Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Alright... One of my female Deserts died.. most likely yesterday, just noticed today.. I didn't examine the corpse.... but I did notice some things

Entire body, completely bloated far beyond normal size,
feces hanging outside the rear end, and possibly the head itself, her face was not recognisable, even in the basic shape

She was housed with my other female..

Anyone have an idea? The only things I can think of is possibly constipation/digestive track problems which caused extreme pressure build up and eventual death.. I feed her grasses from my yard (Pesticide, etc free), greens, carrots, grapes, and I recently tried a exoterra pellet.. yes I know this isn't the proper diet for Deserts, but it's what I work with.

I'm scared, disgusted, and feeling really bad about it..
She's obviously adopted and I've had her since September she was not even a yearling... Going to have trouble telling the breeder what happened .

Answers extremely appreciated, thank you.
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2.4.1 Leos
1.1 Beardie
1.0 Burm
0.1 Common Boa
0.2 Desert Tortoise hatchlings
Wish for: Candoia Sp, Frilled D, BTS

Refrigerate the body & have a vet perform a necropsy ASAP. As a guess, maybe the tortoise ingested a foreign object.

I was unaware that this species was bred in captivity, and thought there were a lot of legalities surrounding such.?

The bloating is most likely a post-mortem artifact and not related to the cause of death. In young tortoises kept outside, the top things to consider may be a foriegn body, disease from viral,bacterial pathogens (consider native fauna as well?) and trauma from feral or wild animals. It is probably too late to have a necropsy of any value, but an obvious process found such as a metal foreign body may give you an answer. I would be more concerned about your remaining tortoise. Improve husbandry (as always) and take to a herp vet for a good check-up that ideally would include some general bloodwork. This extends the exam from exterior, to interior. It also may detect the beginnings of a disease process, and will create baseline data for your animal should things change in the future.