Feeding and Nutrition :: Turtle Diarrhea?

[bananaspit]

Hi guys,

I don't know if this is possible, but... turtle diarrhea? I've been feeding my turtle red lettuce and I noticed that he would always poop a lot right after eating. I haven't seen him actually pooping so it may possibly be throw up but I think poop is the more likely candidate. The poop look like flakes and not properly digested vegetable. I posted a link of the poop right underneath. My turtle's shell is about the size of my palm. Is this natural or could there be something wrong with him?

http://i.imgur.com/GZvAT.jpg

[dumbork14]

hi. how many lettuce leaf did you feed him? turtles poop after they eat, that's normal. the stools should be long and brown, kinda like their pellets i experienced that case when i tried jello shots for my turtle( she pooped a lot like your picture). also, when feeding her carrots, the poop has unprocessed carrot bits in it. some members recommended to shred/boil the carrot first so that the nutrients/vitamins will be processed. i stopped feeding her jello shots for a while and her poop is normal now. monitor him closely to make sure that he is not throwing up the food and that is really poop..

[bananaspit]

Thanks for the advice.

I fed about 1/4 of a regular sized leaf. He didn't eat all of it. Is it normal for lettuce poop to be flaky?

[dumbork14]

what else did you feed him, aside from lettuce?

here are pictures for reference:

-flaky green-brown poop


-unprocessed veggies in poop

[bananaspit]

I only fed him red lettuce that day. Every other day, I would also include a Reptomin pellet. I'm only giving one because in the past, I wasn't aware of the high protein in Reptomin and now he's going through some pyramiding. So now I lessened the amount of Reptomin in his diet to hopefully stop the pyramiding.

[steve]

How big is your turtle? It does look like diarrhea or vomit, I would just cut down the veggies and increase the pellets a little to see how it goes. Exactly how much was he getting? Are his poops normally well formed?

[bananaspit]

His is not normally well formed, it's more watery. Whenever I give him pellets, he poops out this black boba looking blob. I posted on the forums about it before but people said it is normal. I recently changed his diet to mainly veggies and 1 pellet every other day because he had way too much protein in the past. For the amount of vegetable, I just tear off about 2 to 3 thumbs worth of lettuce and he is about 3-4 inches big in diameter of shell. Should I lower the veggies, and up the pellets? :/

[steve]

I'm not sure how much a thumbs worth is, but I would increase the amount of pellets... how many would 1/3 the amount that would fit into is head be?

[bananaspit]

Maybe... around 3 or 4 pellets if you mash the pellets into bits. They're just regular Reptomin pellets. And I'm not sure how to describe the amount of lettuce but I just tear a small part of a leaf off. Usually my RES would eat around the leaves and leave the stalk. The stalk is about a thumb's length tall.

[steve]

I think 3 or 4 every day should be fine.

[PridgNYC]

Actually, I think reducing the amount of veggies will probably result in more watery poop. With dogs, if their poop is watery, it is often because you aren't feeding them enough bulk. 1/2 to 3/4 leaf of lettuce per day is probably not enough. How long does it take him to eat it? Pellets are different, they expand in water, veggies are mostly water, so they tend to shrink in the gut. Turtles have very slow digestive systems, but they need a decent size 'pellet' of food in order to process it properly. Give them as much veggies as they want to eat throughout the day, veggie/seaweed clips come in handy for this. That way they can regulate their digestive system by interspersing pellets of veggies with the pellets of concentrated food in the commercial pellets.

[hernandezmom]

I gave my RES alittle pieces of bananas and then she finally caught her goldfish she has been trying to catch for a week and ate it too. We cleaned her water and less than four hours she pooped all in there. It is watery and its almost gone. What should I do? What kind of food can i feed her? Is she gonna be sick? Help

[steve]

Was there a big change in water temperature? How long was she out of the tank? FWI, my turtles often poop after some time out of the tank.