substrate until it heals.
With a pic we can say whether something should be put on it.
Also keep the rock out for good or at least for a very long time before you try again. Like when he is acting his old self. If he does the same then, leave it out for good.

Thanks, @wellington. He’s gone to sleep for the night now, so I can try getting a picture in the morning. It’s not an active bleed or a gaping wound, it just looks like a couple layers of skin were rubbed off. He has fir bark as substrate in his enclosure so I will leave him be for tonight because I don’t want to stress him any further. In the morning I can clear out part of his enclosure and block him in that section until it heals.

Does this sound ok or do you think I should wake him up and empty out the enclosure now?

 

[wellington]

No I wouldn't wake him. Tomorrow is fine.

 

[TaylorTortoise]

I agree with @wellington, I would remove the rock all together. That is clearly what is irritating your poor baby! Definitely watch behavior changes when you remove the rock completely possibly put antiseptic ointment on the cloaca to get that raw skin to heal. You can use a qtip to lightly dap the ointment on.

 

[Krista S]

I agree with @wellington, I would remove the rock all together. That is clearly what is irritating your poor baby! Definitely watch behavior changes when you remove the rock completely possibly put antiseptic ointment on the cloaca to get that raw skin to heal. You can use a qtip to lightly dap the ointment on.

The rock has been in his enclosure for several months, and was ignored up until A few days ago, but like I said in my initial post, I did remove it now. It is pretty typical for male tortoises who have recently discovered their penises to want to hump something. I sure hope I don’t have to remove everything every other sight barrier and decoration from his enclosure while he gets his hormones under control.

 

[Lyn W]

Boys will be boys even if it hurts!!!
Soaking will clean it and I'll be interested to see what the members used to dealing with injuries say about using ointment on the cloaca area.
I hope he heals soon.

 

[Maro2Bear]

Ps - Happy Birthday ????????????????

 

[wellington]

Happy Birthday.
You can always give him a soft ball. A ball may even tire him out as he likely will have to chase it around. If nothing else, chasing it around means he's not able to hump it as much.

 

[Krista S]

Happy Birthday.
You can always give him a soft ball. A ball may even tire him out as he likely will have to chase it around. If nothing else, chasing it around means he's not able to hump it as much.

That’s a good idea, and definitely worth a try! Thank you for that. I’ll head out today and get a softball, but will wait until he’s healed up a bit more before introducing it to the enclosure. I just finished giving him his morning soak and took a couple pics. It’s actually not as bad as I was expecting to see, but still looks….ouchy! You can see in the centre there is a little area rubbed raw.

 

[Krista S]

Boys will be boys even if it hurts!!!
Soaking will clean it and I'll be interested to see what the members used to dealing with injuries say about using ointment on the cloaca area.
I hope he heals soon.

Thanks @Lyn W I still soak him everyday, sometimes twice, so that will help with keeping it clean. I’ll be sure to add the 2nd soak, even if it’s a shorter one until this is healed up. ?

 

[wellington]

I think I would just keep up the soaks and keeping it clean for now. It doesn't look bad enough to me for even a hospital tank. If it starts looking worse and not better then do the substrate less hospital tank and put antibiotic cream on it.
Yes, wait until healed before giving him a ball. Get a ball that is as smooth as possible. I'm thinking rubber ball.

 

[Krista S]

I think I would just keep up the soaks and keeping it clean for now. It doesn't look bad enough to me for even a hospital tank. If it starts looking worse and not better then do the substrate less hospital tank and put antibiotic cream on it.
Yes, wait until healed before giving him a ball. Get a ball that is as smooth as possible. I'm thinking rubber ball.

Sounds great! Thank you again for your help, I really appreciate it!

 

[ZenHerper]

Pretty minor. Torts with optimal immune health and metabolism will heal that right-quick. Do a couple more daily soaks so you can get a look at it, but should be fine in a day or two.

 

[Krista S]

Pretty minor. Torts with optimal immune health and metabolism will heal that right-quick. Do a couple more daily soaks so you can get a look at it, but should be fine in a day or two.

I’m glad it’s turned out to be fairly minor. It was just startling to walk into his room and see blood smeared on the rock. Today he seems to be mourning the loss of his rock. ? He’s been walking to the spot where it was and pawing at the substrate a little and then sits down staring at the spot. I can only imagine that he’s daydreaming about his weekend rendezvous. ?

 

[ZenHerper]

I’m glad it’s turned out to be fairly minor. It was just startling to walk into his room and see blood smeared on the rock. Today he seems to be mourning the loss of his rock. ? He’s been walking to the spot where it was and pawing at the substrate a little and then sits down staring at the spot. I can only imagine that he’s daydreaming about his weekend rendezvous. ?

First love. *sigh*

Oh, yeah, he coulda really pulled off a bunch of skin -- from a number of places. lol

Now you've seen it all!
=DD

 

[Lyn W]

Happy Birthday!!.
I didn't spot it earlier
I hope you have a lovely day and do do something special.

 

[Karen(pebbles)]

Happy birthday Krista

---

 

[KT1]

I think I would just keep up the soaks and keeping it clean for now. It doesn't look bad enough to me for even a hospital tank. If it starts looking worse and not better then do the substrate less hospital tank and put antibiotic cream on it.
Yes, wait until healed before giving him a ball. Get a ball that is as smooth as possible. I'm thinking rubber ball.

What exactly is a hospital tank? Thanks!

 

[wellington]

What exactly is a hospital tank? Thanks!

Just an extra enclosure that has no substrate but has heat and light and a hide, etc to either use to seperate a sick one from the rest of the herd or to put a sick one in so you don't have to take out the substrate from the regular enclosure. A simple tote box will do. Don't want it too big or too small for a sick tort.