My newest (8 monthish) but biggest tort has passed some gritty urates over the past couple of days. After searching other threads dehydration seems to come up a lot but she is urinating beyond belief. I know they pee when scared which she has done occasionally but she is doing it up to 3 times a day, usually a flood after eating and I mean a lot! Then at other times, I do put some watery foods (cress, romaine) in with her other food to make sure she's getting fluid so that's probably not helping.
I normally bathe her every 3 days, should I increase? Or would the stress make her pee more and urates worse? She does drink in her soak and quite likes being in the water (hence her name is River). When I got her I don't think she had been in water for a very long time she seemed to enjoy it so much, I was soaking everyday then every second now every third.
I noticed her hot spot was a bit hot (ranging up to 37oC) so I've raised the lamp slightly, although she rarely basks as she is still very shy.
One other thing that might be relevant is she chomps on her cuttle bone a lot, I'd say everyday, at a guess I would say she has eaten 2/3 of a small one in a month on top of her food being supplemented. I have increased foods with calcium to see if that helps but thought it could be linked.
How do I keep her hydrated if she keeps peeing it out?
I normally bathe her every 3 days, should I increase? Or would the stress make her pee more and urates worse? She does drink in her soak and quite likes being in the water (hence her name is River). When I got her I don't think she had been in water for a very long time she seemed to enjoy it so much, I was soaking everyday then every second now every third.
I noticed her hot spot was a bit hot (ranging up to 37oC) so I've raised the lamp slightly, although she rarely basks as she is still very shy.
One other thing that might be relevant is she chomps on her cuttle bone a lot, I'd say everyday, at a guess I would say she has eaten 2/3 of a small one in a month on top of her food being supplemented. I have increased foods with calcium to see if that helps but thought it could be linked.
How do I keep her hydrated if she keeps peeing it out?