# How do you guys deal with pee and urates



## Dosu (Aug 10, 2016)

Hey everyone

I was just wondering how do you guys deal with the tortoises pee and urates (the white stuff). Do you let the tortoise pee in the enclosure? If you do, do you clean it up afterwards or do you leave it to dry? And if you don't, how do you prevent the tortoise from peeing in the enclosure?

Currently, my tortoise just pees all over the enclosure and its really hard for me to clean it up everyday. I'm afraid that maybe bacteria will start growing ect.

Thanks!


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## Maro2Bear (Aug 10, 2016)

Greetings. I'm wondering how often and how long you are soaking your tort? When younger and in a closed chamber indoors, we soaked our sully daily, in nice warm water, for up to 45 mins or longer. All urination and other bodily excretions were voided during those soaks. Never had an issue with the enclosure. So, soak daily in the morning.


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## JoesMum (Aug 10, 2016)

I agree. Regular soaking usually results in pee in the soak water and little in the enclosure. 

Just spot clean visible urate and poop in the enclosure.


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## Gillian M (Aug 10, 2016)

Dosu said:


> Hey everyone
> 
> I was just wondering how do you guys deal with the tortoises pee and urates (the white stuff). Do you let the tortoise pee in the enclosure? If you do, do you clean it up afterwards or do you leave it to dry? And if you don't, how do you prevent the tortoise from peeing in the enclosure?
> 
> ...


I have a feeling you do not give your tort *daily* soaks, do you?


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## Dosu (Aug 10, 2016)

Maro2Bear said:


> Greetings. I'm wondering how often and how long you are soaking your tort? When younger and in a closed chamber indoors, we soaked our sully daily, in nice warm water, for up to 45 mins or longer. All urination and other bodily excretions were voided during those soaks. Never had an issue with the enclosure. So, soak daily in the morning.



I usually soak my tortoise every day but occasionally skip some days. I soak her at around 3pm right before she goes to sleep. I think I'll try soaking in the mornings as you said and hopefully less pee 




JoesMum said:


> I agree. Regular soaking usually results in pee in the soak water and little in the enclosure.
> 
> Just spot clean visible urate and poop in the enclosure.



Oh I do give her regular soaks, I mean, it's evident by the amount of pee she releases xD




Gillian Moore said:


> I have a feeling you do not give your tort *daily* soaks, do you?



I mean, I do skip days sometimes heh


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## Gillian M (Aug 10, 2016)

Dosu said:


> I usually soak my tortoise every day but occasionally skip some days. I soak her at around 3pm right before she goes to sleep. I think I'll try soaking in the mornings as you said and hopefully less pee
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Please don't forget that you live in Kuwait, where temperature reaches 45-50 degrees C. I live in Jordan and when it gets EXTREMELY HOT, I give Oli up to three soaks a day!


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## Tidgy's Dad (Aug 10, 2016)

My Tidgy is toilet trained.
She has a set spot on a table where I place her and she does her toilet. 
Easy to wipe up and disinfect. 
She sometimes goes in her bath and very rarely outside, but in her substrate or elsewhere - never!


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## Lyn W (Aug 10, 2016)

I soak Lola every day for between 15 to 30 mins maybe longer if he is happy to stay there with the warm water topped up. 
He used to wee and expel urates in his water, but now prefers to use his room!
He has only ever pooped in his soak once in 2 years.
It would be so much easier if he conformed as other torts seem to.
You can lead a tort to water but you cannot make it pee!


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## Dosu (Aug 10, 2016)

Gillian Moore said:


> Please don't forget that you live in Kuwait, where temperature reaches 45-50 degrees C. I live in Jordan and when it gets EXTREMELY HOT, I give Oli up to three soaks a day!



Haha yes, and don't worry, I wont forget that I live in Kuwait xD I mean, I get reminded of that every time I even try to step out of my house into the heat lol. May I ask how long each of Oli's soaks are? Thanks


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## Dosu (Aug 10, 2016)

Tidgy's Dad said:


> My Tidgy is toilet trained.
> She has a set spot on a table where I place her and she does her toilet.
> Easy to wipe up and disinfect.
> She sometimes goes in her bath and very rarely outside, but in her substrate or elsewhere - never!



That sounds amazing! How did you get your tortoise to do that? xD

I actually am trying something slightly similar. I noticed my tortoise liked to pee while eating so now every time I put down food for her it would be on top of a newspaper. Fortunately, she does sometimes pee on the newspaper making it super easy for me to clean, but sometimes not. I'm hoping she gets trained this way to only pee on newspaper, hopefully it works in the long run xD


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## Lyn W (Aug 10, 2016)

Tidgy's Dad said:


> My Tidgy is toilet trained.
> She has a set spot on a table where I place her and she does her toilet.
> Easy to wipe up and disinfect.
> She sometimes goes in her bath and very rarely outside, but in her substrate or elsewhere - never!


It's probably fear!
She thinks she's lunch!!


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## Dosu (Aug 10, 2016)

Lyn W said:


> I soak Lola every day for between 15 to 30 mins maybe longer if he is happy to stay there with the warm water topped up.
> He used to wee and expel urates in his water, but now prefers to use his room!
> He has only ever pooped in his soak once in 2 years.
> It would be so much easier if he conformed as other torts seem to.
> You can lead a tort to water but you cannot make it pee!



