Urates

[thetortoiselady]

I have never noticed a urate from Bennie my star. The past two days he had been passing urates. He is in his smart enclosure, high humidity, I try to balance his diet in terms of different greens, I feed torotise herbal hay from tortoise supply, mazuri on occasion, and do calcium powder or cactus flower (opttunia powder) we do daily 30 mins soaks.. is this something I should be concerned about or just a totally normal tortoise thing sometimes? I guess my biggest concern is I’ve never seen him do it before!!!!

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Let me tag these guys for you and see what they think, smart enclosures are perfect at maintaining humidity so hydration shouldn’t be the issue here, I’m wondering if it’s something with the diet, let’s see what they think @Tom @wellington @Yvonne G

 

[thetortoiselady]

Let me tag these guys for you and see what they think, smart enclosures are perfect at maintaining humidity so hydration shouldn’t be the issue here, I’m wondering if it’s something with the diet, let’s see what they think @Tom @wellington @Yvonne G

Thank you!!!

 

[thetortoiselady]

I do a mix of different greens- dandelion greens, arugula, collard, mustard and turnip greens, squash, spring mix, squat, romaine, green or red leaf lettuce, butter lettuce, bok Choy, - just anything I can get my hands on (that is tortoise safe) I also got a seed mix from tortoise supply that I planted outside and will cut greens from there!

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

All sounds pretty good to me!

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

I have never noticed a urate from Bennie my star. The past two days he had been passing urates. He is in his smart enclosure, high humidity, I try to balance his diet in terms of different greens, I feed torotise herbal hay from tortoise supply, mazuri on occasion, and do calcium powder or cactus flower (opttunia powder) we do daily 30 mins soaks.. is this something I should be concerned about or just a totally normal tortoise thing sometimes? I guess my biggest concern is I’ve never seen him do it before!!!!

How often do you feed Mazuri or other foods high in protein?

 

[wellington]

It's normal for tortoises to pass urates. Some more than others. As long as it's a creamy substance like tooth paste and not gritty, it's all good
My leopards have never passed them that I have ever seen, but some others leopards have.
Russians seem to pass them all the time.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

It's normal for tortoises to pass urates. Some more than others. As long as it's a creamy substance like tooth paste and not gritty, it's all good
My leopards have never passed them that I have ever seen, but some others leopards have.
Russians seem to pass them all the time.

This might have something to do with using metabolic water if you are interested.

 

[wellington]

This might have something to do with using metabolic water if you are interested.

Metabolic water? Never heard of that.

 

[wellington]

Metabolic water? Never heard of that.

Okay I looked it up. Not sure about it pertaining to tortoises urates. I feed my Russian and leopards almost the same diet. The Russian has urates often, leopards do not.
Should they all have urates if it were do to diet?
At least that's what my understanding was.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Metabolic water? Never heard of that.

I am not sure whether this even is something to worry about, but...

It is a phenomena where Russian tortoises are able to rely on metabolic water (sort of recycle the hydration it already has in his body). This has been observed in the wild and was a leading theory/hypothesis as to why Russian tortoises and desert tortoises) get more bladder stones. I am not sure whether it has been abounded since. Also, I don't know what other tortoise species has this been observed in. Have only seen it mentioned with Russians and desert tortoises.

Here is how the term was used in popular language:

Russian tortoise, Testudo horsfieldii by Mary Anderson Cohen - CTTC

A review of the Russian tortoise, Testudo horsfieldii by Mary Anderson Cohen.

www.tortoise.org

Here are the first three articles that come up on google scholar when you search metabolic water:
1.

Effects of climatic variation on field metabolism and water relations of desert tortoises - Oecologia

We used the doubly labeled water method to measure the field metabolic rates (FMRs, in kJ kg−1 day−1) and water flux rates (WIRs, in ml H2O kg−1 day−1) of adult desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) in three parts of the Mojave Desert in California over a 3.5-year period, in order to develop...

link.springer.com

2.

https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.2307/2265787

3.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3892239

 

[thetortoiselady]

It's normal for tortoises to pass urates. Some more than others. As long as it's a creamy substance like tooth paste and not gritty, it's all good
My leopards have never passed them that I have ever seen, but some others leopards have.
Russians seem to pass them all the time.

Ok, thank you!!! I think it just worried me a little bit because I’ve never seen him pass one before

 

[wellington]

I am not sure whether this even is something to worry about, but...

It is a phenomena where Russian tortoises are able to rely on metabolic water (sort of recycle the hydration it already has in his body). This has been observed in the wild and was a leading theory/hypothesis as to why Russian tortoises and desert tortoises) get more bladder stones. I am not sure whether it has been abounded since. Also, I don't know what other tortoise species has this been observed in. Have only seen it mentioned with Russians and desert tortoises.

Here is how the term was used in popular language:

Russian tortoise, Testudo horsfieldii by Mary Anderson Cohen - CTTC

A review of the Russian tortoise, Testudo horsfieldii by Mary Anderson Cohen.

www.tortoise.org

Here are the first three articles that come up on google scholar when you search metabolic water:
1.

Effects of climatic variation on field metabolism and water relations of desert tortoises - Oecologia

We used the doubly labeled water method to measure the field metabolic rates (FMRs, in kJ kg−1 day−1) and water flux rates (WIRs, in ml H2O kg−1 day−1) of adult desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) in three parts of the Mojave Desert in California over a 3.5-year period, in order to develop...

link.springer.com

2.

https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.2307/2265787

3.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3892239

Well the first link has some poor outdated care info, so I don't put much credit to them.
My Russian gets lots of water. In the greens and water dish available 24/7. He doesn't have to rely on water from within, so I'm not sure there is much credit there either. He's never had stones but does have urates often.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Well the first link has some poor outdated care info, so I don't put much credit to them.

Same, I just wanted to show an example of how the word was used back in the day.

My Russian gets lots of water. In the greens and water dish available 24/7. He doesn't have to rely on water from within, so I'm not sure there is much credit there either. He's never had stones but does have urates often.

Yep, I don't think this applies to your or OP's case, but maybe it could apply to other cases. Not sure.