Question about degu pee/gender

[tolisgoal]

Today I was about to get my female degu out and I noticed it had just peed, the puddle having lots of white stuff in it. Now I usually notice the white stuff once things dry and that's calcium from what I learned in another post, I never have noticed them on normal pee puddles though. Did your female degus pee white stuff or am I looking at a possible misgender here? Also is there any surefire way to tell the gender other than the butt to pp distance?

It would be pretty sad if my female degu was infact male and I have them separated for no reason. I have posted their genitals before and there is a pretty clear difference, so I don't think it is this way but I thought I'd ask.

Thank you in advance.

[bouncy]

Ok. White stuff in degu wee is the excess calcium that their bodies don't need. Nothing to worry about!

As for sexing, it's only really the difference between cone and poo exit. Although they're internal, my guys also seem to have a distinctive lumps on their undersides either side of the tail for their testes. Not as obvious as other rodents, so I wouldn't rely on it!

[moletteuk]

I don't think I'm following your thinking on why a degu peeing excess calcium is less likely to be female?

[tolisgoal]

I just wasn't sure if it was excess calcium, because I have only seen pee dry white not have white in it while still fluid. So I thought maybe it was you know boy degu stuff. In my original question I meant it like: It's probably calcium, so nothing to worry about but I asked just in case it was something else

[tolisgoal]

Also I'll try sexing them again in case I notice a difference tho they have gotten significantly furrier since the last time so I don't know how easy it's gonna be

[deguconvert]

I can remember seeing it occasionally, white in the urine, while it was still wet. While not as common as the appearance in dried puddles, it isn't alarming. I don't recall it being a frequent thing.

[moletteuk]

Ah, I see, that makes sense.

[bouncy]

The particular bit you have to check is distinctly fur free, so you should be ok

[teemu]

Cloudy urine likely just means that they've been getting a lot of calcium lately. The reason you usually see it only after drying is simply that there's usually not enough of it in there to show in the fluid itself (especially since wet calcium loses a lot of the whiteness), and when it dries the calcium coats the surface and is bright white, making it easy to see.

There are other potential reasons for cloudy urine (like an infection), but I really would not be worried about that unless there are other signs that something is off. It's way more likely that it's just excess calcium and nothing else. And like others have said, there's no reason to worry that this indicates anything about their genders.