Tortoise eating own poo

[Shirley the tortoise]

Hi

I found Shirley eating her own poo this morning.

Is this likely to cause her a problem (i.e do I need to call the vet)?

Also, is this normal tortoise behaviour?

Minging.

 

[spud's_mum]

Hi

I found Shirley eating her own poo this morning.

Is this likely to cause her a problem (i.e do I need to call the vet)?

Also, is this normal tortoise behaviour?

Minging.

Hello, I have heard of this before. I don't know if it causes problems though. Look at the bright side, you don't have to clean the enclosure much lol. But seriously, if you keep her occupied with other food, she will loose interest.

 

[lismar79]

Pretty normal, they are gross like that.

 

[Robertchrisroph]

Normal hope your day is great

 

[Shirley the tortoise]

Thanks for the responses. She doesn't seem any the worse for it, and has reverted to her normal daily behaviour of burying herself and trying to escape.

Probably looking forward to doing her next poo so she can eat it before I have chance to intervene.

 

[dmmj]

You tortoise eats poop? uh-oh.
Seriously, it is gross but normal. Mayybe we humans are missing out by not eating each others poop? Either way, I wll pass personally, let the tortoisses be the poop munchers if they want. It all has to do with recycling the nutrients, ( who knew they were so green).

 

[ZEROPILOT]

They also like dog and cat poop.
Watch out.

 

[johnsonnboswell]

They also like dog and cat poop.
Watch out.

Some dogs and cats have been dosed with ivermectin as a wormer. It's toxic to tortoises.

 

[DawnH]

Ugh. Nothing like waking up and finding your tort snacking on his own poop. ICK! Unfortunately it is normal. Try not to let it happen (I clean as soon as I see it but life happens!!) I have also been RELIGIOUS about making sure dog poop is picked up but Tuleo found a tiny bit today and I lost my mind. Ran screaming across the yard when I saw him munching away, grabbed him up and proceeded to wrestle it out of his mouth while the kids ran screaming around the yard at how gross *I* was.

We should have gotten it on film...

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Ugh. Nothing like waking up and finding your tort snacking on his own poop. ICK! Unfortunately it is normal. Try not to let it happen (I clean as soon as I see it but life happens!!) I have also been RELIGIOUS about making sure dog poop is picked up but Tuleo found a tiny bit today and I lost my mind. Ran screaming across the yard when I saw him munching away, grabbed him up and proceeded to wrestle it out of his mouth while the kids ran screaming around the yard at how gross *I* was.

We should have gotten it on film...

Indeed. It's so prolific that my male has a poo-less pen. He is 14.5 inches and eats like a cow. He has about 18 square feet of grassy area and I've yet to see any poo.