Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok, so junior, my redfoot, is parasite-free as perhis vet visit today, and is just about over his respiratory stuff. the vet just says to keep him warm from now on, which i will!

anyway, about POOP (or waste in general, actually).

sometimes he makes a poop that's like a little pickle: solid and greenish.

sometimes he pees. just pee.

and sometimes he makes a weird thing that's like mostly liquid with a little bit of slimy-looking poopy stuff (gotta love y technical terms here).

i forgot to ask the vet about this amongst my bazillion other questions that i had. >_<

anyone else experience that weird stuff i was mentioning? i know my iguana kinda did the bird poop thing where it was all blended together. is it sort of like that?

thanks for reading my weird question! ^_^;

If the slimy looking stuff that goes along with the pee is white, then it's urates and normal. If it isn't white, then you may have a problem and maybe someone else here can help you with that.
-----
Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

What's wierd among this group (chelonian keepers) is that it is not a wierd question at all. It is those kind of things you need to key on to monitor the health of your tortoise. The first one is what I consider 'normal' and the last one should raise questions such as parasites or diet. If there is too much fluid there probably is (again, surprise, surprise) too much moisture in the diet considering that it has a clean bill of health to rule out parasites. The pelleted form is what I believe is great health.
Ed
-----
Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

well, his pee smells pretty strong (his poop doesn't, though). since he sometimes makes a little green stuff when he pees, i hope it's not a problem like hexamita (did a little 'net research on the matter) and his urate is messed up.

does anyone else's tortoise have smelly pee?

i just left my vet a voicemail, so i'll check with him to make extra sure.

or maybe i should cut back on the fruit.

we'll see.

thanks for the replies!

Until you've had the animal diagnosed by someone who knows be careful on getting too paranoid. If a vet diagnoses it with hex then you know what to look for next time.
If you are feeding juicy fruits (mellons, peaches...) that is a good cause for watery fecals.
Try changing the diet and see what happens. Also try adding a little Mazuri chow if you haven't already.
-----
Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

well, he *does* like blueberries an awful lot... as in, he actually picks them out of his greens first. for this reason, i fed him greens only today, and i probably will tomorrow as well, just to see if there's a change in his poop.

maybe i was just spoiling him with too much fruit.

do you know of any stores that stock mazuri? seems like a lot of people respect the brand (as opposed to the multicolored turtle/tortoise chow you see in petsmart, which looks like and i'm sure is about as healthy a thing for them to eat as fruity pebbles).

we'll see. thanks again for your input!

Ed is a walking billboard for Mazuri and is not going to give you an unbiased opinion on it. Do some studying on it before you feed it to your tortoise. Many tortoise experts wouldn't feed it to their animals on a bet.

Ya Gotta Love This Forum!!
I would like to thank "EJ" for his views & his opinions. I
have had GREAT success feeding MAZURI to my Burmese Mtn. Blacks,
Elongateds, Stars & Box Turtles!! My "CHARGES" don't think i'm a
"CRACK-POT" for giving it to them!! They get MAZURI as a
supplement, NOT the "MAIN COURSE"!! Rock-On!!

If you were to take a straw poll I bet you would come up with many more experienced keepers that do use Mazuri chow. Most of those or all that don't use it seem to have a preconceived notion that it is bad. I do agree that whoever uses it should do some research and be careful as to look at the source of the information that they read. Is the opinion based on the use of the stuff or on the theory of the use of the stuff? How long has it been used...?
-----
Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

EJ Wrote:

"Is the opinion based on the use of the stuff or on the theory of the use of the stuff? How long has it been used...?"

The mazuri? Not as long as tortoises have evolved to feed on weeds and grasses I fear. Compare what the tortoises graze on to the ingredients in Mazuri and maybe you'd re- think your ill founded, simplistic thoughts.

from an idealistic point of view there is no way you are providing the equivelent diet that your charge (or ancestors) received in the wild. That is why the catch phrase 'varied diet' is luckily gaining popularity. The point is that we don't know what the daily requirement of any tortoise is. Those diets that are successful have been developed by trial and error. You can repeat the process or take faith in a diet that has a good number of years behind it and has shown results.
Going the natural diet way you have to first decide what is required... then duplicate it with what you have available... and then... see if you are correct. This amounts to a good amount of guess work.
Needless to say, if you don't like the thought of it don't use it but your charges stand to suffer because of your idealistic point of view.
Do you really think your tortoise really cares where it's nutrition comes from?
-----
Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

back down on the fruit...start feeding more greens such as turnip greens...and mix in some diced timothy or orchard hay.

no need to search for Mazuri....just back down on the fruit and feed more high fiber food

What did "you" feed the "Mazuri Tortoise" chow to.... that you ordered from turtlecafe about a year ago Joe?

-----
Judy