How do I help my guy?

[Oogwaysmom]

My 8yr old Sulcata has been constipated for a while. It all started when he dug his first burrow late this summer.

I’ve followed all of the forum advice and Sulcata information on the internet that I can find, soaking for a 1-2 hrs 2-3 x a day in warm water, feeding mineral oil and pumpkin, soaking in warm water solution of sugar & betadine. since this prolapse issue I’ve added cleaning is area and coating with neosporin daily.

Any advice on how to get him better ?

 

[TammyJ]

Can we see pics of the entire plastron, and also a front facing view of the tortoise showing the gulars? Thanks . Anyway, is there a good experienced reptile vet near you?

 

[Oogwaysmom]

Can we see pics of the entire plastron, and also a front facing view of the tortoise showing the gulars? Thanks . Anyway, is there a good experienced reptile vet near you?

 

[wellington]

Do not soak in betadine and sugar or put Neosporin on it, that will not do anything. For a prolapse the sugar is supposed to be made into a paste and put on the prolapse. Stop getting info outside this forum. You will make the poor thing much worse.
What is the enclosure like? If he doesn't have a big enough enclosure to roam, things like this can happen.

 

[wellington]

Feeding him watery foods like cucumber, Romaine can help. Put the mineral oil on the prolapse just inside the walls and see if you can slowly and carefully push it back in.

 

[TammyJ]

Thanks for posting the pictures. Wellington has a lot of knowledge and experience and so does @Yvonne G

 

[Oogwaysmom]

I’ve had him almost a decade and have had no issues until now. I’ve been weary of posting for fear of judgement that I see on the other posts.

I have advanced degrees and degree in animal biology from a reputable university. I’m no perfect tortoise mom, but I try my best. he’s in a half acre well groomed yard with a secure fence. He’s got A fully organic vegetable garden with melons, sweet peppers, romaine, mustard & turnip greens just for him 10 months out of the year. The other months when the garden dies back I give him store bought organic greens, romaine and sweet peppers as snacks a couple times a week. He mostly grazes on the bramuda and st aug mixed grass but also loves the clover and weeds. In our area he is maintained at a temperature of 70-95 most of the time, and it’s unavoidably humid here. He normally soaks weekly or 2x a week, but in the summer and now he’s a daily or multiple times a day soaker.

He has a specially made house for night time in the summer that has a secure door with plenty of ventilation. he comes inside an insulated large garage(ac/heated) at night in the winter that’s maintained at about 74degrees. About 10 months out of the year his house habitat at night is about 75 degrees.

I tried the paste, mineral oil, cucumbers, but I’ll try again.

The main issue is that I’ve been told that the black part is a scab and that I needed to safely remove it. I have been soaking him longer to get it off but it doesn’t seem like a scab, Is this accurate? If so how do I do this safely?

Help is certainly appreciated. The only exotic vet here does not specialize in his type of care.

 

[wellington]

Couple things right off the bat. He should be kept at temps of 80-85 not below, day and night. If it's a bit cooler outside, that's fine, as long as he has a heated to 80-85 degree place to go to warm up along with basking that reaches 95-100 or they can't properly digest their foods and things like this happens
Also, he looks quite small for being almost a decade old.
His diet needs improving. He should not be fed fruit. Add orchard grass hay and mazuri to his diet along with cactus pads. The greens and peppers is not a full diet. The grass and weeds are much better but not enough.
Do the sugar paste and keep it on him. Do not let the prolapse dry up.
@Tom

 

[wellington]

Btw, do not risk the life of your tortoise over maybe being judged. Judgement usually happens when a poster wants to fight against everything being told to them that is wrong.

