While poop isn’t something that a lot of people want to talk or think about poop can tell you a lot, and poop can tell you a lot about your pet, but what if your turtle isn’t pooping?
This article is a look into why your turtle isn’t pooping
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Why is my turtle not pooping?
Keeping an eye on, not only your turtle, but its poop as well, will help you understand what is going on with the animal. While it may seem gross, constant poop-checking is recommended.
If your pet does not poop then this is also a sign. Here is why your turtle is not pooping:
The turtle is an adult:
There is a difference between how much poop a baby turtle and an adult turtle make. Younger turtles poop more often than older turtles.
Baby turtles usually poop daily while adult turtles skip days between pooping. It’s normal for an adult turtle to only poop every 3 or 4 days.
What to do:
If your adult turtle is taking a few days between poops then your pet should be fine. That being said, you should start to worry if your pet’s pooping habits are drastically different than before.
If your adult turtle only poops once a week then there may be a problem, in the same breath, if your adult turtle poops daily then there may also be a problem.
Constipation:
If your adult turtle goes a week without pooping, or if your baby turtle goes more than a day without pooping, then the animal may be constipated.
What to do:
Remedying constipation in your pet turtle will entail giving the animal a soak in some lukewarm water.
Keep the water at a comfortable temperature of around 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit or between 27 and 32 degrees Celsius, make sure that the water is kept at a consistent temperature throughout the soak.
Soak your pet in some warm water for about 10 minutes, do this daily. Keep your pet from drowning by ensuring that its head doesn’t go underwater during the soak.
It’s recommended that you add salt to the soaking water, the salt will act as a laxative.
Other laxatives that you can give to your pet include pumpkin, watermelon, or mineral oil. Feed these to your pet for a few days.
Bowl obstruction/impaction:
Another reason why your pet isn’t pooping as it should may be because the animal ate something that caused a bowel obstruction.
Gravel or the substrate in your pet’s tank could have caused the bowel obstruction.
If the animal’s digestive system is blocked then the animal can die if the object stays in the turtle long term.
What to do:
You can confirm that the animal has a bowl construction at the vet. The vet will take an x-ray of your turtle to see if there is anything stuck in the digestive tract
If there’s an obstruction in the digestive tract then your vet will recommend a treatment plan for the animal.
If you can’t immediately get your pet to the vet then give the turtle small amounts of oil to try to get the object out.
Once you get your pet back home it’s recommended that you remove any gravel or stomes from your pet’s enclosure to keep it from eating them.
These animals will try to eat almost anything they can so removing anything that your pet can fit in its mouth and eat is the best for the animal.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other turtle/tortoise related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Why Is My Turtle Not Responding To Touch?, Why Is My Turtle Neck So Long?, Why Is My Turtle Not Using It’s Back Legs, Why Is My Turtle Eating Sand?, Why Is My Turtle Tank Cloudy?, Why Is My Turtle Not Growing?, Why Is My Turtle Not Eating In Winter?, Baby Turtle Is Not Eating, Why Is My Turtle Limp?,