Cloudy Wee (help / questions!)

[Kisobel]

Hello people!

Been a good minute since I was last on here! Hermann about a month ago started weeing and leaving them white wee strand things and is called "urate salts" I believe?
I've noticed that there is a lot of white in his enclosure where he has his wee spots and idk when this white stuff is supposed to stop at all or if they just have white wee.

I just seen him pee there and it looked kind of cloudy however so I'm just wondering if everything is all good, he has been awake since like 6:30am but he has just stayed in his bed burrow he made. I know he has been awake because he has been looking at me and around but he looked quite comfy there I'm just wondering if that's normal too, I only just picked him up there to see if he is all good. It is now 9:49am.

Also below I just fancy sharing some photos from when I first got him, kind of unrelated but he was ill when I first got him, As a few good folk will probably help me now how they helped me then may remember! Just to show that the help you people have given me, payed off with his growth!

Again, thank you for reading!

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Oh bless him sorry to hear this, would you say they are gritty? If not I wouldn’t worry too much, but if they are it could be a sign he’s not hydrated enough, I believe too much D3 can cause it too but I need to look into it more

How’s your humidity been doing? Still nice and high as he’s still so young?
What’s your soaking routine?

You could try spraying his feeds with water to encourage him getting more. Would you say he’s still got a good appetite?

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

And remind me, is it a closed chamber he’s in? I know you have the right t5 uv and floodlight with the right temperatures, correct? Do you run a ceramic?

 

[Kisobel]

Oh bless him sorry to hear this, would you say they are gritty? If not I wouldn’t worry too much, but if they are it could be a sign he’s not hydrated enough, I believe too much D3 can cause it too but I need to look into it more

How’s your humidity been doing? Still nice and high as he’s still so young?
What’s your soaking routine?

You could try spraying his feeds with water to encourage him getting more. Would you say he’s still got a good appetite?

So honestly the soaking could be the problem there, I work 4 days on and off, so on my first day off I soak him and the last day off I soak him before work.

I also freshly dampen his enclosure by adding water in the corners so his humidity goes from around 40-65

Also that was another question, he deffo isn't quite fat as he can get in his shell and such but he eats SO much. I will top up his food twice a day and he just eats it all. But he seems to have an issue where he likes to wee inside of his food bowl of a way of asking for more / fresh stuff?

He recently actually discovered his cuttle fish bone too, I see him occasionally bite that. he has also ACTUALLY been drinking his water for once

 

[Kisobel]

And remind me, is it a closed chamber he’s in? I know you have the right t5 uv and floodlight with the right temperatures, correct? Do you run a ceramic?

It is a closed chamber and he does indeed have a ceramic. He recently moved his bed or sleeping spot near the back wall of where that ceramic is actually. But I think that's due to cold weather

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

So honestly the soaking could be the problem there, I work 4 days on and off, so on my first day off I soak him and the last day off I soak him before work.

I also freshly dampen his enclosure by adding water in the corners so his humidity goes from around 40-65

Also that was another question, he deffo isn't quite fat as he can get in his shell and such but he eats SO much. I will top up his food twice a day and he just eats it all. But he seems to have an issue where he likes to wee inside of his food bowl of a way of asking for more / fresh stuff?

He recently actually discovered his cuttle fish bone too, I see him occasionally bite that. he has also ACTUALLY been drinking his water for once

Yeah I understand it can be tricky depending on your schedule, I would definitely recommend trying to increase the soaks though, especially if you’re seeing any gritty urates. I’d aim for daily half hour, but every other day if not.

Whilst he’s still so young, you actually want humidity much higher than that, more in the 80 range, his growth isn’t looking too bad but notice how he’s not entirely smooth and looking a bit bumpy? Higher humidity whilst they’re growing aids in smoother growth! That and it helps them stay adequately hydrated.

Does the enclosure have vents? That could be what’s sucking your humidity out, you don’t need to worry about suffocating him or anything like that cause set ups are never air tight, plus when you open up to do daily husbandries you’re creating more than enough air exchange. If you have vents open, I’d recommend taping them over from the outside. With a good closed chamber you shouldn’t have to do water pours too often, so long as all your bottom layers of substrate are nice and damp, does it feel damp?

Lol I wouldn’t worry about him asking for more food, he’s a growing baby so it’s nice knowing he has a good appetite! It’s very hard to over feed a tortoise, they mainly get overweight due to not having enough room to exercise.

That’s great! Good source of calcium and I’m glad he’s drinking

It is a closed chamber and he does indeed have a ceramic. He recently moved his bed or sleeping spot near the back wall of where that ceramic is actually. But I think that's due to cold weather

How are you ground temps doing both day and night? All good?

 

[Kisobel]

Yeah I understand it can be tricky depending on your schedule, I would definitely recommend trying to increase the soaks though, especially if you’re seeing any gritty urates. I’d aim for daily half hour, but every other day if not.

Whilst he’s still so young, you actually want humidity much higher than that, more in the 80 range, his growth isn’t looking too bad but notice how he’s not entirely smooth and looking a bit bumpy? Higher humidity whilst they’re growing aids in smoother growth! That and it helps them stay adequately hydrated.

Does the enclosure have vents? That could be what’s sucking your humidity out, you don’t need to worry about suffocating him or anything like that cause set ups are never air tight, plus when you open up to do daily husbandries you’re creating more than enough air exchange. If you have vents open, I’d recommend taping them over from the outside. With a good closed chamber you shouldn’t have to do water pours too often, so long as all your bottom layers of substrate are nice and damp, does it feel damp?

Lol I wouldn’t worry about him asking for more food, he’s a growing baby so it’s nice knowing he has a good appetite! It’s very hard to over feed a tortoise, they mainly get overweight due to not having enough room to exercise.

That’s great! Good source of calcium and I’m glad he’s drinking

How are you ground temps doing both day and night? All good?

Hello! I am so sorry for getting back to you so late.

I do have vents in the enclosure but it’s also where the cables are for everting going inside of the enclosure so I’m not sure how good it is to tape it if I needed to fix stuff.

The bottom layers do not feel damp, no. It’s not super deep substrate too so that may be why

My passive heater is set at 28 due to it being cold, so at night that will be the temp or a cool 26-27. He had a bit of a wheeze so it’s fixed it by raising the temp. And hot side is around 35 (day)

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hello! I am so sorry for getting back to you so late.

I do have vents in the enclosure but it’s also where the cables are for everting going inside of the enclosure so I’m not sure how good it is to tape it if I needed to fix stuff.

The bottom layers do not feel damp, no. It’s not super deep substrate too so that may be why

My passive heater is set at 28 due to it being cold, so at night that will be the temp or a cool 26-27. He had a bit of a wheeze so it’s fixed it by raising the temp. And hot side is around 35 (day)

No worries! Ok with the tape, just tape the vents that don’t have wiring up, then try and block as much of the vent that does(ours do too), then with the substrate it does sound like you need a deeper layer that can retain the moisture properly, that should help loads! You should be seeing condensate build up on the glass

 

[Kisobel]

No worries! Ok with the tape, just tape the vents that don’t have wiring up, then try and block as much of the vent that does(ours do too), then with the substrate it does sound like you need a deeper layer that can retain the moisture properly, that should help loads! You should be seeing condensate build up on the glass

I will be doing a clean out of his substrate too, I’ll make sure to make it deeper next time. I’ll try just make it damp when I can. I’ll also tape up the vents

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I will be doing a clean out of his substrate too, I’ll make sure to make it deeper next time. I’ll try just make it damp when I can. I’ll also tape up the vents

With it being deeper, it should retain the moisture more underneath so hopefully you won’t need to be doing pours so often