Can someone help me. Queenie has just had a poop and I noticed that after having it she was walking funny. When I picked her up to have a look (thinking she might have poop stuck to her) I noticed a small fleshey thing sticking out of her bits, a prolapse I'm thinking?. I gave her a warm bath to try and rinse some of the dirt off that had gotten stuck to her protrusion and when I went to check it again it had popped back in but it has taken a little of the substrate back in with it I think. What do I do, take her the vets straight away or just observe her for now?. It's given me quite a scare!

Hi Winnie,

There's no chance Queenie might be a boy is there?

Hi Darren,

I don't think so, the vet who checked her/him was 100% sure it was female (imagine though, a boy called queenie-poor thing). It's really wierd, when she was walking funny her back legs were straight up and stiff and her tail was tucked under. I noticed a little bit of pinky thick flesh sticking out of the side between her tail and shell. It was covered in her substrate so I bathed her in some warm water to get a closer look. As I touched the tip of her tail to straighten it out so I could see it popped back in but the cloaca (if thats the right word for it) stayed open. I went to get her towel to dry her off and when I looked again everything was neatly tucked away and closed up. She is now leggin it around her pen, in and out of the water dish, climbing up onto her rocks and devouring the poor spider plant. It's like nothing had happened. I'm just a little worried it may re-occur. The poop she passed did seem a little soft, normally they're really nice ones (if you know what I mean).

Hi Winnie,

Have you photos of the tail area please & may I ask who the vet was?:-)
It's not unusaual for tortoises to be sexed incorrectly when young

I would be more inclined to think it isn't a prolapse, though can't be 100%.

HTH
Darren

Hi Darren,

Want me to pm you the vet details or are they ok on here?. I'll get some photos taken but may have a bit of a wait to get them on here as I can't do it so have to sweet talk someone else. I really hope she is a she and not a he as I would like to get another tort further down the line and have heard that 2 males will fight.

Received - many Thanks:-)