My tortoise apparently ate a plastic plate!

[CharSparda]

(The part that’s bitten)

It’s not a lot, but my tortoise is also not very big (about 18 cms diameter). He was having his regular cactus on top of that plate but I guess he started to eat the cactus and the plate at some point. Should I be worried? It happened a couple hours ago and he’s still eating cactus and went to sleep already.

The vet told me to get some x-rays just to see if in fact he ate it, but I don’t want to take him to the operating room unless it’s TRULY needed.

 

[wellington]

I wouldn't take him to the vet just yet. It's a small enough piece it should pass.
Soak him daily in warm water in a container big enough he can scramble around and keep insides moving good.
@Yvonne G can advise further if needed.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

He should be able to pass that but I’d feed on slate in the future, keep soaking him!

In the meantime, would you mind trying to answer some of these questions? I only ask because I’m noticing a red heat bulb which isn’t appropriate for them, it messes their eyesight up and can make everything look like food! I’m also seeing husk with scattered bits of food, if he eats husk he could become blocked up, you want coir/and/or orchid fir bark. We can help with other adjustments/tweaks where needed!

How are your temperatures? Ie basking temp(directly under the bulb)overall day temps, night temps?
What kind of lighting/heating are you using specifically? Packaging photos are good if you have any
Do you use indoor uv? If so what kind?
How’s your humidity? What do you use for substrate?

A photo of the full set up would be great if willing to share

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

You could give this thread a read where I explain a bit more about the bulbs and other things to be aware of to avoid!

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Ink]

I would soak a lot. Feed cucumber and I too would take it to the vet for X-rays. This way you can see if it moves through his system.

 

[CharSparda]

He should be able to pass that but I’d feed on slate in the future, keep soaking him!

In the meantime, would you mind trying to answer some of these questions? I only ask because I’m noticing a red heat bulb which isn’t appropriate for them, it messes their eyesight up and can make everything look like food! I’m also seeing husk with scattered bits of food, if he eats husk he could become blocked up, you want coir/and/or orchid fir bark. We can help with other adjustments/tweaks where needed!

How are your temperatures? Ie basking temp(directly under the bulb)overall day temps, night temps?
What kind of lighting/heating are you using specifically? Packaging photos are good if you have any
Do you use indoor uv? If so what kind?
How’s your humidity? What do you use for substrate?

A photo of the full set up would be great if willing to share

Thanks!
this was actually his first enclosure a couple years ago, but he looks exactly the same, that’s why I posted it haha

Nowadays he only has a ceramic heater and a UVB bulb with an horizontal clamp lamp (the UVB is 10.0) ; the thing is that it’s very difficult to find UVB tubes here, that’s why I opted for an horizontal lamp to “simulate” a tube and get a wider range. His enclosure is paved with coconut fiber on top of a thin layer of peat moss

Humidity is about 40% and heat is around 80 F

I’d love to post a photo but I’m actually building a new enclosure for him and a new one for my red foot, I’ll post them when they’re done!

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Thanks!
this was actually his first enclosure a couple years ago, but he looks exactly the same, that’s why I posted it haha

Nowadays he only has a ceramic heater and a UVB bulb with an horizontal clamp lamp (the UVB is 10.0) ; the thing is that it’s very difficult to find UVB tubes here, that’s why I opted for an horizontal lamp to “simulate” a tube and get a wider range. His enclosure is paved with coconut fiber on top of a thin layer of peat moss

Humidity is about 40% and heat is around 80 F

I’d love to post a photo but I’m actually building a new enclosure for him and a new one for my red foot, I’ll post them when they’re done!

I will warn that the compact uv bulbs aren’t very reliable as a bulb uv source and can still produce uv hot spots that can be damaging to their eyes unfortunatelythat said, with a meter you’d have a much better idea.

The coco fiber can impact them so I would consider switching to orchid fir bark, and peat moss is actually too acidic in ph and can burn their plastron! I’d get that removed asap! I cover it all in the thread I linked

Feel free to check out this thread too, I know it says Herman and Russians but care should be pretty similar for your guy, it covers the right bulbs, levels, sizing, appropriately maintaining humidity and there’s loads of visual examples for everything! Hopefully you can apply it to your new one

Housing adult Russian and Hermans indoors

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information an example of an appropriate indoor set up for an older Herman/russian. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure, I understand being from the uk myself, that some climates make it difficult to...

tortoiseforum.org

This is the one for red foots! It’s definitely worth the read to make sure he’s set up correctly because red foots are very different and there’s so much misinformation on them out there

Housing older red foot/cherryhead

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to go over an example of an appropriate indoor red foot/cherryhead enclosure. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure(especially the size these guys get!) I understand being from the uk myself, that some climate’s make it...

tortoiseforum.org

Hope this helps! Would love to hear what you think of them and if you have any questions

 

[CharSparda]

I will warn that the compact uv bulbs aren’t very reliable as a bulb uv source and can still produce uv hot spots that can be damaging to their eyes unfortunatelythat said, with a meter you’d have a much better idea.

The coco fiber can impact them so I would consider switching to orchid fir bark, and peat moss is actually too acidic in ph and can burn their plastron! I’d get that removed asap! I cover it all in the thread I linked

Feel free to check out this thread too, I know it says Herman and Russians but care should be pretty similar for your guy, it covers the right bulbs, levels, sizing, appropriately maintaining humidity and there’s loads of visual examples for everything! Hopefully you can apply it to your new one

Housing adult Russian and Hermans indoors

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information an example of an appropriate indoor set up for an older Herman/russian. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure, I understand being from the uk myself, that some climates make it difficult to...

tortoiseforum.org

This is the one for red foots! It’s definitely worth the read to make sure he’s set up correctly because red foots are very different and there’s so much misinformation on them out there

Housing older red foot/cherryhead

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to go over an example of an appropriate indoor red foot/cherryhead enclosure. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure(especially the size these guys get!) I understand being from the uk myself, that some climate’s make it...

tortoiseforum.org

Hope this helps! Would love to hear what you think of them and if you have any questions

Thank you! Imma take a read and modify what I’m already building

Why is the coconut fiber bad for them?

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Thank you! Imma take a read and modify what I’m already building

Why is the coconut fiber bad for them?

Awesome! There’s been instances of the fibrous strand bits building up in their digestive tract causing blockages, I’m not saying for certain that would happen, but it’s a reported risk I like to give people a heads up on.

Coir can easily pass if bits are eaten now and again, and they shouldn’t want to be eating the bark in any case, though the odd little piece of accidentally eaten can tend to pass safely toohope this helps!