TeganTallullah
New Member
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2015
- Messages
- 15
I'm quite worried about my Russian tortoise because she has not been pooping. I believe she's only pooped once in the last two months! Should I be alarmed, and if so what can I do to help? (I'm already bathing her regularly but not quite daily). Is there some kind of laxative I can give her? Any advice greatly appreciated.
Here's a bit of background.
At the end of November I joined this forum and posted a thread asking for advice because my tort was trying to hibernate: sleeping all day, not eating or pooping. Since then I have made a big effort to improve her conditions. I brought her a larger house (that has a covered hide area, unlike her last one), I got her a stronger heat lamp, put in a substrate of coir and bark, and got her a wider and shallower water dish that she can sit in. I also started giving her warm baths under her light several times a week. These changes seem to have helped her quite a bit: she is much more active (although she still takes naps in the day) and she is now eating a normal amount. However even though she's been eating properly since 20th December, she hasn't pooped since then! How can this be? She is peeing and passing white urates every few days, though. She's four/five years old. She eats dandelion leaves and flowers, clover leaves and flowers, spinach, kale, broccoli, carrot, courgette, parsnip, and apple. There's a cuttlefish bone in her house which she occasionally nibbles on, and I scrape some onto her food about once a week. The temperatures are: basking = 95F; warm side = 75F; cool side = 60F; and night = 50-55F. Here's a photo of her new house.
Here's a bit of background.
At the end of November I joined this forum and posted a thread asking for advice because my tort was trying to hibernate: sleeping all day, not eating or pooping. Since then I have made a big effort to improve her conditions. I brought her a larger house (that has a covered hide area, unlike her last one), I got her a stronger heat lamp, put in a substrate of coir and bark, and got her a wider and shallower water dish that she can sit in. I also started giving her warm baths under her light several times a week. These changes seem to have helped her quite a bit: she is much more active (although she still takes naps in the day) and she is now eating a normal amount. However even though she's been eating properly since 20th December, she hasn't pooped since then! How can this be? She is peeing and passing white urates every few days, though. She's four/five years old. She eats dandelion leaves and flowers, clover leaves and flowers, spinach, kale, broccoli, carrot, courgette, parsnip, and apple. There's a cuttlefish bone in her house which she occasionally nibbles on, and I scrape some onto her food about once a week. The temperatures are: basking = 95F; warm side = 75F; cool side = 60F; and night = 50-55F. Here's a photo of her new house.