R my boys ok?

[JaknGeorge]

Hi,

I've got two hermann torts, jak and george. Jak is 2 and george is 5. I've been bathing them regularly and iv noticed that george (5yrs) is excreeting white stuff when he's in the water? Usually they'l have a poop in the water but there has been no sign of that recently with george. He does outside the water though so i know he's not holding anything in. What is this white stuff? Is he ok?

Thankyou for any useful comments

 

[TKCARDANDCOIN]

It is urates(crystallized uric acid) or in other words urine and it is normal.Just remember to keep them well hydrated.

 

[JaknGeorge]

They dont drink much water, iv been worrying about their hydration. I bath them 2-3 times a week and they sometimes dunk their head in the water. They wont touch any water that i put in their home, i give them cucumber and tomatoe hoping they get a degree of water from that. They eat plenty of leaves etc too.

 

[Isa]

Is there some fresh water available for your 2 little ones in their enclosures?
Maybe you do not see them go inside but maybe they do. What is the humidity level in the enclosure?

 

[tortoisenerd]

I'm actually surprised you haven't seen urates before if you've had them for awhile...some torts can have urates up to a couple times a week and still be considered healthy. Another way you can hydrate a tort is to moisten the greens thoroughly before they are fed--this also helps if you have to feed the tort early before they are awake, so the food doesn't wilt so fast. That is good you are soaking them regularly. I don't think you have anything to worry about from what you've told us.

I would however be interested to see what kind of water dish you have for them. Is it such that the tort can fit into it, and be able to get in and out without help? Sometimes finding a dish that works for the tort can be difficult. When I had dishes that my tort could not use, I never saw him in the water. Now that he can easily get in and out (it has steps), I've seen him in there often, and I actually don't get to spend too much time with my tort since he's a baby and sleeps a lot during the time I'm home from work. But yes, your tort can accomplish a lot while you are not watching. If you are soaking regularly, have some humidity in the enclosure, a proper diet, and accessible water, there shouldn't be any worries about hydration.

My personal opinion is that I wouldn't feed cucumber or tomato to a tort due to the nutritional content (tomatoes have sugar). Also a word of caution--most all vegetable leaves are ok except tomato leaves (toxic to torts).

Here's a quote from russiantortoise.org (the care for Herman's is similar) about urates and water:

"Unfortunately, many believe that tortoises naturally acquire almost all of their fluid requirements from its food and that therefore they do not require additional drinking water. Russians tortoises are indeed adapted to a semi-arid environment and its system of eliminating waste via uric acid rather than via urea is clear evidence of this. Uric acid can be eliminated using substantial lower levels of water wastage than can systems based on urea, such as those of mammals. Therefore, tortoises, such as Russians, eliminate nitrogenous waste products with far greater water conservation. Its behavior is also programmed to reflect this need not to waste precious water. The semi-solid, white deposits are expelled urates. Tortoises are programmed not to use water in the bladder and to eliminate urates only if replenishment is available. Depriving the tortoise of water will result in urates being accumulated and quite often to dangerous levels. During a rain tortoises will often drink and urinate simultaneously. This behavior can be stimulated in hot weather by lightly spraying the tortoise with a garden hose.

In the wild, during hot and rain-free summers, aestivation or semi-aestivation occurs. There are several factors that will lead to aestivation. Lack of food and environmental water are major factors, as is temperature. During aestivation periods tortoises maintain themselves below ground, in burrows which provide a stable microclimate. In these burrows temperatures are much lower than those above ground and the relative humidity is very much higher. Combined with reduced activity, these factors result in a vastly reduced rate of fluid loss via exhalation and little or no need to urinate and prevent dehydration.

In a captive situation, many tortoises are not provided with a microclimate and easily become dehydrated, especially when water is not provided for drinking."

Here's a little more info from Tortoise Trust Web:

"The white substance is urates (concentrated uric acid). It's a perfectly normal product of protein metabolism, but if it's being passed more than a couple of times a week, it can indicate too much protein in the diet.

Urates should be anything from totally liquid, to about the same consistency as toothpaste. If they're hard or gritty when they're expelled, this indicates dehydration (which is common in terrestrial species kept in vivaria) and if left untreated, dehydration rapidly proves fatal. The tortoise should be bathed immediately by standing it in a bath of shallow, luke-warm water. This should be done daily, until the urates return to normal. Generally, this bathing should be done two to three times every week (more often for hatchlings, who can dehydrate more rapidly than adults)."

Best wishes! Welcome to the forum. We'd love to see photos of your enclosure and torts if possible. Here is a thread about posting pictures if you need some assistance. http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-1408.html

 

[TKCARDANDCOIN]

Another thing you can try along with your daily soak of luke warm water is a capful of gatorade.When i got my last box turtle he was in bad shape and i soaked him twice a day for a week or two with the warm water and gatorade and he is doing great!Even if they do not drink they can absorb some electrolytes and vitamins thru the skin.

 

[Yvonne G]

Or if you don't want to use flavored stuff, you can substitute Pedialite.

Yvonne

 

[Kristina]

I use pedialyte, but gatorade would work well too. With severely sick tortoises I even soak their food in pedialyte.

Sounds to me like you don't have anything major to worry about. Urates are normal, as long as they are not hard or gritty.

Usually when you see a tort stick it's head completely under water, that is when they are drinking. Watch the sides of the neck closely and you may see swallowing.

Kristina

 

[galvinkaos]

Watch the gatorade sugar levels. The original flavors are real high in sugar.

Dawna