Can someone suggest some low oxalic acid food for tortoise

[ariesxiao]

My Russian tortoise execretes a relative large amount of white stone-like stuff when I soaked it yesterday. I did some research and it looks like it is urinary stones and it may be caused by the oxalic acid in the greens

The Russian doesn’t like to eat and doesn’t eat any tortoise food, no matter Mazuri, Zoomed or some tortoise food made by some breeder privately.

I feed it with Nopale Cactus, Dandeleon Greens mixed with hay powders. Sometimes I also give me Mustard Greens, Chicory Endive, Turnlip Greens and Kale

Anybody has any ideas of the Oxalic Acid in those vegetables? I heard Nopale may have high Oxalic Acid?

Can you recommend some greens with low Oxalic acid I can buy from regular grocery stores?

 

[Tom]

My Russian tortoise execretes a relative large amount of white stone-like stuff when I soaked it yesterday. I did some research and it looks like it is urinary stones and it may be caused by the oxalic acid in the greens

The Russian doesn’t like to eat and doesn’t eat any tortoise food, no matter Mazuri, Zoomed or some tortoise food made by some breeder privately.

I feed it with Nopale Cactus, Dandeleon Greens mixed with hay powders. Sometimes I also give me Mustard Greens, Chicory Endive, Turnlip Greens and Kale

Anybody has any ideas of the Oxalic Acid in those vegetables? I heard Nopale may have high Oxalic Acid?

Can you recommend some greens with low Oxalic acid I can buy from regular grocery stores?

This is a function of hydration, not oxalic acid content of the food. Soak your tortoise more often and for longer times, and the urates should stop. For an adult Russian that is dropping urates, I would soak 3-4 times a week for 40-60 minutes, and keep the water warm all the way through. Two weeks after the last time you see urates, I'd cut the soaking back to once or twice a week, and keep an eye out for more urates.

Skip the text and all the grass info and scroll down for a good food list. Russians aren't grass eaters. You can use grass to add more fiber to their diet, but they don't normally eat much of it on their own.
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/

 

[KarenSoCal]

This is a function of hydration, not oxalic acid content of the food. Soak your tortoise more often and for longer times, and the urates should stop. For an adult Russian that is dropping urates, I would soak 3-4 times a week for 40-60 minutes, and keep the water warm all the way through. Two weeks after the last time you see urates, I'd cut the soaking back to once or twice a week, and keep an eye out for more urates.

Skip the text and all the grass info and scroll down for a good food list. Russians aren't grass eaters. You can use grass to add more fiber to their diet, but they don't normally eat much of it on their own.
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/

Off topic just a bit, but...reading over that food list reminded me...@Tom , how are your goat heads doing? [emoji23]

 

[TortoiseRacket]

This is a function of hydration, not oxalic acid content of the food. Soak your tortoise more often and for longer times, and the urates should stop. For an adult Russian that is dropping urates, I would soak 3-4 times a week for 40-60 minutes, and keep the water warm all the way through. Two weeks after the last time you see urates, I'd cut the soaking back to once or twice a week, and keep an eye out for more urates.

Skip the text and all the grass info and scroll down for a good food list. Russians aren't grass eaters. You can use grass to add more fiber to their diet, but they don't normally eat much of it on their own.
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/

Wait a second... @Tom, urates are bad? Mine have urates 1-2 times a month. Is that okay? They are plently hydrated.

 

[ariesxiao]

Wait a second... @Tom, urates are bad? Mine have urates 1-2 times a month. Is that okay? They are plently hydrated.

What I find online is that urates may grow to large urinary stones which will be severe health problems if it cannot be got out. I have a friend who has a young Sulcata. He took it to take an x-ray field in a hospital and fount there was a very large urinary stone inside its body. The doctor said the tortoise is too small and surgery cannot be used for the tortoise. Then the tortoise started to be weak, stopped eating and finally died.

From an online article, one of the reasons that we need to soak the tortoise everyday is that soaking can stimulate the tortoise to pee which can help to get the urates out if there is any in its bladder. The tortoise is once from some dry area such as Sulcata has an ability to keep water in their body. Its bladder can absorb the water in their urine but leave the urates in the urine in the bladder. Then the urates can grow larger and larger. In this case, we need find ways to stimulate it to pee instead of let its body to reuse the water in its urine. The current suggested ways I find online is to soak it, increase the humidity, etc.

 

[Tom]

Off topic just a bit, but...reading over that food list reminded me...@Tom , how are your goat heads doing? [emoji23]

They didn't take. Either that or something ate the sproutlings. I'm going to try again in spring. Saved a bunch of seed heads.

 

[Tom]

Wait a second... @Tom, urates are bad? Mine have urates 1-2 times a month. Is that okay? They are plently hydrated.

No. Not bad. If the urates are soft and creamy, its pretty normal. If you soaked more often or longer, you might not see urates at all. I see them occasionally in some of my adults that live outdoors.

 

[RosemaryDW]

Like Tom said, your tortoise needs more hydration. Tortoises do develop stones but that is not likely not happening here. Try adding a bit more of the cactus, as it’s a high water plant.