Hello, can some one put my mind at rest please???

My little 10 month old Spur Thigh, Alfie, has gritty urates. I have only had him 2 weeks, he eats well, is bright eyed and has his active moments throughout the day. I have not noticed gritty urates in his enclosure but I have noticed them when I bath him, which i have now upped to every day.

Once when bathing him he expelled a huge amount of fluid from his bottom. I have read that this is healthy as it's the way that tortoises flush out their kidneys??

Can you tell me please if i have any thing to worry about?

Thank you.

Hiya sorry dont know your name but gritty urates signify dehydration and your doing right to bathe Alfie daily, in fact you could make it twice a day for a while until hes fully hydrated seeing he's so young.

HTH
Lin

Hi I totally agree with what Lin has said. I bath all my torts daily, twice for the little ones in the summer. Two reasons: hydration and it keeps the enclosure clean as they tend to 'go' in the bath water. I also think but have no proof that with a cleaner inside it must end up with a healthier tortoise. OR I may just be trying to find a reason for all that time spent bathing  .

 to the TPG

Elaine

Thank you very much - I am now bathing Alfie twice a day - any excuse!!
Julie

Hello again, Lin and Elaine
I have been bathing Alfie twice daily as you suggested and I have also been putting water on his food before giving it to him - I only feed him weeds and flowers from the garden, woods and fields.
Any way, I have not seen any gritty Urates at all. He poo's in the water and I find the odd poo in his cage but I have seen no gritty urates. Should I take this as being a good thing and presime he is doing normal wee's?
He is very alert and eats like a little munchkin so I take it this is all good?????
Julie

Hi Julie, Alfie sounds fine, hopefully all the gritty urates have now come out.  Just keep up the baths, and I feed the odd piece of cucumber which also helps to hydrate them as it made up of water.

Keep up the good work, Vivienne

Fantastic - thank you every one for your help
Julie xx