 

[Oogwaysmom]

Couple things right off the bat. He should be kept at temps of 80-85 not below, day and night. If it's a bit cooler outside, that's fine, as long as he has a heated to 80-85 degree place to go to warm up along with basking that reaches 95-100 or they can't properly digest their foods and things like this happens
Also, he looks quite small for being almost a decade old.
His diet needs improving. He should not be fed fruit. Add orchard grass hay and mazuri to his diet along with cactus pads. The greens and peppers is not a full diet. The grass and weeds are much better but not enough.
Do the sugar paste and keep it on him. Do not let the prolapse dry up.
@Tom

Thank you for the info. What’s the best method for keeping the prolapse moist?

 

[Tom]

I’ve had him almost a decade and have had no issues until now. I’ve been weary of posting for fear of judgement that I see on the other posts.

I have advanced degrees and degree in animal biology from a reputable university. I’m no perfect tortoise mom, but I try my best. he’s in a half acre well groomed yard with a secure fence. He’s got A fully organic vegetable garden with melons, sweet peppers, romaine, mustard & turnip greens just for him 10 months out of the year. The other months when the garden dies back I give him store bought organic greens, romaine and sweet peppers as snacks a couple times a week. He mostly grazes on the bramuda and st aug mixed grass but also loves the clover and weeds. In our area he is maintained at a temperature of 70-95 most of the time, and it’s unavoidably humid here. He normally soaks weekly or 2x a week, but in the summer and now he’s a daily or multiple times a day soaker.

He has a specially made house for night time in the summer that has a secure door with plenty of ventilation. he comes inside an insulated large garage(ac/heated) at night in the winter that’s maintained at about 74degrees. About 10 months out of the year his house habitat at night is about 75 degrees.

I tried the paste, mineral oil, cucumbers, but I’ll try again.

The main issue is that I’ve been told that the black part is a scab and that I needed to safely remove it. I have been soaking him longer to get it off but it doesn’t seem like a scab, Is this accurate? If so how do I do this safely?

Help is certainly appreciated. The only exotic vet here does not specialize in his type of care.

1/2 acre to roam is great. Has he stopped moving as much with the cooler weather?

Diet sounds pretty good because of all the grass and weeds. In colder weather when the grass and weeds aren't available, you need to add hay or horse pellets, or something along those lines to add in much needed fiber to grocery store type greens.

Soaking and hydration sound great.

Four things typically contribute to constipation:
1. Small enclosures like what many people use for winter.
2. Dehydration.
3. Wrong diet.
4. Cold temps.

Unless he's not walking much anymore due to his winter confines, I think #4 is your most likely culprit. Where they come from ground temps are 80-85 all year long. It's near 100 degrees on the surface, and sometimes hotter, every day all year long, but they stay underground where it is 80-85 most of the time. They warm up above 80-85 by basking in the mouth of their burrow in the morning, but then they retreat underground in the heat of the day. This basking/burrow behavior can be seen in AZ and here in SoCal in summer. You'll see tortoises in the mouths of their burrows in the early morning sun and then is a ghost town after 9 or 10 am, until late afternoon.

It's okay for them to go out and walk around in 60 degree weather, as long as they can bask in the sun and have a warm retreat to go back to. I set my night boxes to 86 here in winter for sulcatas. I set them to 80 in spring and fall when we have warm sunny days and cold nights, and I unplug the boxes in summer when every day is near or over 100.

Heat lamps are not effective for larger tortoises and usually end up burning the carapace. How are you heating him? He needs to be over 80 day and night, and he needs a warmer area during the day where he can get over 90 degrees.

I don't know what you've read on other posts, but we are trying to help people and their tortoises here. I don't feel like I'm being judgmental with people. I feel like I'm telling them what they need to hear and sometimes some people don't like that. We will not attack or insult you here, but we also aren't going to beat around the bush and try to sugar coat everything either. It won't help you or your tortoise if we only tell you what you want to hear. I'm glad you decided to post and ask for help, and I hope we can help you figure out your issue.

 

[wellington]

Thank you for the info. What’s the best method for keeping the prolapse moist?

