Squaking? Choking? Should I be worried?

[nnnoahhhhhhh]

Hi my Russian tortoise has been making strange sound for the last hour or so. It seems that there is a piece of coconut coir hanging out of math and she was struggling to remove it herself. I’m worried that it is hurting her or something that I should be concerned about, but I was unable to remove it despite several attempts. I made sure her water is full (she hates drinking and soaking) and gave her a little food to see if it would naturally fall out. Though significantly less frequent, the sounds are slightly more concerning sounding to me. Should I be worried?

She’s dug into the enclosure’s corner. Seems that every time I hear her move she starts making sounds again. They’ll be somewhat consistent for a minute or so and then stop again now.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hello! Sorry this is happening, is so tricky to say for sure what this could be without a video(you have to upload to an outside source like YouTube, then add the link) it could be something got stuck, or it could be a potential RI, to rule that out some information on your housing would be great! Try answering these questions(don’t worry if you can’t do them all)

What are your temperatures like all over? Ie all over day temps(basking directly under bulb, middle, cool side), night temps?
What kind of heating/basking bulb is being used specifically? Packaging photos are good if you have any
Is there indoor uv? If so what kind?
What kind of monitoring do you have?
What is the substrate?
How’s humidity reading?
What kind of things are you offering diet wise?

A photo of the full enclosure be wonderful and very helpful! A pic of your tort would be lovely too!

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Hello! I have seen Yvonne advice soaking in a similar situation to help the tortoise get the piece moving.

Does she seem to be gasping for air?

 

[TammyJ]

We need information and pictures, before we can help you!

 

[Yvonne G]

If you can still see the piece of cococoir, try to pull it out.

 

[nnnoahhhhhhh]

Hi my Russian tortoise has been making strange sound for the last hour or so. It seems that there is a piece of coconut coir hanging out of math and she was struggling to remove it herself. I’m worried that it is hurting her or something that I should be concerned about, but I was unable to remove it despite several attempts. I made sure her water is full (she hates drinking and soaking) and gave her a little food to see if it would naturally fall out. Though significantly less frequent, the sounds are slightly more concerning sounding to me. Should I be worried?

She’s dug into the enclosure’s corner. Seems that every time I hear her move she starts making sounds again. They’ll be somewhat consistent for a minute or so and then stop again now.

She no longer has been making any sounds. I soaked her this morning and she’s mostly been sitting in the corner today (typical after soaking for her). I just checked in on her again and it seems that she is blinking much more frequently than normal and that maybe it looks different in general? It honestly may be that she had just woken up. I have attached as well as some pictures of her today.

She’s acting mostly normal. I haven’t noticed any major indications of an RI. The white on her face is from some calcium earlier today. We have never taken her to a vet before.

Am I just being overly paranoid now?

Video-

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

She no longer has been making any sounds. I soaked her this morning and she’s mostly been sitting in the corner today (typical after soaking for her). I just checked in on her again and it seems that she is blinking much more frequently than normal and that maybe it looks different in general? It honestly may be that she had just woken up. I have attached as well as some pictures of her today.

She’s acting mostly normal. I haven’t noticed any major indications of an RI. The white on her face is from some calcium earlier today. We have never taken her to a vet before.

Am I just being overly paranoid now?

Video-

I think just continue to keep an eye on her for now, it’s good she’s no longer making noises!

I can’t help but notice her beak is a bit overgrown, what do you feed her on? As in what kind of dish/board? Is she housed in one of those wooden tortoise houses?
If you could answer some of those questions in my first answer or provide a photo of her set up, we can always provide tips on housing

 

[COmtnLady]

Be cautious if you do take her to the vet.

Do not allow them to give her any injections. Frequently a veterinarian that doesn't know tortoises well enough will try to talk you into vitamin shots. They are completely unnecessary and do more harm than good. Should she ever have an actual infection, check here before you allow antibiotic injections. Vets running on the out-moded info they got in school can try to use types of antibiotics that are actually harmful to tortoises.

 

[nnnoahhhhhhh]

I think just continue to keep an eye on her for now, it’s good she’s no longer making noises!

I can’t help but notice her beak is a bit overgrown, what do you feed her on? As in what kind of dish/board? Is she housed in one of those wooden tortoise houses?
If you could answer some of those questions in my first answer or provide a photo of her set up, we can always provide tips on housing

I feed her on a rock but she often drags her food onto the ground instead. I’ve been adding more rocks yo try and encourage eating on them. She currently is in a wooden enclosure due to a recent move, but I’m hoping to get her something larger soon.

