Watery urate

sperpich

Member
I have a one year old male Jackson. Over the week I noticed he has runny urate. The color is still white and his poop looks normal. He looks good and still eats. I have a Mistking and it goes off for 10 minutes in the morning and at bedtime. It goes off for 2 minute every 2 hours. I feed him mostly crickets. He also gets flies. He doesn't care for roaches. I've read conflicting post. Some say take him to the vet because he might have parasites and other post say it's to much water. Just wonder what I should do.
 
watery = high water content diet

nothing wrong with that. it normally happens when there is a large caterpillar diet(maybe the flies?).

I get runny urate for 6-8 weeks every summer during "silk worm season". Gotta feed over the 500-1000 i hatched some how.

As long as its white and the rest is still good, its all good. You are the opposite of yellow urate.
 
That's great news. My only concern it that his diet hasn't changed but the urate has. He doesn't eat worms at all. A wax worm for a treat but he hasn't had any in a while. The flies have been limited too. It's too hot to ship them. I based the misting schedule from Thehippie on this forum. Here's what they said...."jacksons require a more humid environment so i would recommend 7 min mistings regularly with a 10 min every day. this is what i did with my jacksons. as @jamest0o0said also you can use a fogger at night." I've had trouble with him staying hydrated during the winter and that schedule worked for him. Since it's summer should I try and reduce it? Could that be why his urate changed? Too much spraying? If you guys still thinks it not a concern I will not worry about it. Thanks!
 
I don't mist that much anymore. I've never done 10 minutes either. I do 2-3 minutes morning and evening with (3) 15 second mistings spaced out in between. Just so there are some drops around for drinking just in case. Daytime humidity doesn't need to be above 50% in the daytime for Jacksons. It seems we've been overdoing day time humidity. NIght time humidity is where you want to be in the 80-100% range by using a cool mist ultrasonic humidifier. I would cut back on the extra long mistings and see how many mini mistings you need to maintain 40-50% daytime humidity. That would be mid cage humidity up by the lights can go as low as 35% daytime. I arrange it so the basking light goes off before the mini mistings so the cage is cooler when it "rains".
I do occasionally do longer mistings but only if I'm seeing more orange than I like in their urates. I will either run a dripper or add a long hand misting to their schedule after their morning auto misting.
If watery urates can't be traced back to a change in diet or forced fluids then I would consider having a fecal sample tested for parasites as that is a possible symptom. If cutting back your misting doesn't straighten things out I would get a fecal for sure. If you've never had one done then this is the time to do it.
 
Things haven't gotten any better yet. His urate is actually a orangish/cream color now and has red spots in it. Looks like tiny little caviar. It has a gel consistence. I'm going to call the vet and take in a fecal sample. Is there anything I can do for him in the mean time? He did have a horn worm two days ago.
 
Things haven't gotten any better yet. His urate is actually a orangish/cream color now and has red spots in it. Looks like tiny little caviar. It has a gel consistence. I'm going to call the vet and take in a fecal sample. Is there anything I can do for him in the mean time? He did have a horn worm two days ago.
Could you post a photo of the urate? For sure needs a vet visit but I am curious for learning purposes.
 
Keep the horn worms going and hand mist until you get to the vet. Definitely take a fresh sample with you. You can keep them fresh in the refrigerator for a day or two so you have one ready for the vet.
 
Here is a pic.
 

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I called the vet and she said I can't bring in the sample since I used paper towel. He usually doesn't go potty every day. More like every other day. Is he going to be ok waiting that long?
 
You need the fecal brown part of the sample not the white part to run a fecal. If you can save that part it can go in to the vet. Just don't smear it into the paper towel. Use a baggie to pick it up.

Parasite eggs aren't that big. It is more likely inclusions in the urates.
 
Well good news. His test came back negative. She said to keep an eye on him and let her know if he stops eating or looks bad. I'm just not sure there's nothing wrong with him tho. It's a change. He is shedding right now but I don't think that would have anything to do with it. I had to change the timers back to a little longer. He doesn't drink off of leaves. He lets it run down his face and then drinks it. I hand misted him and he drank for a long time. I just don't think he was getting enough with the shorter spraying times. I now do 5 minutes in the morning and 2 minutes every 3 hours and 7 minutes before bed. He has a fogger at night. Just wondering what I should do now? Thanks for all the help!
 
Maybe the cutting back of his schedule was too abrupt. I have a couple CB that came from a situation where they were getting almost constant misting during the day (outdoors in a warm dry climate) and it took them a while to catch on to drinking when it was available. I ran dripper for them so they would have water available without driving daytime humidity too high and risking infection. I just used a water bottle with a tiny hole in the bottom daily for a while and then slowly backed that off to every other day etc. You could add back some minutes into your misting schedule and slowly decrease them over time.
I don't know how you can have watery urates and orange at the same time unless he hasn't been pooping regularly and the urate sat in his cloaca longer than normal. That might explain the orange inclusions but not the watery part. So if he isn't moving his bowels regularly it could be because of a couple of things, too much calcium and/or D3 in the diet slowing his gut motility or low basking temperatures or dehydration probably not the case since he was getting so much water or maybe old age.
I know this doesn't all apply. Just tossing it out there.
 
I did have a dripper for him. He didn't use it all that I saw. I can try a home made one though cause the store bought one was very touchy. It was either way too much or way to slow. He gets vitamins once a month, D3 w/o calcium twice a month and regular calcium once or twice a week. If he gets the D3 he only gets the regular once that week. His basking is spot is on the lower side. He really doesn't care for the heat. He rarely sits under it. Off to the side more. I can get the exact temp when I get home. What temp do you recommend? He's only one year old. He doesn't eat every day. He does a little swaying action when he's hungry. He see's me and sways back and forth. If he's not hungry he just sits and looks at me. He eats 4 or 5 crickets every other day. I take them out if he doesn't eat them. Sometimes he does eat less but every day. He also eats flies and worms (as a treat). I can't get him to eat roaches anymore. Should I just keep an eye on him? Just worried. lol I'll try and get his watering schedule shortened. Keeping the humidity around 50% in the middle of the cage. Any other suggestions?
 
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