Constipated?
 

Hi everyone,

Been a while since I last posted. I'm after some advice about Mabel (2 year old spur thigh). Recently I've noticed she hasn't been eating as much as usual and I also haven't seen a poo for quite a long time (she has still been eating something so there should definitely be one). I've been giving her lots of warm baths and she seems to be straining/trying to go but nothing comes out.

I was wondering if this sounds like constipation and, if so, is there anything I can do at home to help it? Or is it a trip to the vets?

Hello there, how are you? poor little mabel. You may want to look at the other recent post re bladder stone but don't panic. Try lots of bathing, reptoboost , baby carrot food in bath water or just plain - has Mabel eaten a stone ? My spur, Lettuce eats masses of stones and I counted 35 in one poop once. Amazing and they can be quite big.

I found the below hyperlink just to raise awareness case you feed lots of calcium/limeflour. Has she passed urates recently though? if she isn't weeing then it may be she is blocked. Gordon suggest lots of hydration so give it a go. Feedback with any questions and keep a log of her weight also, it can vary lots if she does wee, (and poop ) if too cold she wont poop, hope all goes ok, CB

http://www.tortoise-protection-group...k/site/163.asp

Really good advice from CB, Tatty. I hope that Mabel is just constipated and nothing like stones to worry about. Cucumber is full of water and helpful for torts that seem to be straining. There's also the car trip, which is worth a try as a lot of torts dislike the car and will open their bowels.

As said, keep up the warm baths and hydration. The more you can do each day, the better. Please let us know how Mabel gets on.

Not sure if this helps, but one of my torts either went in the bath or soon after. The other one tended to go after lots of exercise, so I would let him free range either in the kitchen if the weather was not good, or if warm enough out in the garden. I would then stay with him until he decided he was too tired to walk anymore. After a while he did go. He never strained, but just seemed to need the exercise.

What substrate is your tort on?
Have you tried tipping water over his head whilst in the bath? (Might sound silly but they pull their head in to go and I have a tort with MBD who has a sluggish bowel I find this encourages her to go, just a medicine cupful)
Sounds silly but someone had success after taping a vibrator to their torts plastron! Seriously, it was a small bullet shaped one. If you search on here (or google) I think some one suggested it to Suze when Tiggy was constipated!

omg that's hilarious ! I just saw a rabbit. I think the reference should say vibrating object in the first line !!!? ....:grin::grin: I think opt for Emma (never thought of that - good idea ) and Jan's first - again that sort of motion is very good idea for a tortoise ! CB

Hahahaha yes I remember that, Tiggy was very constipated from nose to tale, this showed on an X-ray , he strained a lot, couldn't wee, and stopped eating and moving. For a out 2-3 weeks I bathed him in deep warm baths almost every hour, and syringed warm water up his tale several times a day. After about 2-3 weeks, he finally pooped , this chugged out over about an hour, and he also passed a large bladder stone.

Oh wow! This is really useful information.

Thank you

Thank you for your help everyone. Been a busy week at work for me so only just finding time to reply.

Burnt Toast - Mabel is on coco coir.

She is still eating a bit every day (a good sign I imagine) and is still up and basking for most of the day. I saw what I think was a small poo in her bath the other day but I still haven't seen any urates or a substantial poo. She still seems to be straining to do something in the bath and is also drinking lots. I will try some cucumber today.

Unfortunately I bought some scales to keep an eye on her weight but I could never get them working :(

I have a vets appointment next Saturday or they said to go in earlier if I am increasingly concerned. Fingers crossed for a poo soon!

that's good sign if pooped as any blockage wouldn't usually allow anything through. Coco coir appears to be a bit of a pain when it comes to a convoy of poop as the single threads of coir if ingested seem to act like an anchor and I have often found coir hanging out or poop hanging out attached to coir so am using my last bit up and going onto something else. what you can try too is spray Mabel with warm water each day. Some of mine look like they are straining when actually its just a motion they do (passing wind!), they squeeze their little eyes shut, walk backwards a pace and then tilt forward and strain - that can be perfectly natural. The spraying of warm water simulates rain and therefore they empty everything thinking the rain is here....lush weeds and puddles. I also do it to hydrate (not at the expense of a bath) and get them ready for the English summers ! Hope Mabel is ok, try get those scales up and running as it can put your mind at rest they are ok to a large degree. CB