HELP! Not pooping

[allyouneedisturtlelove]

I got my hermanns tortoise 5 weeks ago (likely full grown) and the only poop I've seen is the two times at the vet they forced from him. He came to me with parasites, which I treated orally, and worms, which I also treated him for. He never drinks water, but he eats the smoothies I made for him. They are made of kale, collard, mustard greens, tortoise pellets, cucumber, calcium, and hay. I also soak him regularly and have tried some water enemas. He does produce thin urate but no poop that I see. I also add cucumber pressed through a garlic press to his food for more hydration. His house is 75-90 degrees pending on the area and has the UVA and UVB light. He sleeps most of the time. Very sweet and kind little guy, but I am worried about this not pooping thing.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

What kind of dewormer was used and what dosage? Was a fecal sample done?

I will tag @zovick here.

 

[COmtnLady]

Welcome to The Forum!

Can you please post pictures of his enclosure and him?

If your tortoise genuinely isn't pooping there are measures to take in the soak that probably will help, but I have a few questions first.

1 -Is it possible he's pooping and you missed it? Did the enclosure get a bit smelly?

2 -Where and how did you get your tortoise?

3 -Is the vet a reptile or exotics vet? (Even then they don't always know the most up-to-date info about tortoises unless they have one of their own.) What is are the answers to The_Four_Toed_Edward's questions above?

4 -How warm are you keeping him/his enclosure, and at what humidity? If a tortoise is chilly its whole system slows down.
5 -What is your lighting like? Wrong lighting can throw their systems off, too.
6 -What is the size of your enclosure? Tortoises need to exercise for their gastro-intestinal tract to work well.

7 -How long do you soak him and is the water warm (95F-ish)?
With most torts the soaking encourages going potty. The water should only come up to where the top and bottom shells come together. And each soak should be for at least twenty minutes or a half an hour. - longer is good. Because the water is so shallow you will have to monitor it closely and warm it up everytime it cools down. There is almost no such thing as too much soaking. If he actually is constipated warm him up and soak him more often and longer each time.


8 -You shouldn't have to puree anything. Why are you doing that?

Five weeks isn't very long in the tortoise world. Your tort could still be becoming used to the new places and food.

A lot of people don't see when their tortoise takes a drink. For example, many times during a soak it will seem like the tort is just sitting there with its head resting on the water, but its actually drinking a bit.
9 -Do you have a terracotta plant saucer hat is about ten inches across (counter-sunk down into the substrate until the upper edge is close to even with the surface of the substrate) , filled with water, available at all times in his enclosure?


Have you had a chance to read this yet?

https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/info-for-new-people-please-read-this-first.202363/





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[zovick]

What kind of dewormer was used and what dosage? Was a fecal sample done?

I will tag @zovick here.

I can't tell much from the info which has been posted. COmtnLady has covered a number of good points in her post #3.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hello, if we could get more housing/overall care information from you like mentioned above, that would be great, set up photos are really helpful too

What are your temperatures like all over? Ie basking temp(directly under the bulb), overall day temps(middle and cooler side), night temps?
What kind of basking bulb is being used specifically? Packaging photos are good if you have any
What kind of indoor uv?
How’s humidity?
What’s his substrate?
What kind of monitoring do you have measuring temp and humidity?
What’s his diet been like with you?

 

[allyouneedisturtlelove]

Welcome to The Forum!

Can you please post pictures of his enclosure and him?

If your tortoise genuinely isn't pooping there are measures to take in the soak that probably will help, but I have a few questions first.

1 -Is it possible he's pooping and you missed it? Did the enclosure get a bit smelly?

2 -Where and how did you get your tortoise?

3 -Is the vet a reptile or exotics vet? (Even then they don't always know the most up-to-date info about tortoises unless they have one of their own.) What is are the answers to The_Four_Toed_Edward's questions above?

4 -How warm are you keeping him/his enclosure, and at what humidity? If a tortoise is chilly its whole system slows down.
5 -What is your lighting like? Wrong lighting can throw their systems off, too.
6 -What is the size of your enclosure? Tortoises need to exercise for their gastro-intestinal tract to work well.

7 -How long do you soak him and is the water warm (95F-ish)?
With most torts the soaking encourages going potty. The water should only come up to where the top and bottom shells come together. And each soak should be for at least twenty minutes or a half an hour. - longer is good. Because the water is so shallow you will have to monitor it closely and warm it up everytime it cools down. There is almost no such thing as too much soaking. If he actually is constipated warm him up and soak him more often and longer each time.


8 -You shouldn't have to puree anything. Why are you doing that?

Five weeks isn't very long in the tortoise world. Your tort could still be becoming used to the new places and food.

A lot of people don't see when their tortoise takes a drink. For example, many times during a soak it will seem like the tort is just sitting there with its head resting on the water, but its actually drinking a bit.
9 -Do you have a terracotta plant saucer hat is about ten inches across (counter-sunk down into the substrate until the upper edge is close to even with the surface of the substrate) , filled with water, available at all times in his enclosure?


Have you had a chance to read this yet?

https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/info-for-new-people-please-read-this-first.202363/





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He went poop today in his warm bath and I realized he went earlier this week in his house but it dried up and I thought it was a piece of bark that broke off. So twice in one week! Finally the meds r kicking in I think.

I puréed it because he wasn’t liking the hay for fiber or tortoise pellets so it was a way to get all the mixed together.

The exotic vet tested his poop and gave me the medications…. I got him from petco.

He was in coconut substrate but he started eating it so now he is in hay with reptile terrain and he loves digging in the hay but doesn’t eat it. It’s 80-90 degrees pending on the area of the habitat. The uva and uvb area is more like 80 but the highest concentration of heat gets into low 90s. A little lower for both at night. Humidity 30-40.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

He went poop today in his warm bath and I realized he went earlier this week in his house but it dried up and I thought it was a piece of bark that broke off. So twice in one week! Finally the meds r kicking in I think.

I puréed it because he wasn’t liking the hay for fiber or tortoise pellets so it was a way to get all the mixed together.

The exotic vet tested his poop and gave me the medications…. I got him from petco.

He was in coconut substrate but he started eating it so now he is in hay with reptile terrain and he loves digging in the hay but doesn’t eat it. It’s 80-90 degrees pending on the area of the habitat. The uva and uvb area is more like 80 but the highest concentration of heat gets into low 90s. A little lower for both at night. Humidity 30-40.

I wouldn’t suggest hay as a substrate, you won’t be able to provide any kind of humidity with that without it moulding, the reptile soil terrains tend to have sand mixed in which causes its own issues in captivity. If you weren’t a fan of the coco coir, I’d suggest switching to orchid bark