my 7 month old hermanns tortoise has diarrhoea

okkarence

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I've had my 7 month old hermanns tortoise for 2 weeks and it's had diarrhoea ever since i got it. I mainly feed it sow thistle, kale, lamb's lettuce and clover but i try to switch it up every day. I soak it every other day for 20 minutes and rub calcium into its food every other day as well, because it won't eat when it sees calcium on its food. I've heard zucchini is good for when they have diarrhoea but my tortoise won't touch it - I've tried to feed it multiple times now. The only thing i did wrong was that i gave it a bit of strawberry the first day i got it and one blueberry a few days ago, also a piece of tomato with calcium on it because it refused to eat calcium for the first week. Other than that i have no idea what i'm doing wrong. It was really active last week, climbing and running around but now it pretty much doesn't move and is really gassy too. Watery stool and urates every day. Some help would be really appreciated!
 

wellington

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It's likely the fruit that is causing it. No more fruit! It's too much sugar and bad for little ones. Any fruit including tomatoes.
Stop feeding that and see in about a week or less if it doesnt clear up.
If not, still stop feeding fruit but have a fecal done for worms/parasites
 

okkarence

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Mar 29, 2021
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Tallaght
It's likely the fruit that is causing it. No more fruit! It's too much sugar and bad for little ones. Any fruit including tomatoes.
Stop feeding that and see in about a week or less if it doesnt clear up.
If not, still stop feeding fruit but have a fecal done for worms/parasites
Thank you, i'll give it only weeds and greens and update you next week!
 

okkarence

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Tallaght
It's likely the fruit that is causing it. No more fruit! It's too much sugar and bad for little ones. Any fruit including tomatoes.
Stop feeding that and see in about a week or less if it doesnt clear up.
If not, still stop feeding fruit but have a fecal done for worms/parasites
So just an update, it's been a little over a week and Dash seems to be doing a whole lot better! Still got slightly wet poop but s/he's pooping a lotttt less, like once every few days so i assume the diarrhoea has stopped or is at least clearing up. I almost had a heart attack this morning when i saw brownish red urine but apparently that just happens when they eat lots of dandelions and is nothing to worry about. Dash seems a lot more energetic too :)
Thanks for your help!
 

wellington

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So just an update, it's been a little over a week and Dash seems to be doing a whole lot better! Still got slightly wet poop but s/he's pooping a lotttt less, like once every few days so i assume the diarrhoea has stopped or is at least clearing up. I almost had a heart attack this morning when i saw brownish red urine but apparently that just happens when they eat lots of dandelions and is nothing to worry about. Dash seems a lot more energetic too :)
Thanks for your help!
If it never seems to go completely away, you may want to have a stool sample checked for parasites.
Glad it's getting better.
 
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