Substrate is coconut coir.

Right now she only has a uva bulb. I’ve been struggling to find a uvb suitable with her current setup. I tried one of the combination bulbs but it wasn’t getting warm enough in the basking spot.

She always has water but rarely drinks it.

We live in Oregon, so it can be somewhat difficult in the wet parts of the year for fresher food. I rotate between kale and different leaf lettuces with some specific weeds mixed in. This week she has also had some zucchini.

Basking is around 98°. At night it dips to about 70°. Around 80-90 throughout the enclosure during the day. Humidity in the 30’s.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I feed her on a rock but she often drags her food onto the ground instead. I’ve been adding more rocks yo try and encourage eating on them. She currently is in a wooden enclosure due to a recent move, but I’m hoping to get her something larger soon.

Substrate is coconut coir.

Right now she only has a uva bulb. I’ve been struggling to find a uvb suitable with her current setup. I tried one of the combination bulbs but it wasn’t getting warm enough in the basking spot.

She always has water but rarely drinks it.

We live in Oregon, so it can be somewhat difficult in the wet parts of the year for fresher food. I rotate between kale and different leaf lettuces with some specific weeds mixed in. This week she has also had some zucchini.

Basking is around 98°. At night it dips to about 70°. Around 80-90 throughout the enclosure during the day. Humidity in the 30’s.

Thank you so much for the further information! It helps us giving some pointers!

Dish wise you might find it easier going with a clay terracotta saucer, they tend to keep the food in better and can still naturally wear the beak down. I’d use one for a water dish too as most pet store options are a hazard.

Temps sound pretty good! Basking temp is fine but I’d try and have day temps more in the 75 cool side, 80-85 middle. Make sure the basking light in an incandescent reptile floodlight, spots are too harsh.

For uvb all in ones aren’t actually the safest or most efficient choice for numerous reasons. T5 tube fluorescent bulbs are the ones recommended, I wouldn’t go off brand either, unbranded are very unreliable. You want either ‘Arcadia prot5 kit 12%’ which comes with the reflector fitting, or, ‘zoo med reptisun 10.0’ the hood may need buying separately. I included some pointers on mounting lighting in my threads.
With the uv timing, every other source of information will tell you 12hours of uv. This is essentially an old fashioned rule that has stuck with a lot of keepers, it stems from the presumption that once the basking light or ambient lighting is on, ie the ‘sun’, that uv must coexist the same amount of hours. Fact is, uv rays only peak for a few hours a day, anyone with a uv meter will confirm this. No tortoise is blasted with 12 hours of uv in the wild, therefore it’s not necessary in captivity.
The right uv bulbs are much more expensive to replace once their uv strength diminishes, so it’s definitely best having it on a 4 hour timer that provides them with all the uv they need, saving your bulb life.
Then some cheaper led lighting for your ambient 12 hour light cycle as well as the basking light on the same 12hrs. Hopefully this will make more sense if you read the housing link below.

I would try raising humidity just a little bit, more in the 40-50 range if you can, dampening your under layers of substrate can really help with this! Coco coir is a good substrate choice so that’s fine, you might even find a layer of orchid bark on top will help lock in some dampness deeper down

Yeah fair enough if you’ve just moved, glad it’s temporary as those houses are unfortunately too small for adults. They ideally need as close to an 8x4ft space you can provide, I know indoor space can be an issue for lots of people, there’s a few ways to tackle this, I’ll link below.

This thread covers correct equipment(uvb, heating bulbs, lighting etc) correct levels, sizing, appropriately maintaining the humidity, safe substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything and a really handy diet link to check out!

Housing adult Russian and Hermans indoors

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information an example of an appropriate indoor set up for an older Herman/russian. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure, I understand being from the uk myself, that some climates make it difficult to...

tortoiseforum.org

This one here includes inspiration for adult set ups both indoors and out, hopefully the indoor part can inspire some ideas if theres a space issue, some do a different shape to best fit the space, some do a double teir(providing incline isn’t too high)

Enclosure inspiration

Howdy folks! Hope everyone is well! As you all know, I’m a big fan of making threads that cater more towards visual learners like myself, I’ve really been wanting to create a thread full of adult enclosure inspiration for a while now, I’ve managed to find some great references over time! I do...

tortoiseforum.org

Lastly, probably the most important, this one here can be really good to familiarise yourself with and have on hand, it’ll always help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing etc, I always encourage double checking purchases on the forum too before buying

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

Hope this all helps! Always happy to break down information/answer any further questions!