Orange Urate

[spurlee01]

I got a 6 month old beardie yesterday. She ate 14 crix, 7 butters, 2 goliath worms, squash, and dandelion greens yesterday. Today she pooped for the first time since I've had her. The urate was orange. All of the poo was well formed, but there was runny, watery stuff around it. She did get a bath yesterday. I think there was an undigested butter worm in there. Her basking temp reached 109*F at the highest yesterday. Cool side is 82*, I havn't measured the warm side temps yet. Is an orange urate normal after squash and butterworms? Should I be worried yet? I hadn't planned on taking a fecal to the vet, but can if need be. (She came from a good breeder though so I doubt she has parasites). Any thoughts would help!
Sara
PS... sorry for all my questions right now! I tend to err on the side of caution.

 

[ErinMeetsMachine]

could be hypercalcimic.. from too much calcium.. how much is she being supplemented? Did she strain to pass the urate? I don't know if squash could do that.. I'm sure someone else will have some insight.

 

[spurlee01]

I've only had her two days. She pooped while I was out so I have no idea if it passed easily. So far she's gotten calcium both days. Yesterday about half of her 14 crickets were dusted (my boyfreind does dust heavily- they look like little ghosts) and today I dusted all 4 crickets I could talk her into eating (I dust a little more lightly). I emailed the breeder to see if this is normal for her. I didn't give her squash today so I'll see if that makes a difference.
Sara

 

[spurlee01]

Okay, I just talked to the breeder and she says the butternut squash turns it orange. That was what I first thought. I panicked too soon!
Sara

 

[ErinMeetsMachine]

hahah awesome, glad you figured it out.

 

[Ethelia]

Okay, I just talked to the breeder and she says the butternut squash turns it orange. That was what I first thought. I panicked too soon!
Sara

Thats odd. Both my dragons adore their butternut squash and neither have ever had orangetinged urates.
Must be an american squash thing ^_^

 

[Neromom39]

Okay, I just talked to the breeder and she says the butternut squash turns it orange. That was what I first thought. I panicked too soon!
Sara

Thats odd. Both my dragons adore their butternut squash and neither have ever had orangetinged urates.
Must be an american squash thing ^_^

I don't know that it is, Holly... Mine eat butternut squash as well, and have never had orange urates.

Sara.. I wouldn't panic or anything, but I would be sure to get a second opinion on the squash theory before closing it. Only a suggestion

 

[spurlee01]

Well I went two days without giving her any butternut squash and she had white urates. I don't know if I mentioned, but the poop in question was her first one with me (got her Thurs, poop on Fri). I gave her squash again today so we'll see if her urate is orange tomorrow. I think there was one undigested butterworm in the first poop- not sure what happened there. My boyfriend fed her and said she had 3-4 hours to digest, but I haven't seen any other undigested food since then. Her body may have been out of whack from the shipping, I don't know. I'll let you all know what her urate looks like tomorrow if she eats her squash.

 

[spurlee01]

Well she had squash today and actually had her 2nd poop in one day for the first time since I got her. Her urate had just a slight orangish tint to it again. I really do think it's the squash doing it. I'll probably continue my experiment (1 day w/ squash 2 w/o) for a few more days just to confirm.
Sara

 

[Neromom39]

That is so interesting :shock: I never would have guessed that squash would cause that... it's been a staple in my house since November and I have never seen orange urates.

Many some dragons react to it while others don't :dontknow:

 

[spurlee01]

Hey guys-
She had a weird poop today. I'm posting pictures. Any ideas what the weird parts are? I'm worried something is wrong?
Thanks in advance,
Sara

Oh here's what she's eaten the past 2 days:

Sunday May 31, 2009
11 crickets
2 hornworms
4 butterworms
Vitamins
Dandelion Greens
Butternut squash
Celery

Monday June 1st, 2009
13 crickets
2 hornworms
6 butterworms
Calcium
Dandelion Greens
Apples

PS.. Basking spot is about 99* (she moves my probe from directly under the light, but this should be very close to right)... it was 114* two days ago so I had to switch the bulb. Do I need to make it warmer?

 

[Ethelia]

99 is plenty for an adult. Usually with digestion issues its the time she spends under the light rather than the precise temperature.
Does she bask after eating or loiter around at the cooler end.
My youngster always forgets to bask after she's eaten so I always put her up there (im hoping she'll figure it out by herself soon).
Id try feeding her and making sure she basks and see what you get.
Remember after a bit of digestive discomfort it can often take a couple of days for their systems to settle back down, so dont be upset if you dont get immediate improvements.

Poop wise, I cant make out what that orange thing is in the bottom shot. Is that her urate or an undigested worm?
The solid form looks normal, but that stringy bit does look odd. I wonder if those partially digested worms.

I know it sounds gross, but if you want to check on her bowel movements in detail to make sure she is digesting everything you are going to need to take a closer look.
When Ive been on "poop watch" (my eldest often has digestive issues as he is always on his stomach) Ive found the least offensive way of checking up on them is to use the tap (i think you call it a fawcet?). Put the poop into a deep glass/bowl (i use a measuring jug) and blast the water onto it from the tap. It will break apart in the container and you should be able to see all the bits.
Small sections of shell and little strands of veg are normal in poop, but any undigested chunks of worms or whole cricket legs are something to look out for.

Holly

 

[spurlee01]

She's only 6 months old. She basks most of the day and only goes over to the cool side to poop or eat. My boyfriend studied the poop and still couldn't tell whether it was an undigested butterworm or the urate. To me it looked like a butterworm in the urate, but I don't know if that's possible. This is the 2nd time that it's looked like that. My boyfriend also said it looked like there was a cricket leg in there. I'm gonna lay off the butterworms for a while because I don't know if she's digesting those right.

Sara
(oh the piece with the weird part stick out was stuck on her butt so my boyfriend did very gently pull it out. He said there was no resistance or anything, but that does make me a little nervous).

 

[spurlee01]

One more thing... she did seem to strain to get it out. She did the "poop dance" in the bath for 3-4 mins before it finally came out.
Sara

 

[Ethelia]

Hi there,

Ah I think it may well be a half-digested butterworm then. I see them occationally with Ruben.
It may be that the crickets have irratated her gut at some point. Ruben cannot eat locust or crix for this reason. The legs seem to upset his stomach and cause for "early" poops meaning things arent all digested yet. It may just be that your girl has a slightly more delicate constitution than most.
Quite frankly she sounds spoilt rotten with all those yummy worms ^_^

In terms of straining she could be doing this because she was trying to get the poop out of her as soon as possible. Is she well hydrated?
Keeping them hydrated can really help. Rube gets daily baths but over the last few weeks he's needed water drip-feeding to him aswell because his urates were become hard which were causing him to strain alot before passing. Lots of water can really help these things.
Straining isnt something that should happen with every bowel movement.

The pulling-out-the-yucky bit. Yup I think we've all been there. If they've had an upset stomach this can happen. It shouldnt happen alot, but once isnt cause for concern.

Holly