Adult Sulcata urates becoming chalky but frequent urine?

[ofafeather]

Our recently adopted Sulcata, Kora, we think is about 20 years old. They were previously feeding her about every 3 days - she eats greens and no grass. When she came to us we fed her daily as much as she would eat following the basic idea of escarole and endive being the base with added other greens from the accepted list. We have also been mixing in items from Kapidolo farms, Mazuri LS pellets and orachard grass horse pellets, both of which we soak in hot water then mix in with her greens. She eats a LOT of greens. When she first came, her urates were totally loose, like egg white and she released urine in large quantities, we think to make room for more food. The greens are very high in water so we weren’t concerned. She passes stool regularly and we encourage exercise. We’ve had her for about a month now and her urates were becoming more creamy and until today were kind of like Greek yogurt. We gave her a soak today (been doing it once a week for about 20 min) and she released urates that looked like feta cheese but when we touch them, they were clearly chalky!

We always make water available but she doesn’t drink that we’ve noticed. She consumes so much water from her food but is probably also getting much more mineral content than she used to. The other thing that has changed is that she is often in her “hide” on the heat mat and under the RHP. Both are on a thermostat set at 80. Previously she used to spend more time basking under the heat lamp (incandescent 60 watt bulb) but much prefers her warm hide now. My speculation is that she is not retaining the water she needs and potentially drying out from heat. Any thoughts or suggestions? I turned the heat in her hide down to 75. Should we soak her more? Feed her less?

Any help appreciated.

 

[Yvonne G]

Some tortoises would rather drink from a running hose/puddle than a container - try that to get her hydrated. Also, get a large tray like cafeterias use and fill it with water then place her food in the water.

 

[wellington]

You can also feed her orchard grass hay.
Add cactus pads too to her diet, they will help hydrate too. Romaine and head lettuce are the best for water content, just not very nutritious but added to all the other stuff you do feed, it would be a good thing to add.
You can even try digging a shallow hole and placing a bowl in it then fill with water, trick her into think she is drinking from mud hole.

 

[ofafeather]

Thanks for the suggestions to get her more hydrated. Any thoughts on helping her retain water? Maybe space out feedings so she doesn’t take in as much at once? Less heat? More environmental moisture? She’s still indoors at the moment. Waiting for the weather to warm.

 

[Tom]

Our recently adopted Sulcata, Kora, we think is about 20 years old. They were previously feeding her about every 3 days - she eats greens and no grass. When she came to us we fed her daily as much as she would eat following the basic idea of escarole and endive being the base with added other greens from the accepted list. We have also been mixing in items from Kapidolo farms, Mazuri LS pellets and orachard grass horse pellets, both of which we soak in hot water then mix in with her greens. She eats a LOT of greens. When she first came, her urates were totally loose, like egg white and she released urine in large quantities, we think to make room for more food. The greens are very high in water so we weren’t concerned. She passes stool regularly and we encourage exercise. We’ve had her for about a month now and her urates were becoming more creamy and until today were kind of like Greek yogurt. We gave her a soak today (been doing it once a week for about 20 min) and she released urates that looked like feta cheese but when we touch them, they were clearly chalky!

We always make water available but she doesn’t drink that we’ve noticed. She consumes so much water from her food but is probably also getting much more mineral content than she used to. The other thing that has changed is that she is often in her “hide” on the heat mat and under the RHP. Both are on a thermostat set at 80. Previously she used to spend more time basking under the heat lamp (incandescent 60 watt bulb) but much prefers her warm hide now. My speculation is that she is not retaining the water she needs and potentially drying out from heat. Any thoughts or suggestions? I turned the heat in her hide down to 75. Should we soak her more? Feed her less?

Any help appreciated.

Turn the heat back up. She needs more heat to digest more food. Low temps will cause inactivity and slow that passage of food, which could cause more urates to collect and congeal.

The solution is more soaking and for longer. Soak every other day for an hour or so. Keep the water warm the entire time. Its good if the tortoise tries to incessantly climb out. That is called the "tortoise treadmill" and it will help pass feces and urates. You can also spray the food with water and feed some high water foods.

Urates are a by-product of protein digestion. It has little to do with minerals or calcium. In a fully hydrated tortoise, you seldom or never see urates.

 

[ofafeather]

Turn the heat back up. She needs more heat to digest more food. Low temps will cause inactivity and slow that passage of food, which could cause more urates to collect and congeal.

The solution is more soaking and for longer. Soak every other day for an hour or so. Keep the water warm the entire time. Its good if the tortoise tries to incessantly climb out. That is called the "tortoise treadmill" and it will help pass feces and urates. You can also spray the food with water and feed some high water foods.

Urates are a by-product of protein digestion. It has little to do with minerals or calcium. In a fully hydrated tortoise, you seldom or never see urates.

Ok. Thanks. Will give that a try.

 

[ofafeather]

What water temp? 85-90? Does it matter if it’s before or after she eats?

 

[Tom]

What water temp? 85-90? Does it matter if it’s before or after she eats?

85-95F for the water temp. Does not matter when you soak, as long as it is sometime during normal daylight hours.

 

[TammyJ]

Can you please post some pictures of Kora?

 

[ofafeather]

She had a nice long soak today. My wife said she saw Kora drink a bit.

 

[ofafeather]

Can you please post some pictures of Kora?

Here are a few pics of Kora. Thanks for asking!