New tortoise advice and bladder stone question?
Posted: 27 May 2019, 00:36
We've had Bow (named by our daughter, he's a Male Horsefield ~1-2 years old) for 4 weeks today, he's our first Tortoise but seems to have settled in quite well and has been eating, defecating, urinating and passing healthy urates since we had him, however on Friday he passed a large chalky stone (~1cm wide/long - see pic), just before he passed the stone he had urinated and passed urates (watery like the pic shown on this page; https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/tor ... OsZEohKg2w) prior to that his urates had always been toothpaste consistency.
[attachment=2]61301462_2271020349816121_6893932610460844032_n.jpg[/attachment]
So is it a bladder stone? Is it likely that its formed solely while he's been in our care, given the size? We did overfeed him for the first week (he put on 13g - oops, but we've cut down now and he has only put on 1g since) or so and while we've been giving him a calcium & vit D supplement every other day I'm not sure if we've been giving too much (though there is conflicting information online about whether excess calcium can cause stones).
We're using zoomed repti calcium with d3 which says approx 0.5tsp per 5oz/142g body weight per week, he's currently 105g so finding it hard to judge how much/how frequently to sprinkle it on his food?
Some growth stats in case it helps:
SCL = 80mm
Weight:
06/05 = 91g
15/05 = 104g
23/05 = 105g
His diet is predominantly plantain(ribwort), dandelion (flowers & leaves) & sowthistle (flowers & leaves), with very occasional piece of cucumber (no more than once a week), we've tried grass and clover once or twice but he didnt really bother with them.
He did manage to eat 2 daisy flowers when he was in the garden before I could stop him but other than that he hasn't eaten anything else he shouldnt.
Since he passed the stone he's been behaving the same as before, eating, defecating and urinating normally and his last urates were a toothpaste consistency, he has fresh water every day and we've started bathing him every day now rather than every couple of days in case he had been dehydrated, he's not showing any signs of illness but we weren't sure whether he needs to be seen by a vet?
Any advice would be much appreciated (and sorry for the essay!) - pics of Bow below:
[attachment=0]61446012_897940543879759_8838364249249021952_n.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=1]61265136_405809360009557_4561107044735647744_n.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=2]61301462_2271020349816121_6893932610460844032_n.jpg[/attachment]
So is it a bladder stone? Is it likely that its formed solely while he's been in our care, given the size? We did overfeed him for the first week (he put on 13g - oops, but we've cut down now and he has only put on 1g since) or so and while we've been giving him a calcium & vit D supplement every other day I'm not sure if we've been giving too much (though there is conflicting information online about whether excess calcium can cause stones).
We're using zoomed repti calcium with d3 which says approx 0.5tsp per 5oz/142g body weight per week, he's currently 105g so finding it hard to judge how much/how frequently to sprinkle it on his food?
Some growth stats in case it helps:
SCL = 80mm
Weight:
06/05 = 91g
15/05 = 104g
23/05 = 105g
His diet is predominantly plantain(ribwort), dandelion (flowers & leaves) & sowthistle (flowers & leaves), with very occasional piece of cucumber (no more than once a week), we've tried grass and clover once or twice but he didnt really bother with them.
He did manage to eat 2 daisy flowers when he was in the garden before I could stop him but other than that he hasn't eaten anything else he shouldnt.
Since he passed the stone he's been behaving the same as before, eating, defecating and urinating normally and his last urates were a toothpaste consistency, he has fresh water every day and we've started bathing him every day now rather than every couple of days in case he had been dehydrated, he's not showing any signs of illness but we weren't sure whether he needs to be seen by a vet?
Any advice would be much appreciated (and sorry for the essay!) - pics of Bow below:
[attachment=0]61446012_897940543879759_8838364249249021952_n.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=1]61265136_405809360009557_4561107044735647744_n.jpg[/attachment]