Weird discharge in water - is it urea or something bad?

[BeevMom]

Hello, I have a bells hingeback that lives in a two-level enclosure by himself. He's never had parasites or anything to that effect. My last trip to the vet for him was in March. Yesterday, he didn't eat or drink anything, just stayed in his hide area. I didn't think anything of it because he does that every once in a while. I put his food on the top level so he can get some exercise in the morning. Last night, I changed his water and put some warm/tepid water in, then I took him out of his hide and put him in the water so he wouldn't dehydrate. He drank a lot and stayed in the water - all night. I just came in and took him out of the water, which was cold at that point. The stuff in the water (pictured) was in there wrapped around some cypress bark mulch, which I'm hoping did also come out of him. Your thoughts??

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Sorry, I meant to say I hope it did NOT come out of him (the mulch)

 

[Happy Tortoise]

uh oh i dunno

 

[BeevMom]

Uh oh...anybody see this before?

 

[Atra42o]

Hmm idk what it is, but I'll give it a bump... Good luck

 

[safari_lass1]

I can not see the detail very well, just a clump of off white gunk. Have you seen urea in the water before to compare it to?

I can say I have seen the sulcatas pass urea that is extremely concentrated and has "clumps" amongst the more slimy urea. Can you collect any to send to your vet?

 

[Jacqui]

The problem here is we do not know, if it was passed or was dragged in by the tortoise at some point. So I would give him a few warm water soaks where he can't leave the container, to see if anything more passes. Is he now eating and drinking, being active and normal?

 

[ascott]

Urates can look weird sometimes...sometimes stuck to poo, spun into poo/urine blobs...and the icky undesirable form of hard pieces and or chalky gritty stuff...

I have to apologize for my old lady eyesight as I can not get a clear crisp look at the item in the pic....as Jacqui said it is hard to tell if it was from the substrate or from the tort....

I would soak him in warm water soaks and avoid allowing the water to get cold--you do not want additional problems from a tort sitting in cold water all night... unless of course you place the soaking/water dish under the heat source so it remains warm? He may be trying to get something greater to pass and the prolonged soaks likely feel good...

 

[BeevMom]

Thanks for the responses - I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures. I tried several times to get a clearer shot. At the risk of grossing out some folks at breakfast it looked like a wet fried egg. I kept him pretty warm all day and left him alone, and the next day he was walking around and ate some. He seems normal except the fact that he's not quite as active and hasn't pooped a "real" poop in a few days - but the weather is getting a bit chillier, and sometimes he will just go a while without pooping and then have a sizable one.

I think the reason I am concerned is that I recently built a two-story enclosure for him and put a combination of top soil and cypress bark mulch in it as the substrate. I'm just wondering if that could have any effects on his digestive tract...I read up on it before I put it in but didn't see any warnings. He used to have the coconut bark mulch, a little bit of sand, and the cypress. Not sure if he's just getting used to his new, much bigger enclosure or if this substrate is drying him out (the humidity has stayed a constant 60-70, which is ok for bells), but he is eating less than usual and drinking more. I've never seen him pass urea before, so maybe he's actually healthier now?

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I will soak him in his "tub" in warm water today and see if anything happens...thank you!!