Possible constipation or bladder stone?

[cksk2002]

I have a 2 year old Hermanns tortoise. He recently started dragging his back legs and stopped eating as much and was generally not as active. I searched this site and found it could be constipation or a bladder stone. He was kept outside and in Florida it had been very dry and hot. I brought him inside to his indoor crate and started with the warm soaks for 30min 2x a day. Nothing for a few days. Next, I tried coating the food with mineral oil, nothing. I finally got a small syringe and inserted the mineral oil in his cloaca as suggested in another thread. While soaking him after the procedure he finally pooped and it was very hard. I also later found what looked like a small bladder stone in the bottom of the soaking dish. I repeated the procedure 2 days later and again he pooped twice, this time the poop was normal, not hard, no visible bladder stones.

It's been 3 days since he first passed the hard poop and he is still dragging his legs a little and sleeping under the lamp. Does it take a while to recover from expelled bladder stone and or constipation? I also already replaced the UVB lamp in his indoor crate. Should I keep feeding cucumber, escarole, and mizuri soaked with water and mineral oil? Any help is so appreciated!!

 

[Yvonne G]

It's very satisfying to read about someone researching on the Forum then applying what they learned. GOOD FOR YOU!!!

My guess would be that the lump he passed was a bit of hard urates, and there is probably more in there, and it might be too big to pass. Try the Oops-I-forgot-my-tortoise-in-the-soaking-water trick. Put him in a little tub he can't get out of and make the water deep enough he has to hold his head up. Leave him there for an hour or more, but keep an eye on him to make sure he's not getting into trouble. Scrambling around, trying to get out, does wonders for a backed up system.

If this doesn't work, he'll need an X-ray and maybe surgery

(lesson learned? He's not drinking on his own and still needs every other day soaks)

 

[Tom]

What she said...

Hello and welcome. In addition to the great advice from Yvonne, what is the substrate in his outdoor pen? How much sand?

I think an X-ray is in order to help you figure out what you are dealing with.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Would you mind if we got a little more insight about his indoor set up and overall care? Might help us giving some specific tips/pointersdon’t worry if you can’t answer them all!

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&humidity?
What’s his diet been like with you?

A photo of the full set up would be wonderful! Welcome to the forum

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Welcome to the forum! An x-ray would put rule the possibility of an remaining bladder stone.

 

[cksk2002]

Thank for all the suggestions. Here is a pic of his indoor area. No sand indoors or outdoors. I had stopped soaking him because I thought it was so humid outside and I never saw any urates come out with his poop. Now I’m kicking myself because I didn’t realize much about these bladder stones. I’ll continue the long soaks and see if anything else passes. Then off to the vet for X-rays

 

[COmtnLady]

The water and food dishes seem to be kind of high for him to crawl over. Could you dig out a little under them so that the top rims of the dishes are closer to substrate level? Its ok for them to be slightly above substrate level to help keep it from being tracked into the dish, but it would be better if its under an inch from the top of the substrate to the rim of the dishes. That way he can get in and out easier. Easier access might encourage self-soaking, too, which would be good for him.

And, since his enclosure isn't very big, I'd remove the decorative rocks so that he has that much more room to walk. The exercise is more important than decorations. Lack of exercise can contribute to constipation.

How are you keeping heat and humidity in?


.

 

[JoJosMom]

I have a 2 year old Hermanns tortoise. He recently started dragging his back legs and stopped eating as much and was generally not as active. I searched this site and found it could be constipation or a bladder stone. He was kept outside and in Florida it had been very dry and hot. I brought him inside to his indoor crate and started with the warm soaks for 30min 2x a day. Nothing for a few days. Next, I tried coating the food with mineral oil, nothing. I finally got a small syringe and inserted the mineral oil in his cloaca as suggested in another thread. While soaking him after the procedure he finally pooped and it was very hard. I also later found what looked like a small bladder stone in the bottom of the soaking dish. I repeated the procedure 2 days later and again he pooped twice, this time the poop was normal, not hard, no visible bladder stones.

It's been 3 days since he first passed the hard poop and he is still dragging his legs a little and sleeping under the lamp. Does it take a while to recover from expelled bladder stone and or constipation? I also already replaced the UVB lamp in his indoor crate. Should I keep feeding cucumber, escarole, and mizuri soaked with water and mineral oil? Any help is so appreciated!!

Is he eating again? Also, may I recommend in addition to Yvonne G soaking method, can you get him out in the grass to encourage movement? Movement is vital when the system is impacted. You may also do some exercises with his legs to help promote the bowel movement. If he isn’t eating regularly, he won’t be pooping regularly and that you will have to worry about. Have you tried to offer some pure pumpkin or even opuntia? It is important to give him long soaks but make sure you’re changing the water out to keep it warm. A warm bath will help with movement. For whatever reason it stimulates it as most torts will poop in their soak water. Were you able to get some scans?