Sulcata Excretions

[l0velesly]

My sulcata excretes urates, urine, poop, and this unknown brown pee. He always excretes brown liquid throughout the day and it's only in small quantities. I couldn't find much information on it. It's nothing new. He has been doing it since he was a few months old. I was just wondering about it now and was thinking if it's normal.

My leopard tortoise never excretes any brown liquid stuff and I never see urates either. It's either urine or poop.

I'm thinking it must be a sulcata thing only. What are your thoughts on it?

 

[tinkerbell1189]

My Russian secretes urine poo and urates, but no idea about the brown stuff

 

[[email protected]]

Yep. Brown little drips that mark where a sulcata began it's poop/pee and where it walked for the next ten minutes.

Frankie does this when I am guilt of feeding him fun but bad-for-sulcata stuff. Usually the brown drops are combination of watery poop mixed with some watery urates.

Check diet....Sulcata are supposed to eat 90% fibrous grass and hay. Adding what I call "Wal-mart foods" (i.e. produce, lettuce, vegetables and fruits) to a sulcata diet in excess of more than 1% of their total food intake can cause soft poops that may indicate digestive problems and these soft gooey poops.

 

[Laura]

I agree.. go over his diet...
what do you feed him?

 

[l0velesly]

I always feed him spring mix, bok choy, and some weeds. I just started adding mazuri to his diet. Maybe I should feed them more often. My leopard tortoise has the same diet but it doesn't pee brown stuff.

 

[SulcataSquirt]

how old is you little guy again? you may want to switch over to some different green rather than the spring mix. I consider spring mix more of a baby type of food. since it is soo soft. I would try feeding him some collard greens, turnip green, escarole, endive, raddicho, butter lettuce, dandilion greens, and other greens like that. Mix it up for him, Keep up the weeds, colvers are also good. also good to throw in some mazuri a couple times a week, you can mix in your vitamins and calcium in this if you use any.

 

[l0velesly]

how old is you little guy again? you may want to switch over to some different green rather than the spring mix. I consider spring mix more of a baby type of food. since it is soo soft. I would try feeding him some collard greens, turnip green, escarole, endive, raddicho, butter lettuce, dandilion greens, and other greens like that. Mix it up for him, Keep up the weeds, colvers are also good. also good to throw in some mazuri a couple times a week, you can mix in your vitamins and calcium in this if you use any.

He's just over 1 years old.
Thanks for the advice. Sometimes I have a hard time finding those greens in stores. If I do, I always find each of them in bulk only. I want to add more variety but I would have to buy each bundle separately. My sulcata wouldn't be able to finish all that so it would go to waste. I'm thinking of planting them myself so that it would be the right amount.

 

[SteveP]

GO the extra mile for the right food. Your tort will love you for it.

 

[[email protected]]

Feeding sulcata "Wal-Mart" produce (i.e. lettuces, produce etc) is just not really an appropriate diet for a growing sulcata.

I personally would not use Mazuri ever but I understand that on this forum, there is a neutral view on the product.

Recommended diet (strongly recommended) is this from Sulcata Station:
75% Grasses, fresh or grassy hay
25% Edible weeds, leaves and flowers

Notice that there is no place in this diet for Wal-mart foods. The natural habitat of the Sulcata Tortoise looks nothing like the produce department at Wal-mart or any other food store in the USA.

However, if you look at Sulcata Station's page on diets you will hear them say that "Optional feed, in very small quantities, dark leafy greens".

They go on to say "Use these only as special treats for your tortoise. This means you can feed these items in SMALL quantities, and only once per week at most. These items are NOT necessary, but they can serve as a nice treat for your tortoise, or a way to get them to eat calcium and vitamin supplements."

I believe in this diet. Since using this diet, Frankie has become a healthy, good looking, smoother shelled monster.

Sulcata Station's Diet for Sulcata

 

[Livingstone]

GO the extra mile for the right food. Your tort will love you for it.

What this man has said is dead on.
Dandelion is available at whole foods if you are at a loss to find something nutritious. Also a combination of lettuces is great such as green leaf, red leaf, iceberg, and even romaine. Get some mazuri too, and wet it with water, it will make it expand and soften.

Good luck.