# Bright Yellow Urates



## apocalypse910 (Sep 5, 2012)

I've noticed that my tegu's urates have been very bright yellow the last few days. I'm a bit concerned and was wondering if this is anything to worry about or normal variation. His behavior and appetite have been pretty much normal aside from his usual mid-shed crankiness.

I did some research and I see the primary causes as dehydration or over supplementation. 

I am not sure what else to do about hydration. I've had a misting system hooked up for the past month that sprays down the cage every 10 minutes or so. I have a controller on it that shuts it down once humidity reaches 80% - any higher and it just soaks the substrate without making any humidity difference. I have a giant water dish - i clean it and change the water at least every other day. He seems to prefer licking water off plants so I keep a mister nozzle pointed at one of the broad leaf plants so he can get fresh water there if he wants. We put him in the tub daily for a brief soak - but once he's pooped he usually spazzes out badly so I end up taking him out after a minute or two.

I am not using much supplementation as most of his food contains bone & organs. His main foods are small mice, and ground duck, rabbit, turkey, and salmon with bone and organ included. He usually gets a few blueberries every other day with his meat. When I feed him insects or earthworms I dust them calcium (no d3) but this is pretty infrequent. 

Loki is a 2012 extreme - just over two months old. His enclosure is 6' x 3' x 3' with 6" - 1' of topsoil. Temps are about 80 - 85 on the cool side, basking temps are 110 - 130 measured with an IR thermometer. Humidity stays around 75% measured on the damp side of the cage. He has a 150 watt basking bulb and a 48" reptasun 10.0 uvb bulb. 

Should I be very worried or is this normal from time to time - Anything else husbandry-wise that I should be doing to improve his hydration or diet? 
Thanks in advance for your help!
Here are the Urates For reference

[attachment=5044]

His feces have been normal (gel consistency) - The urates have been odd for the past three days. Prior to that they were almost entirely white. There have been no recent changes to enclosure or diet.

The enclosure if it matters - My camera does not like the UV bulb apparently

[attachment=5045]


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## HeatherN (Sep 5, 2012)

sounds like hes hydrated fine, but sometimes urates crystalize from more calcium than needed. i had bearded dragons that used to have crystalized urates once and a while. its not a big deal if it happens once and awhile, you just have to worry long term when it comes to hypercalcimia and impaction. the crystalized urates can block the vent or could even scratch the inside of his intestines; causing lesions or prolapses. though, like i said, once and while is no problem, but you can probably lay off the calcium supplements with so much ground bone in his diet. the calcium supplements often are making up for the lack of bones, but it seems like he has plenty.


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## apocalypse910 (Sep 8, 2012)

Thanks for the info -
I haven't used any additional supplementation in at least a week now. 

The urates are still yellow/orange and accompanied by a large amount of liquid. There barely any solids at all right now, just a few pieces about the size of a pea. He seems perfectly healthy but I'm still concerned - is there some point at which I should get him to a vet or is this still within the realm of normal as long as he seems otherwise ok. 

Again sorry if I'm being really paranoid.


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## apocalypse910 (Sep 10, 2012)

Everything is back to normal - time for me to stop being insane.


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