# what a horrible noise! Has anyone had their tortoise do this?



## bigbeaks (Apr 21, 2015)

I have a sulcata female that is about 12" to 13" long that I purchased a few weeks ago. Today I was outside working in her yard and I heard the most crazy noise. I noticed that it was coming from my sulcata, so I grabbed my phone and took a quick video of her. Excuse the quality of the video, I was not prepared to be videoing, so I flipped my phone over midway through. If you turn up your volume you can hear her gagging. The only thing that came up was water. She has been acting totally normal other than this. Eats like a pig, active, poops, drinks, etc... No nasal discharge or anything like that. A few days after I got her I heard this noise but could never figure where it came from, now I know. I will be taking her to the vet, but I wanted to see if anyone else has had their tortoise do this??


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## leigti (Apr 21, 2015)

Oh my God, that is terrible. I hope you're taking her to the vet tomorrow. I hope some experience tortoise keepers will come along soon with answers for you. Please keep us posted.


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## Momof4 (Apr 21, 2015)

Is there something stuck in her throat? Maybe bark? Poor thing! How is she now?


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## Momof4 (Apr 21, 2015)

@Tom


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## Killerrookie (Apr 21, 2015)

Seems like something a dog would do when mucus or something in its throat won't go down or is stuck in its throat. @Tom or @Yvonne G would maybe have a clue on this problem. Sounds so terrible, I couldn't even finish the video without being so sad and scared for it.


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## Killerrookie (Apr 22, 2015)

Hey @yvonne you know what's wrong with this fella?


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## Momof4 (Apr 22, 2015)

@bigbeaks Could she have eaten anything with chemicals or poisons? 
How is she this morning?


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## bigbeaks (Apr 22, 2015)

Not in my yard for sure. And I don't believe so where I got her either. Like I said, I heard this noise a few weeks ago but didn't know it was coming from her. She is fine today, seems perfectly normal otherwise.


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## crimson_lotus (Apr 22, 2015)

I would personally check for parasites when you go to the vet...hope everything's okay.


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## ascott (Apr 22, 2015)

bigbeaks said:


> Not in my yard for sure. And I don't believe so where I got her either. Like I said, I heard this noise a few weeks ago but didn't know it was coming from her. She is fine today, seems perfectly normal otherwise.



Sounds like something was just stuck in the throat....likely the tort worked it out....did not seem to crazy.....also, if the tort is good, eating, basking, soaking, poo'g and such...then "I" personally would not freak out too much


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## bigbeaks (Apr 23, 2015)

ascott said:


> Sounds like something was just stuck in the throat....likely the tort worked it out....did not seem to crazy.....also, if the tort is good, eating, basking, soaking, poo'g and such...then "I" personally would not freak out too much





ascott said:


> Sounds like something was just stuck in the throat....likely the tort worked it out....did not seem to crazy.....also, if the tort is good, eating, basking, soaking, poo'g and such...then "I" personally would not freak out too much



But like I said in my post, I heard this noise a few days after I got her, so I suspect she hasn't "worked it out". I am strapping a gopro to her today so I can see if she is doing this on a regular basis or not.


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## AZtortMom (Apr 23, 2015)

bigbeaks said:


> I have a sulcata female that is about 12" to 13" long that I purchased a few weeks ago. Today I was outside working in her yard and I heard the most crazy noise. I noticed that it was coming from my sulcata, so I grabbed my phone and took a quick video of her. Excuse the quality of the video, I was not prepared to be videoing, so I flipped my phone over midway through. If you turn up your volume you can hear her gagging. The only thing that came up was water. She has been acting totally normal other than this. Eats like a pig, active, poops, drinks, etc... No nasal discharge or anything like that. A few days after I got her I heard this noise but could never figure where it came from, now I know. I will be taking her to the vet, but I wanted to see if anyone else has had their tortoise do this??


I saw this on Facebook yesterday. I was thinking about her. 
How's she doing?


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## bigbeaks (Apr 23, 2015)

AZtortMom said:


> I saw this on Facebook yesterday. I was thinking about her.
> How's she doing?


She's the same today without the noise. I've watched 8 hours so far of gopro video to see if she's still making the noise. Eating like normal, pooping etc... I have an appt on Monday to take her in. My vet only works a few days a week.


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## newCH (Apr 23, 2015)

Poor thing ! I hope she feels better quickly.
Your video was informative, I had no idea sounds like that could
come from a tort ! She is a good looking tortoise.


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## wellington (Apr 23, 2015)

bigbeaks said:


> She's the same today without the noise. I've watched 8 hours so far of gopro video to see if she's still making the noise. Eating like normal, pooping etc... I have an appt on Monday to take her in. My vet only works a few days a week.



If she seems normal I might reconsider the vet, unless you know it's a good tortoise vet.


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## ascott (Apr 23, 2015)

bigbeaks said:


> But like I said in my post, I heard this noise a few days after I got her, so I suspect she hasn't "worked it out". I am strapping a gopro to her today so I can see if she is doing this on a regular basis or not.



What I mean by worked it out....is that she got whatever it was out of her throat.....just as when a person coughs up something lodged in their throat....I too would reconsider a highly stressful vet trip...especially if that is the main reason you are doing the vet run...


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