I guess you have a rebelious-natured tortoise


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## Tidgy's Dad (Aug 10, 2016)

Dosu said:


> That sounds amazing! How did you get your tortoise to do that? xD
> 
> I actually am trying something slightly similar. I noticed my tortoise liked to pee while eating so now every time I put down food for her it would be on top of a newspaper. Fortunately, she does sometimes pee on the newspaper making it super easy for me to clean, but sometimes not. I'm hoping she gets trained this way to only pee on newspaper, hopefully it works in the long run xD


Lyn may be partly right.
When i got her, she was injured and very sick. 
I placed her a lot on this table so she could be cleaned, hand fed and get used to me and at first she was terrified.
She just got into the habit, I guess, and i always praise her and give her something to eat when she does her duty. 
I still place her there every morning and evening as well as when she 'asks' by looking up at me, I can tell when it's the "I need to go" look.


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## Lyn W (Aug 10, 2016)

Dosu said:


> I guess you have a rebelious-natured tortoise


Yes he certainly is - won't even stay outside on warm, sunny days unless I shut him out and then he just lies there looking up at the door waiting to make a dash back inside.
I keep telling him he's supposed to want to run off and explore but nope he's not normal.
I'm convinced he has agoraphobia!
But he was found in a field and had lost a foot so - as Adam (Tidgy's Dad) pointed out -maybe he associates the outdoors with pain.


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## Gillian M (Aug 10, 2016)

Dosu said:


> Haha yes, and don't worry, I wont forget that I live in Kuwait xD I mean, I get reminded of that every time I even try to step out of my house into the heat lol. May I ask how long each of Oli's soaks are? Thanks



Oh sure. 20 minutes to half an hour.


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## Tom (Aug 10, 2016)

Dosu said:


> Hey everyone
> 
> I was just wondering how do you guys deal with the tortoises pee and urates (the white stuff). Do you let the tortoise pee in the enclosure? If you do, do you clean it up afterwards or do you leave it to dry? And if you don't, how do you prevent the tortoise from peeing in the enclosure?
> 
> ...



Regular clear tortoise pee is pretty much just stored water. There are not a lot of waste products in it like mammalian urine. Tortoises concentrate their waste products into the whitish uric acid that we see. If you are seeing the whitish stuff often, it can be a sign that your tortoise needs more soaking or your diet is too high in protein.

So in your enclosure, I would not be concerned with the liquid pee. I would just spot clean any urates as needed and consider your soaking routine and diet. Do you feed a lot of clover, beans or other high protein legumes?

Are you soaking in a tall sided opaque tub with warm water about half way up the side of the shell? Some people think "soaking" means putting the tortoise in its shallow water dish and letting it walk out when it wants to.


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## Pearly (Aug 10, 2016)

Daily soaking helps keep things clean and for anything else, my bio-substrate takes care of everything. Other than very rare spot clean of poo (very rare!) I NEVER have to "clean" per se. My biosubstrate is 13 months old and i imagine with very well established beneficial bacterial flora and such. Plus my "clean up crew" has been thriving and reproducing. There's no mess/no smell! I love it!!!


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## Rue (Aug 10, 2016)

For what it's worth...Goosefoot rarely goes potty in the bath water. So if she pees in it, I can't tell. If she pees on her substrate, I can't tell either.

I do know she pees, because I've witnessed it. She pees a remarkable amount too, lol. She's peed on me a couple of times...


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## Dosu (Aug 11, 2016)

Tom said:


> Regular clear tortoise pee is pretty much just stored water. There are not a lot of waste products in it like mammalian urine. Tortoises concentrate their waste products into the whitish uric acid that we see. If you are seeing the whitish stuff often, it can be a sign that your tortoise needs more soaking or your diet is too high in protein.
> 
> So in your enclosure, I would not be concerned with the liquid pee. I would just spot clean any urates as needed and consider your soaking routine and diet. Do you feed a lot of clover, beans or other high protein legumes?
> 
> Are you soaking in a tall sided opaque tub with warm water about half way up the side of the shell? Some people think "soaking" means putting the tortoise in its shallow water dish and letting it walk out when it wants to.



Thanks for the information! It's good to hear that tortoise's pee are mostly water  I think I'll be changing the soaking routine to be longer and maybe earlier in the day as per everyone's suggestion. And yeah I soak her in water that's pretty high. I've seen her drink while soaking so I think the height is fine.


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## Dosu (Aug 11, 2016)

Rue said:


> For what it's worth...Goosefoot rarely goes potty in the bath water. So if she pees in it, I can't tell. If she pees on her substrate, I can't tell either.
> 
> I do know she pees, because I've witnessed it. She pees a remarkable amount too, lol. She's peed on me a couple of times...



Haha, my tortoise peeing on me has actually been an irrational fear of mine  Although at least I know now that it's mostly water only (phew)


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## Dosu (Aug 11, 2016)

Pearly said:


> Daily soaking helps keep things clean and for anything else, my bio-substrate takes care of everything. Other than very rare spot clean of poo (very rare!) I NEVER have to "clean" per se. My biosubstrate is 13 months old and i imagine with very well established beneficial bacterial flora and such. Plus my "clean up crew" has been thriving and reproducing. There's no mess/no smell! I love it!!!



That actually sounds awesome! Is there a thread maybe on your bio substrate etc. that I could read?


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