Urates again and again

Maggie3fan

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5 Year Member
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Jun 30, 2018
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I have noticed a note of anxiety by some of our newer members regarding urine, urates, and stones. So I thought I might make an attempt at simplifying the whole thing, maybe.
When desert type (Gopherus) and savannah type tortoises (like Sulcata) ingest liquid the organs kinda suck out all the liquid leaving a substance called 'urates'. Somebody else can explain that part. As an example, yesterday Mary Knobbins was in the middle of her breakfast while I cleaned the water dishes and added water to them, the fresh water and the rush of the water made her urinate, because she was going to be able to refresh her hydration.(that's instinct) So she peed all in her food, it was clear liquid, today this is what she just now let loose of. only 24 hr later
Thick, pasty, and wet. You can see it almost holds together
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I had a male Sulcata who was over 100 lbs. This is his bladder stone, it weighed 1 lb and helped cause his death...
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These were from a young rescued Sulcata...
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And last, this stone came from Gopherus agassizii. This stone is smaller than it looks as I wanted our
experts to see the center of it. It's interesting and all the other stones are flaking off and look very dry and powdery, while this one is like a rock, you cannot flake off any. Why the difference?
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So newcomers, now you have examples, so you can see the different looks of urates. They also can be creamy slimy, but I didn't have an example of them. Now I'm hoping that these pictures can be looked at and can compare your tortoises urine if you have doubts.
I hope this helps.100_6615.JPG
 

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