The sugar paste is to help get the swelling down so the prolapse will go back in. Then either keep him soaking in warm water keeping it warm the whole time or rig a wet towel. The black looks like it might be dead tissue from drying out. It might be beneficial to seek out an experienced tortoise/reptile vet and have it looked at.

 

[Oogwaysmom]

Fortunately I’m in the very south bit of Louisiana so My grass is still fully green where I have to cut it at least once a week still. My garage (his winter home) is kept at 74 degrees overall but he has a reptile safe heating pad that’s set at 85 and a nearby oil heater that he can’t physically reach but he huddles near. The oil heater is at 86 right now. It sounds like I need to crank that up.

Now that the temps dropped he’s been inside the garage for about a week. Normally he roams my entire yard and starts at the same spot and times every day 7:30am -11am, grazes, then goes to his burrow in the back around noon. When the temperature is below 80 he stays in the burrow til I get him into his warmed house. Otherwise he walks back on his own about an hour before sundown and makes it to his house by sundown.

He’s been in his winter home for a couple weeks and not roaming nearly as much, but I bring him out during the day if it’s warm and sunny. I’ll add the hay as suggested for the fiber and keep him warmer.

 

[Tom]

Fortunately I’m in the very south bit of Louisiana so My grass is still fully green where I have to cut it at least once a week still. My garage (his winter home) is kept at 74 degrees overall but he has a reptile safe heating pad that’s set at 85 and a nearby oil heater that he can’t physically reach but he huddles near. The oil heater is at 86 right now. It sounds like I need to crank that up.

Now that the temps dropped he’s been inside the garage for about a week. Normally he roams my entire yard and starts at the same spot and times every day 7:30am -11am, grazes, then goes to his burrow in the back around noon. When the temperature is below 80 he stays in the burrow til I get him into his warmed house. Otherwise he walks back on his own about an hour before sundown and makes it to his house by sundown.

He’s been in his winter home for a couple weeks and not roaming nearly as much, but I bring him out during the day if it’s warm and sunny. I’ll add the hay as suggested for the fiber and keep him warmer.

The Kane mat should just be on, not set with the rheostat or thermostat to 85. The tortoise needs to be able to get well above 85. If the tortoise is in the 70s and lays on an 85 degree mat, it will take hours to get his core up to 85, and if the air temp is in the 70s, he may never get warmed up. Imagine trying to cook your Thanksgiving turkey to 165 degrees inside by putting it in an oven that is set to 165 degrees. The oven has to be hotter than 165 to get the core of the turkey up to 165 in a reasonable amount of time. It would probably take two days to do it at 165. Likewise with the oil heater. The air temp in the garage should be set to 86. If the oil heater is only warming up to 86, it will never warm the air enough in a cold garage. You need Louisiana summer like conditions for this species year round. The Kane mat needs to be getting up to at least 100, and the tortoise can move on and off of it as needed.

In your part of the world, the best way to house them is outside full time with a heated night box. They can come out and roam around and graze on colder days, and retire to their heated shelter any time they want. All burrows should be closed off as soon as the weather starts to cool. Usually late October here. I use sheets of plywood to cover the holes. Our nights are typically in the 30s all winter long here with occasional cold spells dipping into the high 20s. Daytime highs are usually in the 60s or 70s. During cold rainy spells, the day time high only climbs into the 50s. They still walk around a bit and then go right back into their warm shelters. Here are two examples of what I'm talking about:

Single Tortoise Night Box

I like my larger tortoises to live outside full time. My climate permits this year round with a little help. For people who live where it snows all winter, this type of box is still good for warmer weather, getting them out earlier in Spring, and keeping them out a bit later into fall. You'll...

tortoiseforum.org

Double Door Night Box

As the years have gone by and I build more of these boxes, I learn more and more each time. This one is the latest and I incorporated everything I've learned over the years. I also tried to take lots of pics so I can explain in more detail some of what is going on. It will take multiple posts to...

tortoiseforum.org

These boxes are much more effective and much more efficient than trying to heat an entire garage all winter. Questions are welcome.