Sulcata "urates question" Again

[waretrop]

So I am the caregiver of Alice. She is about 4 or 5 years and is 12 inches and 20 pounds and live in Pa. I have been reading about how to take care of her here. I have taped thick plastic all over my kitchen and hot tub room getting ready for Winter. So since it is now too cold for her to be outside some days I have noticed that she pee's only liquid. There is no white urates. Now, I have seen this cottage cheese looking stuff our in her grazing area when it was hot out there. Just not in the last few days when she does anything in the house. Her stools are looking great. I clean her grass area all day so she is not walking in it. It is what I call, "pick up-able with toilet paper". It is not mushy and it was fibrous, grassy..

She eats very well. Mostly dandelion leaves, grasses and prickly "pear cactus leaves". She loves cucumbers, carrots, egg plant, yellow squash. OMG, I can go on and on. She eats all kind of things, I just do not give her fruits or lettuce.

So my question is.... is it normal for her not to produce urates sometimes throughout the day?

 

[Jason post]

Totally normal they can hold on to pee for awhile do to being in the wild. They need to hold it if they don't have a lot of water sources. Does sound a lite dehydrated thou. Give some good soaks more often

 

[waretrop]

Well, Why does she sound a bit dehydrated? She went Pee 2 or 3 times today. She usually, until today, grazes all day long in moist grass plus gets lots of grass and weeds all day.

 

[Jodie]

No urates is great. No dehydration. She is good.

 

[waretrop]

So is our goal to have no urates in the urine?

 

[Robertchrisroph]

Oh my. Welcome to the forum. @waretrop well weird @Jodie didn't say something but from I have read you need to look at what you are feeding your baby. there is allot wrong with that diet. go to the top of African section and read toms care sheet please. Again a warm welcome to the community

 

[Robertchrisroph]

Sulcata Diet Sheet just not so many veggies I think

 

[Robertchrisroph]

Egg plant I read is toxic to torts. Its a night shade plant. What ever that means

 

[Robertchrisroph]

Lol urates are normal fact in your torts life its just them getting rid of stuff they built up very normal to have needs to be creamy not chalky. Like toothpaist

 

[Jodie]

So is our goal to have no urates in the urine?

Urates are natural and fine as long as they are soft. Creamy like toothpaste. The goal is to not have Sandy urates. No urates is not a bad sign.

 

[Jodie]

This is a Sulcata right? 70 to 80 percent of the diet should be grass and or hay at this size. Be careful with veggies. Cactus is great. Orchard grass hay or timothy hay. Avoid alfalfa. Your diet sounds pretty good to me. Maybe a questionable item or 2.

 

[Robertchrisroph]

I'm a beginner so listen to @Jodie again welcome wonderful place

 

[Jodie]

I'm a beginner so listen to @Jodie again welcome wonderful place

You gave good advice the veggies are questionable. I did not look up egg plant. Not something I feed. The rest in moderation though is ok.

 

[Yvonne G]

Egg plant I read is toxic to torts. Its a night shade plant. What ever that means

"Deadly nightshade
The name says it all — both the foliage and the berries of this plant are extremely toxic. Deadly nightshade has a long, colorful history of use as a poison, but what many people don't realize is that the nightshade family includes common food plants, including potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants and chili peppers. In fact, all of these plants contain toxins — usually in their foliage — that can be harmful. In particular, humans and pets should avoid potato and tomato foliage and vines in the garden."

 

[waretrop]

Thank you....I wonder how long it takes to do something to them. Does it kill them? I have fed my canned potatoes and fresh egg plants, like allot of it. Maybe 2 quarts of potatoes and 8 or 10 egg plants this week. She eats grass, or weed, in my yard like crazy. Her poop has undigested grass in it. I am buying cactus pads by the case. That is her favorite along with hibiscus flowers. She hates timothy hay even if I soak it in water.

She has been with me for 2 months now and has gained 2 and half pounds each month. I don't think there is any more pyramiding since I have had her. She came to me with total diarrhea...allot.Now I can pick up all her poop with toilet paper.

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

Thank you....I wonder how long it takes to do something to them. Does it kill them? I have fed my canned potatoes and fresh egg plants, like allot of it. Maybe 2 quarts of potatoes and 8 or 10 egg plants this week. She eats grass, or weed, in my yard like crazy. Her poop has undigested grass in it. I am buying cactus pads by the case. That is her favorite along with hibiscus flowers. She hates timothy hay even if I soak it in water.

Eggplant (Solanum melongena) is in the nightshade family (Solanaceae), but it isn't, itself, 'deadly nightshade' (Atropa belladonna). The leaves and stems of the eggplant are the main cause for concern, not the fruit (as with several of the non 'deadly' Solanaceae family members). The skin and uncooked flesh still potentially contain harmful alkaloid concentrations... as far as I know, no relevant tortoise toxicity studies have been preformed though. Still, 8-10 egg plants a week seems very ill advised to feed a tortoise (heck, for any creature, that's a lot of one thing). The fruit has something like a 1:3 Ca : P ratio, which is undesirable. There is no good reason to feed a tortoise eggplant that I can think of and some potentially harmful ones (how much nicotine can a tortoise eat?). Same with cooked potato (terrible Calcium to Phosphorous ratio and a lot of carbs).

Different nightshades contain different alkaloids found in different parts of the plants: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanaceae#Alkaloids As a generally safe rule though, avoid allowing access to green parts and roots (although in some plants - like tomato - that concern may be over blown). Since your species of tortoise isn't a fruit eater, there is no need to figure out which nightshade fruits are safe, as you should be feeding none.

 

[waretrop]

Well, rest assured, Little Alice will not be getting anymore potato or eggplant. I am worried for she has been eating the egg plant skin also. My chickens have been eating the whole egg plant fruit, not plant, all week. I feed them what I find on sale. I got about 2 cases of them this week. You all scare me, I have over 200 chickens that could be dead soon.....

Do you think shaved carrots will be ok for today? She loves them and they are from the ground, fibrous and yummy.... What do you think? BTW, she didn't like the corn and I took the egg plant away just now...

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

Well, rest assured, Little Alice will not be getting anymore potato or eggplant. I am worried for she has been eating the egg plant skin also. My chickens have been eating the whole egg plant fruit, not plant, all week. I feed them what I find on sale. I got about 2 cases of them this week. You all scare me, I have over 200 chickens that could be dead soon.....

They'll likely all be fine; chickens are pretty tough. Eggplants are usually on the no-no list for chickens, but I don't know if anyone has actually had any fatal poisonings from feeding them as the occasional treat. People are usually overly cautious with nightshades, but it's a better safe than sorry thing.

 

[dmmj]

carrots are very high in sugar you should limit that's why she likes them so much

 

[waretrop]

OK,OK going to the store for tomorrows food. Broccoli, yellow squash, dandelion greens, cactus pads, and I will look for mustard greens. I have grape leaves out back and hibiscus flowers in the greenhouse which she loves, loves, loves. We also found zucchini flowers in the garden and she ate that today. I will try one prickly pear cactus fruit again but she spit it out last week when I gave it to her.

Do you all think this stuff is ok?