Not eating, expelled HUGE urate ball

[Moonfleur54]

My 6 month old Greek tortoise (60g 6.68cm long) named Pia stopped eating at the beginning of March 2021. Tweaked her environment changed to mercury vapor uvb/uva heat combo lighting. Temp at 82 ambient, 94-110 basking. 40-60% Humidity Gave warm soaks and she drank plenty. Of course her poop/pee decreased so started tube feeding 7 days ago with oxbow critical care...1mg 2x per ... With warm soaks. Still refusing greens pellets apple. currently pooping every other day until today....had 2 large poops ( no pee) with one stool consisting of tangled fibers (coconut coir?) Then after 30 min of pushing poo she excreted a huge ball of soft rates. As large as her head! What is this? Could she have had an impacted bowel or blocked urinary system? Please Help! THANKS!

 

[KarenSoCal]

Hello, and welcome to the forum!

Do you have any moss in the enclosure? That's what the fibrous stuff looks like to me. If it is moss, take all of it out. We recommend no moss for exactly this reason. They eat it and it is a bad impaction risk.

As for the white glob...feel it with your finger. Is it gritty or is there a solid stone? Or like toothpaste?

It's really rather gross! ?

 

[Moonfleur54]

Hello, and welcome to the forum!

Do you have any moss in the enclosure? That's what the fibrous stuff looks like to me. If it is moss, take all of it out. We recommend no moss for exactly this reason. They eat it and it is a bad impaction risk.

As for the white glob...feel it with your finger. Is it gritty or is there a solid stone? Or like toothpaste?

It's really rather gross! ?

Thank you for responding. The glob is like toothpaste no lumps or grit. No moss in habitat just coconut coir that i

Hello, and welcome to the forum!

Do you have any moss in the enclosure? That's what the fibrous stuff looks like to me. If it is moss, take all of it out. We recommend no moss for exactly this reason. They eat it and it is a bad impaction risk.

As for the white glob...feel it with your finger. Is it gritty or is there a solid stone? Or like toothpaste?

It's really rather gross! ?thanks for responding

Hello, and welcome to the forum!

Do you have any moss in the enclosure? That's what the fibrous stuff looks like to me. If it is moss, take all of it out. We recommend no moss for exactly this reason. They eat it and it is a bad impaction risk.

As for the white glob...feel it with your finger. Is it gritty or is there a solid stone? Or like toothpaste?

It's really rather gross! ?

Hello Karen! The urate glob is soft like toothpaste no lumps or grit. No moss in habitat only coconut coir as substrate that I am taking out. She’s on towels currently

 

[Moonfleur54]

I’m wondering if she had some sort of impaction? When she was eating her urates were usually mixed in with her pee and not much of it.

 

[Moonfleur54]

Clarification: she wasn’t eating her urates......when she was eating food everything was normal. Also can’t figure out why she stopped eating. She loved green peas, thus her name. After I read that peas were not a good veggie choice I stopped giving them o her. I have read that torts will walk miles to find a favorite food until they get hungry enough to eat anything. After a month I got worried. She just sniffs at the food I put out..fresh dandelion, endive, Romain, softened Mazuri

 

[KarenSoCal]

I’m wondering if she had some sort of impaction? When she was eating her urates were usually mixed in with her pee and not much of it.

Urates can be expelled with either, but usually it is peed out.
That looks like it may have been stopping her up...I mean the fiber stuff. It just doesn't look like coco coir to me.

You said she has not been eating, so where did those long strands/stalks come from? It's weird.

Was she eating lots of peas? They possibly could be part of the problem. They are very high in protein. When torts break down protein during digestion, urates are formed as a byproduct. Partly why soaks and constant hydration are strongly encouraged.

Here's a care sheet for your baby, with lots of up to date info.

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

www.tortoiseforum.org

 

[Moonfleur54]

No peas for a month now was eating about 5 per day

 

[Moonfleur54]

Urates can be expelled with either, but usually it is peed out.
That looks like it may have been stopping her up...I mean the fiber stuff. It just doesn't look like coco coir to me.

You said she has not been eating, so where did those long strands/stalks come from? It's weird.

Was she eating lots of peas? They possibly could be part of the problem. They are very high in protein. When torts break down protein during digestion, urates are formed as a byproduct. Partly why soaks and constant hydration are strongly encouraged.

Here's a care sheet for your baby, with lots of up to date info.

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

www.tortoiseforum.org

Appreciate the care sheet not, is this . he at. No probs probs getting a msg typed

 

[Moonfleur54]

Appreciate the care sheet not, is this . he at. No probs probs getting a msg typ do you have FB messenger. This site is ss VERY SLOW

 

[KarenSoCal]

Yes, I have Messenger. We can also PM on here.