Hi, My husband and I collected a Herman tortoise two weeks ago, he is 4.5 years old. The previous owner had two that didn't get along and gave us Colin. He was kept inside in an open tray with a duel UV heat lamp with regular time outside. We are now keeping him outside with access into our shed where we have the same type of UV heat lamp. We are feeding him weeds with some supplement powder 3 times a week with plenty of access to water. He eats better some days than others and is pretty active. He is having a bath once a week and does a white poo each time.

I have two areas of concern:
1: As far as i can tell he is not pooing.
2: He has an area on each side of his head which is a different colour, slightly paler with a greenish tone. I can not tell if these areas are getting bigger but i am worried! Help?

I hope you will be able to help, Thanks Alys

Hi Alys.

i'm quite new to the tortoise club myself but had some of the questions you have  myself.

Firstly if he i outside and eating it is quite possible that he is using the garden as a tiolet without you noticing. the pellets should be formed and would be quite hard to spot. the "white poo" isn't actually poo, but a normal part of his function, expelling urates i think is the correct term for it. As long as you can keep him hydrated, probably up the bathing to at least a couple or more times a week, and he is eating with no obvious signs of disterss, you are on the right lines. check out the other posts to see a common thread. also the more that you bathe him, the more likely you are to see him go to the toilet, they seem to like to do it whist in the tepid water of the bath.

best of luck

adie.k

Hi Alys,

Please feel free to send photos of the areas you're not sure about.

The white stuff he is passing is urates and is quite normal. Has he passed faeces yet?
Try increasing to daily bathing.

HTH
Darren