ABSTRACT

The desert tortoise, Gopherus agassizii, is a common pet in the southwestern United States and like other tortoise and reptile species, can suffer from gastrointestinal stasis in captivity. We gavaged captive desert tortoises daily with erythromycin (2 mg/kg), metoclopramide (1 mg/kg) or cisapride (1 mg/kg) and compared gastrointestinal transit times to those of control tortoises. Gastrointestinal transit times were determined by feeding 30 plastic markers to the tortoises, and recording the time until 85% of the markers were recovered from the stool of each animal. When compared to controls, none of the motility agents significantly affected the total gastrointestinal transit time.