Uric concerns after brumation

[AZDutchess]

So Dutchess (Texas Tort 4yrs old) has been awake now going on 3 weeks and slowly getting back into her routines, I had given her a couple of soaks and in the 1st week, the 2nd one I noticed a little release of uric acid and wasn't concerned, she hadn't really started eating much yet. Today as I watched her eating, her normal diet of kale, radicchio and brussel sprouts, (loves the later 2) she started peeing a large amount of uric acid.. see attached pics.. it didn't seem clumpy, it was more slimy but there was alot! I haven't seen her drinking hardly at all though since she awoke but once.. I don't know if I should be concerned And don't see much evidence of poo in her enclosure or night box. Any thoughts or input welcomed..

 

[Tom]

Its not legal to keep a Texas tortoise in AZ, so let's just talk about "desert tortoises" in the genus Gopherus.

Urates after brumation is normal. Frequent soaks for several weeks will help pass them. As long as they are the creamy type like what you've seen, its not a problem.

Those three foods are okay once in a while for variety, but not good as staples. Copy pasted from the care sheet:
Feeding: So much contradictory info on this subject. Its simple. What do they eat in the wild? Grass, weeds, leaves, flowers, and succulents. Feed them a huge variety of these things, and you'll have a healthy tortoise. All of these species are very adaptable when it comes to diet and there is a very large margin of error, and many ways to do it right. What if you don't have this sort of "natural" tortoise food available for part of each year because you are in the snow? You will have no choice but to buy grocery store food. What's wrong with grocery store food? It tends to lack fiber, some items are low in calcium or have a poor calcium to phosphorous ratio, and some items have deleterious compounds in them. All of these short comings can be improved with some simple supplementation and amendments. A pinch of calcium two times per week will help fix that problem. You can also leave cuttle bone in the enclosure, so your tortoise can self-regulate its own calcium intake. What about fiber? Soaked horse hay pellets, soaked ZooMed Grassland pellets, Mazuri tortoise chow, "Salad style", "Herbal Hay" both from @TylerStewart and his lovely wife Sarah at Tortoisesupply.com, or many of the dried plants and leaves available from Will @Kapidolo Farms. If you must use grocery store foods, favor endive and escarole as your main staples. Add in arugula, cilantro, kale, collard, mustard and turnip greens, squash leaves, spring mix, romaine, green or red leaf lettuce, butter lettuce, water cress, carrot tops, celery tops, bok choy, and whatever other greens you can find. If you mix in some of the aforementioned amendments, these grocery store foods will offer plenty of variety and fiber and be able to meet your tortoise's nutritional needs just fine. I find it preferable to grab a few grapevine or mulberry leaves, or a handful of mallow and clover, or some broadleaf plantain leaves and some grass, but with the right additions, grocery store stuff is fine too. Grow your own stuff, or find it around you when possible. Tyler and Sarah also sell a fantastic Testudo seed mix that is great for ALL tortoise species and also super easy to grow in pots, trays, raised garden beds, or in outdoor tortoise enclosures. When that isn't possible, add a wide variety of good stuff to your grocery store greens to make them better.

 

[AZDutchess]

Thank you Tom for the reply and detailed info.. I gotta say I am a bit surprised by your first bit of info since you and I have had a few exchanges already about her and you never mentioned that before, we adopted her from a friend that couldn't keep her any longer housed inside an aquarium and they thought they had a Sulcata.. after I did research I found out from you what she really is. anyways.. she's loved and we well cared for.
Onto her diet. I do supplement with a variety of greens other than what mentioned, those are just favorites of hers, more like treats I should have said and have began to grow as much as I can in our backyard, we have kale and chard growing in her enclosure as well as succulents, they just aren't very mature yet since we are just entering early spring so the grocery store has to come in as a pinch unfortunately. I will look into the folks you suggested for the pellets or Mazuri chow for sure. I was successful this afternoon before she went in for the night in getting her to drink quite a bit of fresh water, it was wonderful to watch her gulp it up! Tomorrow I plan to soak her in the sun for a bit again as well.
Again Thank you very much for your help!