Tortoise toilet trouble

[Hainsy]

Hi, I've recently bought 2 Hermann's tortoises (about 7 months old) and am a little worried as one of them doesn't seem to poop.

They are called Penny and Sheldon. They are both eating a mix of weeds from the garden and shop bought mix salad. Penny appears to poop every day but Sheldon has yet to go.

I bathe them every morning in warm water and then put them under their lamp where they bask for most of the day.

Do you think Sheldon could be constipated or just still settling in?

Also, neither of them seem to drink that well or pass any urine.

I'm probably worrying about nothing but would be grateful for any advise people can offer.

 

[JWiediyanto]

For my experience, I think they just setting in. I have sulcata and my sulcata doesn't drink that much.

 

[Yvonne G]

When you say "bathe" what exactly do you mean? You should be putting your babies in warm water daily...water that comes up to the middle of their sides...and leave them in there for at least 15 minutes. This never fails for me at getting them to poop.

Take a look at your baby's tail. Sometimes the poop will collect on the cloaca, harden, and make it impossible for more poop to come out. If this is the case, you need to soften it and pick it off.

 

[Hainsy]

I put them in a tray of warm water and just let them do their own thing for about 20 minutes. I will also gently trickle water over their shells and heads. Obviously not enough so they can't breathe.

With regards to their tails, I always check their cloaca and from what I can see they are clean with no obvious collections of faeces.

Am I worrying prematurely?

Thanks for your help

 

[Hainsy]

Hi,
Just a quick update. I took Sheldon and Penny to the vets for a health check and because Sheldon still hadn't pooped.

He said all in all they were in good condition. He suggested I buy a UV strip light instead of just relying on the mercury vapour bulb and thought I could do with making their home a little warmer. It's currently 30 degrees celcius under the lamp and 20 degrees celsius in the cool end so he suggested moving their tank away from the window to avoid breezes (the mrs keeps opening it at night) and put a towel over the cool end to try and raise the ambient temperature.

We got onto Sheldon not pooping and the vet thought he might just be settling in. He suggested I keep an eye on Sheldon and if he still didn't poop in a couple of weeks to bring him back and try a soft paraffin pipe. Sheldon must have heard this and didn't like the idea as he proceeded to do the biggest poop of his life on the vets table!

So the vet took it as a sample and said he'd test it for parasites.

Despite a hectic drive it wasn't a wasted journey. I can highly recommend Sean McCormack at Richmond Vets.

 

[Yvonne G]

Can you please give me the info I need in order to put Dr. McCormack into our vet list? Name, Hospital name, address, phone number, city and web site if there is one.

 

[Laura]

maybe he is pooping but eating it... feed aloe, pumpkin, maybe some mineral oil in the food to help slide things along.. wont hurt.

 

[Hainsy]

Sean McCormack
Richmond Vets
161 Kew Road,
Richmond,
Surrey,
TW9 2PN

0208 9401090

[email protected]
www.richmondvets.co.uk

 

[Yvonne G]

Thank you. I've started a thread for the vets in the UK - United Kingdom. Hopefully I entered the info correctly???

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/united-kingdom.91821/