Health Questions about a 3 year old sulcata.

[Crank]

Hello there! My name is Kevin and I have few question about my Louie.
Is it normal for a sulcata tort to pee almost clear to yellow? I adopted her about a year ago and she was peeing I guess white ish urates until a few weeks ago. Should this be a a concern?
She’s eating good
I starve her 2-3 days week and I soak her 3 times a week about for 30 mins.
Her diet consist of:
Spring mix
Timothy hay
Orchard grass
Grass ( when it’s not cold outside, I live in San Francisco)
Cactus
Hibiscus flower
Calcium powder (3 light sprinkles a week)

She has good lighting, heated house for night time which she automatically goes in when her basking and uvb bulbs turns off. (Everything is set on a timer)
And I noticed she’s been hiding a lot more than often, but whenever I take her out of her enclosure she is super active. She’s 3 years old.
She’s currently situated in a 3x6 enclosure.
Any inputs would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Tom]

Hello there! My name is Kevin and I have few question about my Louie.
Is it normal for a sulcata tort to pee almost clear to yellow? I adopted her about a year ago and she was peeing I guess white ish urates until a few weeks ago. Should this be a a concern?
She’s eating good
I starve her 2-3 days week and I soak her 3 times a week about for 30 mins.
Her diet consist of:
Spring mix
Timothy hay
Orchard grass
Grass ( when it’s not cold outside, I live in San Francisco)
Cactus
Hibiscus flower
Calcium powder (3 light sprinkles a week)

She has good lighting, heated house for night time which she automatically goes in when her basking and uvb bulbs turns off. (Everything is set on a timer)
And I noticed she’s been hiding a lot more than often, but whenever I take her out of her enclosure she is super active. She’s 3 years old.
She’s currently situated in a 3x6 enclosure.
Any inputs would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hello and welcome Kevin.

Age doesn't tell us size. They grow are vastly different rates for a wide variety of reasons. What size is your tortoise? Grams or inches will tell us what we need to know.

The pee sounds normal for a well hydrated tortoise. Urates are usually formed when the tortoise is dehydrated or eating a lot of protein.

There is no need to starve her, and that is not a good way to go. Tortoises are grazers and need to be able to graze all day every day, and this is especially true of grass eaters like sulcatas.

Hay is not appropriate food for small tortoises and Timothy hay is too coarse and stemmy for small ones. Orchard grass hay is better for small sulcatas. Big sulcatas can eat any type of hay.

The rest of the diet sounds okay, but you need more variety. Learn your local weeds and look for grape leaves and mulberry leaves in spring and summer.

Twice a week should suffice for the calcium powder.

Basking bulb are dangerous and not effective for larger tortoises. If your tortoise is of normal size for a three year old, it is time to use different heating and lighting. We can talk more about that after you tell us the size.

When you talk about the 3x6 "enclosure", I am guessing you are just referring to the heated shelter and not the entire area that the tortoise has access to? 3x6 feet of enclosure would be far too small, but a 3x6 night box would be fine and dandy.

Please realize that almost all of the commonly repeated care info for this species is all wrong. YT, FB, books, vets, breeders, and almost all sources are going to give you old, wrong, bad info.Here is the correct care info:

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

Questions are welcome.

 

[Crank]

Hello and welcome Kevin.

Age doesn't tell us size. They grow are vastly different rates for a wide variety of reasons. What size is your tortoise? Grams or inches will tell us what we need to know.

The pee sounds normal for a well hydrated tortoise. Urates are usually formed when the tortoise is dehydrated or eating a lot of protein.

There is no need to starve her, and that is not a good way to go. Tortoises are grazers and need to be able to graze all day every day, and this is especially true of grass eaters like sulcatas.

Hay is not appropriate food for small tortoises and Timothy hay is too coarse and stemmy for small ones. Orchard grass hay is better for small sulcatas. Big sulcatas can eat any type of hay.

The rest of the diet sounds okay, but you need more variety. Learn your local weeds and look for grape leaves and mulberry leaves in spring and summer.

Twice a week should suffice for the calcium powder.

Basking bulb are dangerous and not effective for larger tortoises. If your tortoise is of normal size for a three year old, it is time to use different heating and lighting. We can talk more about that after you tell us the size.

When you talk about the 3x6 "enclosure", I am guessing you are just referring to the heated shelter and not the entire area that the tortoise has access to? 3x6 feet of enclosure would be far too small, but a 3x6 night box would be fine and dandy.

Please realize that almost all of the commonly repeated care info for this species is all wrong. YT, FB, books, vets, breeders, and almost all sources are going to give you old, wrong, bad info.Here is the correct care info:

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

Questions are welcome.

Gotcha much appreciated!

 

[Crank]

Gotcha much appreciated!

She’s 11inches, 12pounds

 

[wellington]

Gotcha much appreciated!

What is the size of her enclosure? Not just the hide but full enclosure.
Yoi can post pics a members can help tweak what needs to be.
Everything Tom told you is 100% correct. Make the changes needed.

 

[Tom]

She’s 11inches, 12pounds

I usually introduce hay when they get to about 12 inches, but you are close enough.