White Droppings, Alien capsules = Reptile stool and urates

A reader writes: 

     "I have a stupid question, but I don't think I've ever seen it asked and I've always been curious about it. When my lizard defecates (always in his pool and in the form of what I fondly call alien capsules), periodically I will find drops of pure white (similar to bird's) droppings, not very big in size, like a little drop. Please don't tell me something is wrong!! I'm assuming that he is getting rid of something in his system but have no idea what it is. Any thoughts on this?"

     The white stuff that you are seeing is lizard *Pee* ... it's actually called urates and it is very similar to what birds pass. Everytime your lizard deficates - or at least once each day, you should see this white substance along with the stool.

     Urates are composed of two parts- a thicker white substance, and a clear viscious fluid- like egg white. If your reptile ever goes on you, on the floor or on substrate, take a peek and see if you see stool, a thicker white substance, and then a liquid that surrounds the whole mess.

     The white part of the urates should be soft and move about easily in the water ... it's almost like the consistancy of very partially cooked egg whites.  

•  If the urates are thick that could be a sign of dehydration.
• If they are discoloured- orange, yellow or reddish that could be a sign of breeding season, severe dehydration, parasite infection or kidney ailments. 
  
• If the urates are chrystalized or very grainy that could be a definite sign of kidney trouble, or of calci stones in the bladder.

     Sometimes females will also pass unshelled eggs- this definitely looks like egg yolk and if passed out of the water will dry the same way an egg yolk dries on a plate - this can be a sign of trouble too, so if anyone ever sees this call your vet.  If the egg wasn't completely passed  out of the reptiles system some could be left behind to cause infection in the reptiles abdominal cavity ... that's the main reason why this could be a serious matter.

     Along with watching our reptiles colours, activity level, eating pattern and behaviours - paying attention to what comes out of them (stool and urate) is also another form of important  observation that can give us very good clues to their health- sometimes the first or only clue as to what might be going on with them.