Beardie urates yellow

[sjcksnmnusa]

My beardie, Henry had yellow in his urates. Is that fungus or a sign of something else going on? Henry is 10 yrs old and was just skin and bones when I got him but is now eating a better diet of crickets, veggies, and the normal supplements. He is now very alert and gaining weight. He has a little yellow on his skull ridges but otherwise has normal coloring. He is starting to shed but judging from the little that has already come off, he has not shed in a long time and it will take a long time. He is still a fragile old man so I don't want to put him through strong meds if he does not need them.

 

[diamc]

Good for you having a 10 yr old beardie. How long have you had him?

Usually yellow urates means he is either dehydrated or getting too much calcium. How often are you bathing him? Are you offering him oral fluids? Also, how many times a wk are you dusting with calcium?

 

[sjcksnmnusa]

Sorry it took so long to get back to the forum. I adopted Henry at the May MN Herp. Soc. meeting. He was turned in to our adoption/rescue person but no one would take him home, even to foster. I have two other beardies, Beauty and Rocky. I expect he is getting too much calcium. I have been dusting 3-4 times a week and 2x/wk with vitamins which have calcium also. He and Beauty both seem to go after the crickets that are white a lot faster and actually will ignore brown crickets but eat the white ones. It may be an eyesight problem with Beauty but Henry's eyes are good, I think. He gets a good soak almost every day and sometimes he will drink but not every time. I have not given him oral fluids but gave him subcutaneous fluids when I first got him because he was very underweight and dehydrated. He is gaining weight now and his bms are usually well hydrated. He eats 50 to 70 crickets a day and lots of greens. I will reduce his calcium to 2x a week and see if that solves the problem. Thanks for the help.

 

[diamc]

Good that you will be cutting back on the calcium. It's really not a good idea to use vitamins that contain calcium too because that is too much calcium. I would cut the calcium back to 2x a wk and the vitamins only 1x wk but would recommend you get the Herptivite vitamins by Rep-Cal instead. That's much healthier for them.

I know he was underweight when you got him but feeding a 10 yr old 50 to 70 crickets a day is too much protein for his older body to absorb as he isn't growing rapidly like a baby would be. Could you post pics of him for us?