how long do chalky urates take to normalize?

[isobull]

I have a ~1 year old hermann's tortoise that I've had for about 7 to 8 months. Everything has been really good so far aside from a minor RI that he just recently got over. I'm concerned now because his urates have become chalky. I've increased the amount of soak time he gets, how many times a week I soak him, wetting his food and I even see him soak in his water dish on his own. (He mostly pees and poos in it). As of today his urates are still pretty chalky, does it take some time for the chalkiness to go away? Am I giving him too much calcium supplement? I normally sprinkle his food with it every 3 days or so. I keep his enclosure pretty warm as well, the cool side is probably around 70F and the warm side is upper 90F, could the high temps be causing him too dehydrate?

 

[Bambam1989]

It's not from too much calcium. Urates are formed from a combination of dehydration and protein.
I would begin soaking for at least 30minutes daily in Luke warm water. What can you tell us about his diet? What about substrate? Do you know the humidity in the enclosure?

 

[isobull]

he regularly gets a mixture of mizuna/dark green/purple spring mix excluding the spinach and very occasionally he'll get a treat of pumpkin or raspberry. Substrste wise I use fir bark mixed with coconut coir and Cypress mulch. Humidity ranges between 30 and 50% which is a sudden spike since my house got this fancy new humidifier. It was >20% before.

 

[Bambam1989]

he regularly gets a mixture of mizuna/dark green/purple spring mix excluding the spinach and very occasionally he'll get a treat of pumpkin or raspberry. Substrste wise I use fir bark mixed with coconut coir and Cypress mulch. Humidity ranges between 30 and 50% which is a sudden spike since my house got this fancy new humidifier. It was >20% before.

Hmm i believe a humidity level closer to the 70% range is recommended.
Have you seen our care sheet? I will link it just in case..
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/sticky-hermanns-tortoise-care-sheet-updated.101410/

 

[isobull]

Oh okay, I didn't know about misting them every now and then. I do keep his water bowl full at all times so that might up the humidity a little more. I'll try misting and soaking him more. Thanks!

 

[isobull]

Hey, I thought I'd leave an update just in case. I started misting and soaking for longer periods of time and more regularly and his urates cleared right up! He's been really enjoying the misting and comes out just to stand in the stream of it! Possibly because he knows food comes afterwards, haha. THANK YOU!