Hello, I am a new tortoise keeper to my yearling greek tortoise that I’ve had for 5 days now. He hasn’t pooped since the day I got him and I’ve tried soaks the past 3 days with no success. I’ve been giving him a varied diet of collared greens, romaine, offering Timothy hay also. Today he ate some dandelion greens and red prickly pear fruit. I think his last owners fed him mostly just romaine. Could it be the diet change has him constipated? I’m also worried that his substrate had perlite in it for the first two days I had him before I realized it was bad and have since switched to just coco coir. Anything else I can try to get him to poop or is this a normal amount of time between poos?
Constipation?
- Thread starter Trvrdvs
- Start date
The_Four_Toed_Edward
Well-Known Member
For constipation, the following things might help:
Greek tortoises aren't hay eaters, so stop offering timothy hay.
- Dilurantic foods like cucumber, pumpkin, zuchini or aloe vera
- Long soaks 49 to 60 minutes (keeping the water warm of course) in a container he has space to move in
- Mineral oil can be fed rolled up in lettuce and/or swiped on the cloaca with a q tip
Greek tortoises aren't hay eaters, so stop offering timothy hay.
Do you have cactus pads? Feed the pads for a few days.
Give long warm soaks daily, an hour each time and give it in a large container or your tub so he has lots of room to walk around. Keep him/water warm the whole time
Sometimes running the warm water over the poop shoot will cause them to poop quicker.
Sometimes running the warm water over the poop shoot will cause them to poop quicker.
Thanks for the replies and information everyone! After about 45 minutes and some fart bubbles, we got some pee (I’m assuming that’s the white stuff?) and then a nice healthy log! I’m thinking maybe the nighttime drop is getting too low (~60F) so I’ve been thinking about setting up a CHE on a thermostat to bring up the nighttime temps
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Welcome to the forum. I'm so happy your tortoise 
. Do not feed fruit to your tortoise, they can't process the sugar. Your temperature is to low. Please do your research on the forum ASAP. Also your tort is new to you, so he will take time to get aclamated. I would do soaks daily because he is passing urates. Does your tortoise have a name yet? 60 degree Fahrenheit? That is too cold at night. What are the day temperatures?
. Do not feed fruit to your tortoise, they can't process the sugar. Your temperature is to low. Please do your research on the forum ASAP. Also your tort is new to you, so he will take time to get aclamated. I would do soaks daily because he is passing urates. Does your tortoise have a name yet? 60 degree Fahrenheit? That is too cold at night. What are the day temperatures?
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Great your tort was successful 
The white stuff you are referring to. Is called urates, a tortoise has a process to basically keep recycling the urine to stay hydrated. The end product is uric acid. If the urates are gritty or like small stones. Your tortoise is not getting enough water. If the urates are like toothpaste, he is ok. That's why you don't want to give your tort a lot of protein.
The white stuff you are referring to. Is called urates, a tortoise has a process to basically keep recycling the urine to stay hydrated. The end product is uric acid. If the urates are gritty or like small stones. Your tortoise is not getting enough water. If the urates are like toothpaste, he is ok. That's why you don't want to give your tort a lot of protein.
