What is that white, chalky-looking stuff in my tortoises droppings?
Sulcata Station’s response: The white stuff is the tortoise’s urine. It is made up of urates — a combination of excess uric acid, minerals, and other body waste products that the tortoise’s kidneys have filtered out and excreted. Urates can vary in consistency from totally liquid to about the same consistency as toothpaste. Urates in your tortoise’s droppings is not necessarily a bad thing. However, it can indicate a problem in either of the two following instances: 1. Do the urates seem really hard or gritty, or does your tortoise seems to be straining to poop? If so, your tortoise may be dehydrated. You need to start soaking your tortoise more regularly, or provide more humidity in its enclosure, to prevent it getting dehydrated and having the urates solidify into a bladder stone. If the tortoise is *really* straining, or not pooping at all, take it to a reptile veterinarian immediately, because it could already have a bladder stone, and such stones could actually kill it. 2. Is you
