Do tortoises eat excrement?

[chris_greg]

Might sound a strange question but my female tort Tillie was basking near a big steaming turd yesterday and by the time i had gone to get a little bag to put it in and got back to her it had gone.

I looked everywhere and couldnt find it and my only conclusion was it was in her belly I had noticed there wasnt as much poop about as there was normally and she hadnt been eating as much weeds as she normally does, so, she must be filling herself up on poop

[SWsarah]

Yes they can do, nasty isnt it.

[chris_greg]

im glad i didnt see it, i would have chundered eveywhere! Ive had Mr T for over 2 years and he has never eaten his.

[SWsarah]

Bet he has when your not watching lol

[chris_greg]

lol it wouldnt suprise me because he is a right greedy git. There cant be much nutrition in it though, i mean our poop is waste our body doesnt want, surely its the same for the torts too?

[ukphd]

Originally Posted by chris_greg

lol it wouldnt suprise me because he is a right greedy git. There cant be much nutrition in it though, i mean our poop is waste our body doesnt want, surely its the same for the torts too?

Maybe it's like rabbits - they eat their faeces as it often contains undigested food so by eating it again they make sure they get all the available nutrients.

[tortoise_dude]

This is called 'pica' and lot's of tortoises do it (the eating of strange objects) they eat other animals poop aswell as wierd objects- such as soil. I've witnessed a hatchling actually eating a piece of cork bark before spitting it back out.

You think eating poo is bad. Wait till you've watched a large hermanns eat 2 slugs one after another. Disgusting. Scrubbing with cold black tea helps remove any snail/slug slime from their faces.

[ukphd]

Just found this on copropagy (eating faeces) in reptiles. Not much documented evidence in tortoises but it does mention some.

Coprophagy in Reptiles

Also found this:

http://bcrc.bio.umass.edu/vifishandw.../12Redfoot.pdf

which mentions that coprophagy is not uncommon in redfoots. I assume it occurs in most species but that it's not been documented in much detail.

[chris_greg]

I guess it must be more common than i thought. I have seen Mr T demolish a snail then spit it out. It had been teasing him all day by sitting on top of his shell so when mr snail went near Mr T's mouth he was a gonner.

Thanks for the input people!!

[blazingtortoise]

Originally Posted by ukphd

http://bcrc.bio.umass.edu/vifishandw.../12Redfoot.pdf

which mentions that coprophagy is not uncommon in redfoots. I assume it occurs in most species but that it's not been documented in much detail.

Just going to read the link now but yes, redfoots love eating poo. Theirs, the cats...