Am I missing something?

[Tori67]

Hi! My Greek tort has been passing some chalky urates but I keep him hydrated. I spray his greens, give him cucumber time to time, and high water content lettuce. (He gets weeds and nutrient dense lettuce as well, I’ve just been trying to hydrate him by adding it in) He CAN’T bathe, he’s had surgery recently. Ive been hydrating him and he’s still passing chalky urates.. what am I doing wrong?

 

[Tom]

Hi! My Greek tort has been passing some chalky urates but I keep him hydrated. I spray his greens, give him cucumber time to time, and high water content lettuce. (He gets weeds and nutrient dense lettuce as well, I’ve just been trying to hydrate him by adding it in) He CAN’T bathe, he’s had surgery recently. Ive been hydrating him and he’s still passing chalky urates.. what am I doing wrong?

They need to soak and this is why.

What sort of environment is the tortoise in? The best way to prevent dehydration is to keep them in a humid environment. An open topped table will dry them out with each breath. With regular soaks, this usually isn't a problem for an adult tortoise. Since you can't soak, it is a problem.

What was the surgery for, and when can you soak again?

 

[Tori67]

They need to soak and this is why.

What sort of environment is the tortoise in? The best way to prevent dehydration is to keep them in a humid environment. An open topped table will dry them out with each breath. With regular soaks, this usually isn't a problem for an adult tortoise. Since you can't soak, it is a problem.

What was the surgery for, and when can you soak again?

He is currently in a tortoise table with paper towels because he isn’t allowed to have anything else right now. He had a ginormous bladder stone removed because his previous owners gave him too much protein. He had a plastronotomy, so the environment NEEDS to be sterile at all times considering that his whole plastron was opened up. It is healing quite well… we see the vet about every 2 weeks. I can ask when it is okay for soaking or when I can finally soak again. He’s doing great otherwise, just chalky urates. They aren’t hard, close to cottage cheese consistency but not as liquid. Definitely not dry

 

[Tom]

He is currently in a tortoise table with paper towels because he isn’t allowed to have anything else right now. He had a ginormous bladder stone removed because his previous owners gave him too much protein. He had a plastronotomy, so the environment NEEDS to be sterile at all times considering that his whole plastron was opened up. It is healing quite well… we see the vet about every 2 weeks. I can ask when it is okay for soaking or when I can finally soak again. He’s doing great otherwise, just chalky urates. They aren’t hard, close to cottage cheese consistency but not as liquid. Definitely not dry

In this case, I think you are doing everything you can with wetting the food and using the cucumber. Increasing humidity will slow the dehydration, but don't use a humidifier blowing directly into the enclosure.

Good luck to you with a speedy recovery and a long life.