What is a good digestion time frame?

[Badgemash]

As some of you may know, I caught Gunny eating a pebble on Monday. I called the vet immediately and he said to bring him in if he shows any behavioral changes, especially not eating or defecating. So far he seems fine, has been eating as usual and fouling his baths in the evenings, so I'm hopeful he'll pass the pebble (or possibly pebbles, I only saw the one but he could have had more before I caught him). When should I expect it (or them) to come out? How long does it take a tort to pass something through the whole digestive process?

-Devon

 

[Yvonne G]

I think it all depends upon what kind of tortoise and how large. If I feed my Manouria cantaloupe with the seeds today, I won't see seeds in their poop for almost two weeks. Some tortoises the time frame is less than that.

 

[onarock]

This can vary animal to animal as Yvonne suggests. It also depends upon how often the animal is fed or the availability of food and what food is being offered. All of my tortoises that graze daily, deficate daily.

Greg if you read this can you please share your experience? I would like to hear from other keepers that allow their animals to graze year round, putting zero limitations on the availability of food.

 

[Yvonne G]

My tortoises defecate daily too, Paul, but what they eat today doesn't come out today or tomorrow. Sometimes not for a week or more.

 

[onarock]

Yvonne, is food always available to your tortoises? If not, what is your feeding pattern? And do you allow them to eat untill they walk away or do you feed portions that they finish on the spot?

 

[Yvonne G]

All of my tortoises have access to grazeing, which they do every day. I only notice the poop when I've fed a treat with seeds in it. Then I can see that the seeds don't come out for a week or sometimes two. The only tortoises I actually "feed" are the ones in the house or in tort tables.

---

Oh, and, Devon: I meant to tell you that they don't always poop out the rocks they eat in a timely manner. I had a yellowfoot with a prolapse a couple months ago. While the vet was working on getting the prolapse back in, the tortoise pooped and a huge (huge for the size of the tortoise) rock along with some small rocks and the poop. Since that time, whenever he poops in his water dish, I still find small pebbles in the water. Found one just this a.m., and he's in a shed with no access to outside or rocks, with cypress mulch as the substrate.

 

[Madkins007]

As a rule of thumb, a tortoise will take twice as long to poop a given item as a herbivore of the same size would take to poop a similar item. They can also send things through different digestive processes, hold things back, and more. It is pretty cool but does not really help you much, huh?

 

[Badgemash]

Thanks everyone, as they say at Tesco 'every little helps.' I give them food all day and let them eat as much or little as they want whenever the mood strikes. Gunny still seems to be eating normally so we'll just keep watching and waiting.

-Devon

 

[Tom]

At my old house there were trees over my sulcata pen. Every fall all the leaves would fall off and my torts would eat their fill. Sometime in December when all the leaves were off, I would rake up the pen and pick up all the leaves. They were still making solid leaf poops six or seven weeks later. You can alway tell what bigger sulcatas have been eating. I've seen pumpkin seeds 5-12 days after pumpkin. Usually little ones will pass things sooner. Mine always pass things in their soaks and thats where I find the odd pebble. My Daisy likes to eat pebbles from time to time, but none of my other ones do.

 

[onarock]

Just recycling this thread to see if Greg will post on it.