Eating droppings

[jamiescorer]

Hi my son noticed my 8 month year old marginated tortoise eating his droppings, the tortoise appears healthy his diet is good, I always remove his droppings when I see them, so I have never noticed him doing this before. Should I be worried or not ???

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

Worry not. Although distasteful to us, this is normal behavior for a young captive tort. Like a rabbit, often items are twice more broken down for a more complete digestibility.

 

[sibi]

Ugh! Double digestibly! I make my babies pass on that. Although the other day when I let my tort outside to get some sun, I couldn't get to him fast enough to remove the dung my dog made. It was down his throat before I can blink. He just looked ay me like saying, "haha, you're not faster than my sticky tongue."

 

[mainey34]

I hate when they are faster then I...but its normal. They make sure they let us catch them in the act sometimes too..its just terrible...

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

I don't let them access to any other than they're own.

 

[mctlong]

Yep, its gross, but normal. They eat their own poop. I wouldn't worry too much about it. All you can do is remove the poop when you see it, but there are going to be times that they get to it before you do. Its just they way they are.

 

[jamiescorer]

Cheers all, great to have my concerns addressed from people in the know, from home and across the sea. Great thing this forum, can only result in healthier, happy tortoises.

 

[mhbgirl]

My torts absolutely love dog poop. They are red foots so they probably like the dog food taste or something. Trust me I try not to let them do it but sometimes they find a little chunk in the yard somewhere. They hunt for it like its tortoise crack. Nasty, but I've had them for about 4 years now and have never noticed that it causes problems.

 

[jamiescorer]

They no how to live it up, sunshine, weeds and poo, the good life

 

[cemmons12]

Lol, only thing to do is get it out as soon as you see it. Cooper use to do it, but we havent seen this behavior from him in a long time!

 

[Redstrike]

It's all the rave, you should try it!

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

It's all the rave, you should try it!

LMFAO!!!! Thank you.

 

[AZtortMom]

Yuck! You guys are so right, it's turtle crack! LOL! My babies hunt for the cat crap in our yard. It's so gross