GI concerns in a Russian Tortoise

[liz.waynick]

My Russian tortoise, Littlefoot, has these giant poos every few days. You can see it in the left foreground. I tried to get Littlefoot in the shot for comparison as well. These types of stools I've dubbed 'cat turds' because it seriously looks like a cat pooped in her tank. I've done a fecal check, no parasites and a culture yielded normal flora (E. coli and Aeromonas something-or-other). She gets escarole, endive, sometimes green leaf lettuce, rare romaine, and even more rare kale in rotation. Per the vet, I've started feeding her a small handful of Mazuri tortoise pellets with the greens. The vet said stool size can sometimes be related to the various greens they may be eating and the pellets may help regulate it (this was an over the phone consult I had with him - he was a small exotic specialist my regular vet recommended and has never actually seen Littlefoot. My regular vet has seen her, though). I started the pellets a week ago yesterday (so the 15th) and today I noticed not one, but two 'cat turds'. Any other Russian owners have this issue??

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Liz, and welcome to the Forum!!

Whoa! Do you have a cat?

Tortoises DO seem to poop bigger than it looks like they should, but one thing I noticed by your tort's poop is it looks pretty dry. Give your little guy a good soak every so often. Do you keep a waterer inside the habitat? You can also give him a treat of aloe vera occasionally. This helps lubricate up the insides a bit.

 

[WillTort2]

It's difficult to judge the proportion but it looks like the poop is larger than the torts head. If so then I think Yvonne is right; your tortoise needs hydrating. Soaking is a good start and when you feed weeds or vegetables you should rinse them and serve them wet to increase water intake.

I find coco coir as a substrate is easy to keep moist and that will allow higher humidity. Even when the top layer looks dry the deeper layers hold moisture.

Good luck.

 

[Tom]

Looks pretty normal. My 80 sulcatas leave bigger piles than my 140 pound Great Dane.

 

[kanalomele]

Welcome to TFO. This looks pretty typical to me. Remember that the majority of their diet should be broadleaf weeds grasses and vegetation. That has alot of bulk and is very... ahem... cleansing to the bowel. I do not find pelleted food necessary at all for mine and have never used it as anything other than an occasional treat.