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Hello,

Our turtle Leo, did something a little out of the ordinary the other day that had us questioning whether or not it was okay. We put him into a smaller cage so we could clean his aquarium. Usually he just roams aroud in circles but this time he apeared to have pooped. THere was this watery substance with what looked like rocks laying about the bottom of the cage. It almost looked like he vomitted. We picked him up to put him back and while I had him in my hand he pooped out some more watet rock like mixture. It sounded like rocks when it landed back in the cage.

Should we be concerned of this at all?

He is acting normal and appears to be healthy.
WE just werent sure if he was okay to poop outside water and while being held, possible health issue?

Thanks,
Sam

Do you have gravel or small rocks in the aquarium? If so remove them asap.

It's ok for him to poop outside of water. Do you have any rocks as a substrate? If not how long have you had him? He could be pooping out his previous substrate. Rocks or aquarium gravel are not recommended because of the risk of impaction from eating them. Most people use, crushed coral, play sand, large river rocks or bare bottom.

Yes we do have gravel at the bottom of the aquarium. The gravel is mostly for holding down his Turtle Grass and to help conceal his water heater so he doesn't attack it (the water heater is hidden behind a usual aquarium decoration, covered up with some of the rocks to protect it)

What else can be used? I cought him eating some of the rocks today.

Love of Animals wrote:It's ok for him to poop outside of water. Do you have any rocks as a substrate? If not how long have you had him? He could be pooping out his previous substrate. Rocks or aquarium gravel are not recommended because of the risk of impaction from eating them. Most people use, crushed coral, play sand, large river rocks or bare bottom.

Is the turtle grass a fake plant? If so any of the substrates listed in my previous post will do. If you decide on sand let us know first so we can give you the directions for cleaning it or I think there might be a sticky on cleaning sand. I have sand and fake plants. I used aquarium silicone and put bigger river rocks on the bottom of the plants.