General Care Discussion :: Cloaca Opening

[Sora]

Hi, before I begin, there are going to be a few words that may make people feel uncomfortable, I'm sorry about that, but I have to know what's going on. Also, I'm not sure if this is urgent, so I'm playing it safe and posting here.

Okay, earlier as I was feeding my turtle Sora her lettuce, I noticed she was having "difficulties" eating it. She seemed to not be able to keep her body in a perpendicular position (the "normal" floating position) and was kind of flailing about with the lettuce in her mouth. I noticed her tail twitching and that her back legs were sort of "clicking" together by her tail. So this went on for a few minutes, and then I noticed a red opening near where her tail meets her shell and I was really confused, because I've never seen her do that before.

I was wondering, could this have been her Vagina(Cloaca) or her Anus? Is it supposed to open, or is this a sign of internal illness? or is it maybe a sign that she's gravid and needs to lay eggs?

I'm really not sure as to what this may be, as she's never done this before. She has all the essentials (filter,light,basking area,etc) and hasn't shown signs of illness(although I know turtles are notorious for hiding their sickness), so this comes as a surprise to me.

What do you think it could be?
Any help would be appreciated, Thanks .

[Jaysea]

Did you notice her floating more normally after this happened? It is her cloaca that you noticed, and it's normal for it to open. She could have had gas and expelled it, if she was floating strange. Lettuce tends to cause gas.

[Sora]

She is floating normally now. She was floating normally before this too, but it seemed she only had problems while eating the lettuce.

Hmm, looks like I have to cut down on the lettuce a bit.

Also, I was mainly concerned, because I wasn't sure if Female Res could open their Cloaca like Males can, unless they had to mate/lay eggs. Good to know it's nothing serious

Thanks

[Jaysea]

Yep everything is normal, I usually only see my female res do it if she has to have a bowel movement or has gas. No need to cut back on the lettuce, her body will get used to the extra gas caused by the lettuce, just like human bodies get used to different foods. She just might have to expell gas every so often.

[Sora]

Oh I see. Whenever I give her lettuce, she takes it and swims behind her rock, for I assume privacy? so it's probably happened before, just this is my first time seeing it. It's kind of weird though, cause she has a little moment where she just stills and then starts wriggling. I hope she gets acclimatised soon .

[steve]

The cloaca should not be red... and there will be only one opening.

[Love of Animals]

How big is she? When she does have a bowel movement what is the consistency? And what kind of lettuce are you feeding and what other foods?

[Sora]

@Steve- oh, what colour should it be? And if it's red, is that a bad thing?

@Love of Animals- She's 7.3" right now and sometimes, I don't actually see her poop,because she doesn't do it right away , but when I do see her do it, it's only once(she did it twice before, but not recently) after she eats or after shes been basking for awhile (Sometimes, I just happen to walk across and see it there).
I was feeding her Iceberg Lettuce, until I found out its not all that nutrient rich, so I switched to Green Leaf lettuce and she has that daily(usually in the morning/mid-morning), Shrimp(freeze dried)every other day and Her reptomin pellets(8-10)twice every week. Sometimes I throw in the occaisional carrot or sliver of apple as a treat.


(Ps-alittle off topic, but is it weird for RES not to eat their poop? She just takes "exploratory" nibbles and then leaves it )

[Love of Animals]

It's not weird for them to not eat their poop. The ice berg lettuce could have been causing the problem. Feed lots of different greens like: green leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce and dandelion greens. Has she ever laid eggs? If she's egg bound that could be causing the problem as well. You can skip the shrimp except for an occasional treat.

[Sora]

Oh ok.
I will try and do that. No she hasn't laid eggs yet, and I haven't felt any "bumps" or "lumps" around her leg area. Maybe she's just a late bloomer?

Aw too bad, she enjoys shrimp lol. Oh well .

[Jaysea]

Are you sure it just didn't look red because of the lighting in your tank, sometimes my black knobs cloaca looks red but its because of the light.

[Sora]

No, I don't think so, her uvb light is a dark blue/purple-ish colour and the heat lamp wasn't on at the time(she doesn't have an "atmospheric" light), since it was getting late and it was light's out . I'm pretty sure I saw red, but it was pretty quick. I only saw it, because I saw her clicking her legs together.

She hasn't done anything out of the normal so far, but I am keeping a closer eye on her.