Urates?? Help Needed Please!!

[Tom]

Do you recommend they eat timothy hay?

Sometimes... sort of...

Your species is not a grass eating species, so no, normally I would not say to feed them grass or grass hay. However, soaked Timothy hay pellets are a great way to add some fiber to any tortoise's diet, including species that are not grass eaters.

I would start with one tiny pellet. Soak it in a bottle cap and then mix it in with the day's greens. When the tortoise is eating all the greens with our little hidden "crumbs" stuck to it, you can start adding a little more in gradual steps.

I use these Timothy hay horse pellets almost daily for all my species when I'm forced to feed grocery store greens due to lack of anything else. Along with the offerings from Will and Tyler, plus some Mazuri and ZooMed pellets, they get a nice variety and get their nutritional needs met.

 

[Maro2Bear]

Yep. They empty their bowels and bladders when they are able to refresh. Its very common to see urine and urates around the water dishes in outdoor tortoise pens too. As the tortoise takes in fresh water on one end, they release the old reserves they were holding on to out the other end.

I don't see any major problem here, but you might want to start soaking every other day for a while. Indoors in winter in our heated homes can be quite dry. Much drier than when they are outside in summer and able to utilize little humid microclimates in the dirt or at the bases of plants.

With your winter grocery store diet, be sure you are adding amendments. Herbal hay from tortoisesupply.com, an assortment of dried leaves from kapidolofarms.com, soaked ZooMed pellets (all 3 types are good), soaked Mazuri (both types are good), and you can even soak horse hay pellets and mix in a little of that for fiber. Start slow with the mix-ins. Just use a tiny amount at first. It will take some time for your tortoise to get used to all the new add ins.

P.S. I think the picture is deceiving because there is no size reference. I don't think people can easily tell that we are looking at a close up in a small plastic bottle cap. It looks like a HUGE amount of "stuff" in your close up picture.

Good point on the “scale” of the mass of gooey-ooie gelatinous stuff.

 

[Sue Ann]

Got it! Ok, I'm starting to feel better. I will soak daily for sure. Thank you

You are being a great keeper for your tortoise. Nice to see so much care and concern.

 

[aparadis328]

You are being a great keeper for your tortoise. Nice to see so much care and concern.

Thank you! I just adore her!