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tortoise question

22 16:39:27

Question
Hello Mark,
We recently were given a russian tortoise. It had only been fed turlte pellets for two years. now that we have him, we are feeding him fresh veggies daily. he also was kept inside without any uvb lighting and without a heat light. He now has those things in our home as well as daily trips to the yard, to snack on weeds and soak up real sunshine. he is very active, my concern is his feces. When he was first brought to us he had bm in the box. It was very solid and well formed. now that he is having what seems to be the proper diet, his feces resembles that of bird poo. dark and somewhat solid and white and runny. Should we be concerned??? Or do you think he is adjusting to his new diet?? We have had him for 5 days now. thank you
for your time. we really love him alot already!!!
Joy

Answer
Hello Joy,

I'm not sure why this question was in the question pool, as it appears you directed it to someone specific. I just joined a few days ago, so I don't know if you have gotten an answer on this from someone else, but I will try to help.

It is very good that you have taken this tortoise off pellets and started with fresh food, and gotten him some UVB lighting. He probably was getting far too much protein if he was fed turtle pellets for 2 years, as turtles are omnivores and eat animal matter, and tortoises don't. Thus, commercial turtle foods have too much protein for a tortoise.

I would suspect that after 2 years with the wrong diet and without UVB, that this tortoise has significant nutritional problems, and metabolic bone disorder, possibly even kidney and liver damage from the excess protein and insufficient vitamins and minerals.

I would recommend to you that he see a reptile vet who has experience with tortoises specifically, in order to have him checked for MBD. And I caution that they have tortoise experience, because many vets tend to lump tortoises in with turtles and get their advice or care information wrong.

This tortoise may benefit from a Calcium Gluconate injection or some oral syrup. I also highly recommend collard greens in the diet, as they have the best calcium/phosphorus ratio among leafy greens. Normally vitamin A deficiencies are rare in herbivorous tortoises, but since this one was kept wrong, he may have hypovitaminosis A. As it has been a couple months since your question, I suspect that these deficiencies are being corrected with the new diet; however, for vitamin A maintenance, a beta carotene source such as carrots and sweet potato is very good in the diet.

Many animals, including humans, may have some bowel discomfort during times of significant diet change. There will be some changes in the feces during the adjustment. Your description of "white and runny" though may be cause for concern. This could have indicated an organ disfunction. Hopefully it has corrected by now, or you have seen a vet about it.

Some time in the yard under partial shade is great. I would caution against letting him eat the weeds and any old thing from your yard though. These weeds and such are probably not native where his species is native, and he may not be adapted to eat them. They could cause complications from their nutritional/chemical makeup. Also, if you live in any residential or agricultural area, there may be any number of chemical fertilizers or pesticides present in the soil and the weeds.

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