No urates

CarolineD

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Joined
Mar 15, 2021
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8
Location (City and/or State)
Flagstaff, AZ
I have one baby (4-5) month sulcata that I have never seen urates from. Then the “ female” I bought that’s close to a year gets rid of them daily in her soak. Like a lot. Same conditions. More gooey but sometimes a little gritty. What adjustments should I make for king and queen Koopa? TIA
 

Jan A

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Boulder, CO
I have one baby (4-5) month sulcata that I have never seen urates from. Then the “ female” I bought that’s close to a year gets rid of them daily in her soak. Like a lot. Same conditions. More gooey but sometimes a little gritty. What adjustments should I make for king and queen Koopa? TIA
Welcome to the forum. How long have you had the 2nd tort? Are you keeping the two together in the same enclosure? What kind of substrate are you using? Photos of the tort (s) & enclosure (s ) would also help, along w/lights you're using & temp & humidity levels. There are quite a few experienced sulcatta owners on board to answer your questions, so you came to the right place.
 

Tom

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I have one baby (4-5) month sulcata that I have never seen urates from. Then the “ female” I bought that’s close to a year gets rid of them daily in her soak. Like a lot. Same conditions. More gooey but sometimes a little gritty. What adjustments should I make for king and queen Koopa? TIA
We need more info. Where and how are they living? What are you feeding them?
 

CarolineD

New Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2021
Messages
8
Location (City and/or State)
Flagstaff, AZ
We need more info. Where and how are they living? What are you feeding them?
I have an enclosed area ( one of those tort houses) cedar. I have 2 ceramic heat lamps in the double set, and a T5 HO terrarium hood. I have a humidifier to keep my humidity at 80% and my temp at 90. I’m really careful about this. I cover the open top with 2 towels and I use coco coir as a substrate on top and the forest floor underneath . I offer hay and grass but they don’t really like it. I just started my garden so I have to use store bought foods. I offer every kind of lettuce besides ice berg, spinach, and Romain. I soak every day and my “Mrs”Koopa pees urates everyday in her soak. However not “Mr Koopa”. He just poops A LOT. I thought I knew everything there is to know about these guys and I have recently learned that everything I was told was wrong and my babies did not come from the best breeders. Knowing what I know now. I am passionate about these guys. Thank you for your time
 

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Tom

The Dog Trainer
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I have an enclosed area ( one of those tort houses) cedar. I have 2 ceramic heat lamps in the double set, and a T5 HO terrarium hood. I have a humidifier to keep my humidity at 80% and my temp at 90. I’m really careful about this. I cover the open top with 2 towels and I use coco coir as a substrate on top and the forest floor underneath . I offer hay and grass but they don’t really like it. I just started my garden so I have to use store bought foods. I offer every kind of lettuce besides ice berg, spinach, and Romain. I soak every day and my “Mrs”Koopa pees urates everyday in her soak. However not “Mr Koopa”. He just poops A LOT. I thought I knew everything there is to know about these guys and I have recently learned that everything I was told was wrong and my babies did not come from the best breeders. Knowing what I know now. I am passionate about these guys. Thank you for your time
A few things I see:

Humidifiers shouldn't be used over tortoises. Its not a good idea to have them breathing water droplets. Humidity should be maintained using a large closed chamber. Towels don't hold humidity or heat. Use something like foil or plexiglass.

I hope the enclosure isn't made of cedar. Cedar emits toxic fumes. Are you sure about this?

They should never be housed in pairs. They each need their own enclosure.

Are your CHEs controlled by a thermostat?

None of them like grass at first, and hay is for older tortoises, not babies. You have to introduce any new food slowly in small amounts by mixing it with old favorites. It can take weeks or months. Good breeders do this for you. Babies should be introduced to all sorts of good "natural" foods as soon as they hatch. If the breeder didn't do it, you will have to spend months doing it, but its a worth while effort. Also, grocery store foods need to be amended with stuff to add fiber and variety. I'll link the care sheet at the bottom of this post and the food thing is explained there in detail.

I don't see a reason why one would be excreting urates and the other not. May be but up over time before you got them, and just finally passing now.
 

CarolineD

New Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2021
Messages
8
Location (City and/or State)
Flagstaff, AZ
A few things I see:

Humidifiers shouldn't be used over tortoises. Its not a good idea to have them breathing water droplets. Humidity should be maintained using a large closed chamber. Towels don't hold humidity or heat. Use something like foil or plexiglass.

I hope the enclosure isn't made of cedar. Cedar emits toxic fumes. Are you sure about this?

They should never be housed in pairs. They each need their own enclosure.

Are your CHEs controlled by a thermostat?

None of them like grass at first, and hay is for older tortoises, not babies. You have to introduce any new food slowly in small amounts by mixing it with old favorites. It can take weeks or months. Good breeders do this for you. Babies should be introduced to all sorts of good "natural" foods as soon as they hatch. If the breeder didn't do it, you will have to spend months doing it, but its a worth while effort. Also, grocery store foods need to be amended with stuff to add fiber and variety. I'll link the care sheet at the bottom of this post and the food thing is explained there in detail.

I don't see a reason why one would be excreting urates and the other not. May be but up over time before you got them, and just finally passing now.
Thank you! I have a lot of work to do! Im fairly sure it’s cedar, but it’s the zoo med tortoise house so I would hope it’s not toxic. Can I ask why they can’t be housed together? I’m just curious. Also how do you get humidity in the enclosure without the tube? It drips in the water dish. Is that ok? Again thank you for your time and advice. I really do appreciate it.
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,264
Location (City and/or State)
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Thank you! I have a lot of work to do! Im fairly sure it’s cedar, but it’s the zoo med tortoise house so I would hope it’s not toxic. Can I ask why they can’t be housed together? I’m just curious. Also how do you get humidity in the enclosure without the tube? It drips in the water dish. Is that ok? Again thank you for your time and advice. I really do appreciate it.
Your welcome Caroline!

I don't think the ZooMed houses are cedar, but I could be wrong. In any case, they don't make good sulcata enclosures because of the open top, and because the wood will rot and leak under the necessary damp conditions.

In an pair, one animal is dominant and one submissive. The dominant one wants the submissive to leave the territory, and the submissive one wants to leave, but can't. This causes harmful chronic stress to both of them, even if there is no overt hostility like following, sitting on the food, sleeping in the same shelter, resting face to face, biting or shoving. Pairs are just too personal. Groups of juveniles can sometimes work, but not pairs.

You get humidity in the enclosure through moisture evaporating out of the substrate and large shallow water bowl. It stays in the enclosure because its a closed chamber. Having an open topped enclosure is like trying to heat your house in winter with no roof. The warm air just rises up and out. The solution to your issue is a large closed chamber, not pumping in fine water droplets form a humidifier.
 

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