Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a young 2 year old boxie. She was from a group of 9. All the others are doing fine. This one, She eats - Not as much as she use to - But excretes a gelatin type of waste - Nothing solid. Anyone see anything like this - This is new - Never had it happen. Been like this for about 2 maybe 3 weeks - Thought it would clear up by now but it hasn't. I'm thinking she has some type of virus internally - Ideas? She has totally stopped eating earthworms, but prefers to eat reptomin now. If anyone has had it, how was it treated? Thanks.

Turtle I haven't seen this in turtles but I do wonder if you've thought about parasite testing. I've seen gelatin type waste in other animals who were infected with parasites.

Next I'm wondering is there any chance this turtle has eaten something it shouldn't have? Does it spend any time outdoors in the pen where birds could possibly have dropped something in that the turtle shouldn't have eaten? I have that problem.. the people next door feed scraps to the birds which I find dropped into my yard and 3 times I've found my turtles trying to eat varius types of bread. I've even found bits of sweet rolls with sugary frosting on them, yikes!

I've seen what you describe in animals who had an enteritis condition which can be caused by various infections or injuries that of course require a vet to diagnose and medication to fix.
The injury that caused this was caused by rock eating. The animal ate rocks which caused ulcers in the stomach, however that animal's waste was tinged with blood.

Allergies to certain foods can also cause this, even though allergic reactions are more common in mammals anything is possible.. especially for a captive reptile.
If it doesn't clear up on it's own I'd see a vet but whatever you do please let us know what happens.
Good luck with this!
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PHRatz

I'll share this observation and you can draw your own conclusions:
as the turtles here prepare themselves for hibernation (or brumation if you prefer), they stop eating about this time every year, and the consistency of their poop changes as they empty their digestive tract. It does become somewhat gelatinous in consistency and appearance, but as never given me cause for concern about their overall health.
By all means, have a vet do a fecal check to 'get to the bottom of it'.
Stephanie