Blood in Urates

Today I noticed something odd in the urates from one of my ornates, that something appears to be small amounts of blood. To provide a bit of background info, they are both still showing signs of brumation, generally being inactive and remaining in the primary hot hide for the majority of the day and only leaving for short periods of time to bask and or eat. They are housed in a 6x2 enclosure with the substrate material being tile. Lighting and heating are both good. In terms of diet, they have been eating escarole/curly endive with this weeks alternates being small amounts of shredded carrot, apple peel, sprouted lentils and thawed green peas (the monthly ’pea fix’ was this week). Other than that they always have a small dish of millet mixed with a ground legumes (lentils, navy bean, split pea). The last time I weighed the individual in question was on 3/31 and it weighed in at 70g, 17g more than February’s weigh in. Now, a few possibilities went through my head once I saw this: parasites (hook worms), a kidney issue, or possibly a result of passing a larger than normal stool (3.5" long). The obvious thing to do would be to provide a stool sample to my vet for testing, but I figured I’d pose the question here first in case anyone else has witnessed it personally or knows what the cause is. Below are a few snaps of the stool a few minutes after it was passed.




Thanks in advance.

That's what I'm thinking, larger than normal poop! Urates also look to be a little hard??
I brought my bearded dragon in to the vet a few weeks ago because of blood around the vent, she had been straining, and seemed to be dehydrated. I blame it on the winter brumation, not getting her fluids during that time. Always a good idea to get a vets opinion, let us know how it goes.

Keep us posted. I hope all is well.

Another possibility would be if it were dehydrated, the intestines would have little elasticity and could tear from such a large stool passing.
Having such a large stool could maybe indicate a constipation issue as well. Which would be another sign dehydration.

Could also be a sign of hookworms...haveing a fecal test would not be a bad idea.

Originally Posted by kriminaal

Another possibility would be if it were dehydrated, the intestines would have little elasticity and could tear from such a large stool passing.
Having such a large stool could maybe indicate a constipation issue as well. Which would be another sign dehydration.

Hmm, I believe the large stool is a product of brumation, but I suppose I could up the fiber levels a bit to see if that helps. As for dehydration, I don't think this is likely given the amount of liquid that is passed with each bowl movement.

Originally Posted by Jetbo

Could also be a sign of hookworms...haveing a fecal test would not be a bad idea.

This is a possibility. I'm going to put them all through a deworming process just in case.

Were you able to bring your Uro in to the vet?

Not yet, Michele. I'm going to give him a call Monday.

How's the ornate doing? Hope things have cleared up!