A Couple Concerns - Assistance Needed!

[sift]

Hey guys...

As most of you know, Nor attended a vet checkup the day after I got her home as I was a little concerned about weepy eyes and thin, clear mucous that was coming from her nostrils. The mucous and weepy eyes had already disappeared the day of the vet visit and the vet gave her a clean bill of health, applauding all aspects of her personality and physical well-being. Since then I have noticed a couple things that I find slightly concerning and would love the opinions/advice of those of you who (obviously!) have much more experience than I:

1. She seems to get a runny nose any time I give her a bath. I only use lukewarm water that comes up to her chin and keep the bath times short. I have witnessed her drinking on both occasions and this morning she peed on me after I took her out (I guess I should've waited a moment longer). Afterwards I noticed that she was sniffling again and had a thin, clear mucous on her nose that she was rubbing off against the inside of her forelegs.

Is the sniffly nose/mucous directly related to the bath times? Has anyone else noticed anything like this after giving their Russian (or any other tort, for that matter) a bath?

2. She seems to sleep an awful lot. I wake her up around 9am at which time she eats her mixture of greenleaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, endives, chicory, and raddichio with some dandelion greens picked from the yard on top. She goes for a short stroll around her enclosure, checks out her timothy hay pile, and then promptly goes back into her hide or burrows underneath her aspen chip and goes back to sleep. When she is awake she walks well, lifting herself up off the ground and making good time but then it's "lights out" again.

Is this just because she's new to me and this home and is acclimatizing herself slowly? Should I be concerned about how much she's sleeping? What are possible reasons for her to be sleeping for such extended periods of time?


Thank you in advance for any help anyone may be able to give. I can't bear the idea of not providing her the best that I possibly can.

 

[Yvonne G]

Nor' is just a baby, and babies sleep a lot. Also, just because she's acting well-adjusted at times doesn't mean she still isn't on the look-out for something to get her. She's small enough to still be a prey item for some kind of bigger creature, and as such, she will tend to hide a lot.

The other end of their nostrils ends up in the roof of the mouth, not down the throat into the lungs, so you will see bubbles or saliva or stuff from the mouth at times coming out the nose. Also, when they drink, they submerge their nose and drink from the nostrils as well as the mouth.

Yvonne

 

[sift]

Nor' is just a baby, and babies sleep a lot. Also, just because she's acting well-adjusted at times doesn't mean she still isn't on the look-out for something to get her. She's small enough to still be a prey item for some kind of bigger creature, and as such, she will tend to hide a lot.

The other end of their nostrils ends up in the roof of the mouth, not down the throat into the lungs, so you will see bubbles or saliva or stuff from the mouth at times coming out the nose. Also, when they drink, they submerge their nose and drink from the nostrils as well as the mouth.

Yvonne

So basically what you're saying is that I'm just being an over-concerned Mommy? I don't mind being told that I'm fussing over nothing.

 

[Crazy1]

I think so, sort of, but a good concerned Mommy. That is how you spot something wrong early is to watch their behavior and know what their baseline behavior is. As Yvonne said Nors a baby as as such will sleep a lot. And when I give mine a soak I only fill it up to the bridge (where the top shell meets the bottom shell) then I let them soak for about 10 to 15 minutes. When they drink they will sometimes even blow bubbles out of there noses. lol.

 

[tortoisenerd]

My hatchling is literally only awake a few hours a day! Normal.

I would follow the others advice on the runny nose as I don't have experience with that.