Inefficient digestion?

[Kitty]

I have two tiny girls - same breeder, different clutches - who presented me with a puzzle this week. They've been with me for two weeks, roughly.

Girl 1 - pinked on 8/20. On 8/24, I checked tub for spot cleaning. There was a recognizable hind leg with dark brown goo. My first thought was regurge, but the smell wasn't bad. When I started cleaning it (she'd left it on the top of her hide made of that clay stuff), I noticed a bit of yellow on the papertowel I was using. So, I started thinking urates and incomplete digestion. I'll just watch her next few feeds and see what's up.

Girl 2 - pinked on 8/22. On 8/26, spot cleaning. The same sort of thing only the smell was noticeable (still not regurge-style-curl-your-nosehairs, but I blamed that on it only being a pinky) and the recognizable bits included parts of both hind legs extending up the torso a few mm. I was convinced this was regurge until I noticed the aspen shavings under it were bright yellow ... like urates.

For comparison, both boys (same approx age, different clutches) from the same breeder are going gang-busters - nothing weird from them.

I've made notes to Nutribac their next meals in spite of the Nutribac they got ten days ago. Other than poking my nose in to change water, check their locations, and say hello every 2-3 days, no one's been especially bothered.

Has anyone else ever observed this? Thoughts, opinions, hunches?

[Roy Munson]

The yellow in the aspen may have been digestive juices, not urates, so you still probably don't know which end this stuff came from.

For tiny hatchlings, almost all whole meals are large ones. Also, it's hard to get a good temp gradient in the containers most of us keep hatchlings in, so you never know if your temps are perfect for their needs. After waiting the appropriate post-regurge period, I'd select for the tiniest pinks available for the next few attempts. In these questionable regurge cirucumstances, I've been know to cheat a little on the recovery duration. I usually cut it down to 7 or 8 days. I just had one of my little hatchlings do nearly the same thing you describe.

[Kitty]

Drat. I was hoping this was some weird, incomplete digestion thing that would straighten itself out as they got bigger. Well, here I go plotting out my regurge scheduling for those two.

Thanks for the response, Roy! :)

[BeckyG]

This sounds just like a couple of my Scarlett's regurges. Perfect back feet and a bit of skin. If you can't find pinkies small enough, you can cut frozen ones in half.