crystal in urate?

Sometimes, there are yellow colored crystal coated on one end of the urate, anyone know what that is? I asked my vet before, he just said as long as the urate itself is white, then its fine. A friend of mine told me its excess calcium, is that correct? Am I giving them too much supplement?

I also find that the ones eating crickets as staple seldom get those crystals.

Bonnie, your Gecko could be showing signs of gout, but im not a vet and and you would have to do a little research.
Type in "crystal urate in reptiles" into any search engine.

Here's one article I found:
http://www.afip.org/CLDavis/GrossCourse01/zoo.htm

Mineral

Metastatic mineralization is common in reptiles, usually due to dietary imbalances, renal disease (especially gout) or follicular stasis.

Target tissues are Great vessels, kidney, lung and gut.

Rattlesnakes, boids, colubrids, viperidae

Monitors, agamids, iguanas, basilisks, geckos, uromastyx, collared lizards, chameleons, chuckwalla

Chelonians: mineralization not as common as other reptiles.

Frogs and toads: cornea and skin (underlying renal disease or dietary problems)



Gout: renal, visceral and articular gout very common.

Xanthomatosis: high dietary cholesterol, hypercholesterolemia

Common in female geckos, less common in other reptiles

Common in anurans “lipid keratopathy”, Cuban and white’s Tree frogs

Gross: white nodules resembling granulomas, lungs, coelomic surfaces, brain

Histo: nodular accumulations of cholesterol crystals (clefts) surrounded by macrophages, multinucleated cells

Urolithiasis in whites tree frogs (common, cause undetermined)

Dehydration and improper diet could be a cause for the formation of urate crystals. Hmmm...something is wrong and I don't know what it is. My leos do have a humid hide and clean water everyday; as for food, they have crickets, mealworms and supers; I even feed the insects papaya, so they get more calcium in them. My leos are still active and eating well at the moment, and these crystals only show up once in a while. So I guess they're not in pain or anything? Maybe I'll get a sample and show my vet again.

One more question, how common are these crystals? Do you never see impurities in the urate?

Overton, thanks for the reply; but the link doesn't work.

hmmmm...it just worked for me??????
ok here's the same link in a different form.link

Gothra, I had to take my leopard gecko to the vet as a result of a yellowish crystalized urate. In my case, the crystal impacted the gecko and, despite warm soaks, had to be manually removed. The vet said that calcium crystals in the urates aren't particularly common, but he does see them from time to time and feels that they occur from oversupplementation of calcium. The lizard (5-year old female) was fed every other day, supplemented (rep-cal) twice a week, and given herptivite once a week. The vet suggested that I dust her with calcium only once a week and let her ingest whatever she needs through her calcium bowl.

Good luck,
Eric Joe

Hmmm, over-supplementation of calcium. I feed mine about 3-4 times a week, I supplement them at least twice with calcium, and the weekend feedings I add multivitamin (with calcium) too. That's probably too much. I'll cut down on their calcium intake and see if the crystal will go away.

That could explain why the ones on crickets aren't getting much of these crystals, could be the total surface area available for "calcium-coating" is less between 6 large crix vs 12-15 mealies?

Cornelius,

How did you tell if your gecko is impacted by the crystals? Is he/she not eating, lethargic?

Bonnie