Hi, first time posting.
I got a baby red foot tortoise a few months ago and she's been doing great. She's active, eats, and explores her enclosure a lot. I give her daily baths and used to take her outside for a little when it was summer (too cold now).
Recently, she'll tip to her right side and use her arm to itch her neck. It's only ever the left side of her neck that she itches, and its been going on for a little while. I thought perhaps it was an issue with the substrate I was using (all-natural and non-toxic, but I saw on the forum that perhaps the wood colouring could be an issue and immediately switched to Cyprus mulch and coconut fibre). It's been a few days and she is still itching, it was more aggressive today and I'm getting more concerned. There's no sign that anything is wrong, both sides of her neck look the exact same and there is no redness. She also mainly seems to scratch when she's in the bath and eating, not when she is relaxing in her enclosure.
I've also seen talk of checking the inside of the throat on this forum, but I'm not too sure how to do that and don't know what would be a sign of something off even if I could... any advice on that would be greatly appreciated.
In summary, my tortoise is acting completely fine except for scratching the left side of her neck, where there is no redness/bumps. Perhaps I'm being paranoid but I want to make sure my tort isn't uncomfortable at all and that this isn't a sign of some more pressing health concern. I've always wanted a tortoise and now that I finally have one I want to make her life as comfortable as possible!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read through.
I got a baby red foot tortoise a few months ago and she's been doing great. She's active, eats, and explores her enclosure a lot. I give her daily baths and used to take her outside for a little when it was summer (too cold now).
Recently, she'll tip to her right side and use her arm to itch her neck. It's only ever the left side of her neck that she itches, and its been going on for a little while. I thought perhaps it was an issue with the substrate I was using (all-natural and non-toxic, but I saw on the forum that perhaps the wood colouring could be an issue and immediately switched to Cyprus mulch and coconut fibre). It's been a few days and she is still itching, it was more aggressive today and I'm getting more concerned. There's no sign that anything is wrong, both sides of her neck look the exact same and there is no redness. She also mainly seems to scratch when she's in the bath and eating, not when she is relaxing in her enclosure.
I've also seen talk of checking the inside of the throat on this forum, but I'm not too sure how to do that and don't know what would be a sign of something off even if I could... any advice on that would be greatly appreciated.
In summary, my tortoise is acting completely fine except for scratching the left side of her neck, where there is no redness/bumps. Perhaps I'm being paranoid but I want to make sure my tort isn't uncomfortable at all and that this isn't a sign of some more pressing health concern. I've always wanted a tortoise and now that I finally have one I want to make her life as comfortable as possible!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read through.