Help, Tortoise passing white hard Urates

[grogu]

Hi, my tortoise has a daily soak everyday for 20-30 minutes and has water available in their bowl. During their daily soaks, they do seem to pass stringy-like urates. Their hide’s humidity stays between 55-70. They have been passing what I believe is hard urates for 3 days now. I have attached a photo of one of them. Their diet consists of kale, red lettuce, green lettuce, and arugula. Sometimes some shredded zucchini once a week I sprinkle Repashy superveggie on it 2 times a week. I was wondering what would be causing this. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[wellington]

Cut back on the kale and add a bunch more variety that's better for them. Lettuces isn't very nutritious.
What species do you have and how many of them and how are you housing them?

 

[grogu]

Cut back on the kale and add a bunch more variety that's better for them. Lettuces isn't very nutritious.
What species do you have and how many of them and how are you housing them?

I have one marginated tortoise that I acquired from a breeder 11 days ago. They are being housed in a wooded enclosure with terracotta plates for water and food. They have a rock under their basking lamp and their hide is kept 75°F-80°F throughout the day/night and 90°-98° under the basking lamp. I am also using coconut coir as a substrate that I mist twice a day. Their enclosure is 11.5 inch width and 18 inch length. The tortoise themselves is about 2 inches long. Do you have any suggestions/forums I can look at for a better diet? Thank you for your reply

 

[wellington]

So you have one, cuz you keep saying they?
The enclosure is way too small for one thing which will not let you get the correct range of temps need. They will also not get the exercise needed to properly walk down the road and to move things properly inside. S/he should be in at least a 2x4 foot enclosure for now and will need bigger as a/he gets older.
I'm not sure on their diet needs but just mostly lettuce is not good for any species and too much kale isn't either.
I'll see if others will know.
@Tom @Yvonne G @Markw84 .

 

[grogu]

So you have one, cuz you keep saying they?
The enclosure is way too small for one thing which will not let you get the correct range of temps need. They will also not get the exercise needed to properly walk down the road and to move things properly inside. S/he should be in at least a 2x4 foot enclosure for now and will need bigger as a/he gets older.
I'm not sure on their diet needs but just mostly lettuce is not good for any species and too much kale isn't either.
I'll see if others will know.
@Tom @Yvonne G @Markw84 .

Yes only one. I had accidentally looked up the measurements for his original enclosure I took him home in. He is currently in a 2x4 foot enclosure. Sorry about the confusion and thank you!

 

[Tom]

Hi, my tortoise has a daily soak everyday for 20-30 minutes and has water available in their bowl. During their daily soaks, they do seem to pass stringy-like urates. Their hide’s humidity stays between 55-70. They have been passing what I believe is hard urates for 3 days now. I have attached a photo of one of them. Their diet consists of kale, red lettuce, green lettuce, and arugula. Sometimes some shredded zucchini once a week I sprinkle Repashy superveggie on it 2 times a week. I was wondering what would be causing this. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Humidty in the humid hide should be 90+%. Ambient humidity in the entire enclosure should be at least 50%, but 70-75% is better.

Urates are a by-product of protein digestion. When the tortoise is dehydrated, which might have been happening before you got it, the urates get harder and more gritty, and can form into "stones". The solution is more humidity, more soaking, and wetting the food.

Soak for at least 45-60 minutes and keep the water warm for the entire soak. When you start seeing less or no urates, you can back it down to more normal soaking times. It is good that your tortoise is passing these hard urates. That is a good sign.

Your tortoise's diet needs improvement. Kale is okay once in a while, and lettuce is not great. Kale has goiterogens in it, and lettuce does not meet their needs. You should be feeding a wide assortment of weeds, mulberry leaves, grape leaves, hibiscus leaves and flowers, lavatera, gazania, dandelion, etc... If you must use grocery store food, favor endive and escarole. Look for dandelion greens too. Add amendments to the grocery store food to make it better and more suitable. Read the diet section here for more info:

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