Mouth foaming after eating zucchini

[Michael Bird]

I gave my Hermanns tortoise a bit of leftover green zucchini that my daughter didn't use while cooking, since my Greek tortoise used to love the stuff and I've read that it's supposed to be a decent supplemental food once in a while for them.

He seemed quite happy to bury his face into the slice and swallowed several bites, but then he stopped eating and started clawing at his face like he was trying to get something out of his mouth. He didn't pull anything out, but he did start getting some green foamy bubbles that I could see around his tongue while his mouth was wide open. I've read that bubbles like that can be a sign of illness, or also a sign of difficulty breathing, but after a minute or so of doing that, he seems to be OK now.

Is zucchini actually not a good idea for a Hermanns, or did he just try to choke himself by swallowing it too quickly? I did leave some of the skin on, so he might have gotten that stuck in his throat. And is there anything specific I need to watch for?

He seemed to be somewhat upset that I took the zucchini away (just in case), and is hunting all over his enclosure as if he's looking for it so he can eat more..

 

[Michael Bird]

To partially answer my own question, I'm pretty sure he just got a piece of the rind stuck in his throat because he was taking really big bites, and he did cough up a piece of rind shortly after I wrote that question. And he's been happily running around eating everything that he can find since then, and I did give him a little more zucchini without the rind and he practically inhaled it, so I think he's feeling OK.

 

[Tom]

To partially answer my own question, I'm pretty sure he just got a piece of the rind stuck in his throat because he was taking really big bites, and he did cough up a piece of rind shortly after I wrote that question. And he's been happily running around eating everything that he can find since then, and I did give him a little more zucchini without the rind and he practically inhaled it, so I think he's feeling OK.

Sounds like you answered your own question, but yes zucchini is a fine tortoise food once in a while. Its not all that nutritious, but it makes a good treat and it gives them a lot of water. I've never had a tortoise choke on the skin or have any difficulty with it. When they bite off their own chunks, they shouldn't be able to choke on it. Not even tiny new hatchlings, so that part is a bit odd. Might there have been any sort of residue, or spices, or something on the zucchini? That is what it sounded like to me initially.

 

[Michael Bird]

No residue or spices. But he was taking much larger bites of it than he normally does with other things.

 

[Maro2Bear]

Tom might have mentioned this in his response, but sometimes keepers think they are doing the right thing by chopping squash/pumpkin/zucchini up into smaller “bite size” pieces. But, the opposite is true and we keepers actually create choking hazards. Always best to just cut In half or quarter and let the tortoise gnaw its own pieces. Glad your guy is ok!

 

[zovick]

No residue or spices. But he was taking much larger bites of it than he normally does with other things.

I used to grate up zucchini and other food items such as carrots, pumpkins, and yellow squash with a good old fashioned four sided food grater for my young tortoises. They never had any problems eating the grated foods.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

No residue or spices. But he was taking much larger bites of it than he normally does with other things.

There have been a few posts over the years warning about the choking hazards of pre cut food items.
It's best to offer food that is either way too large to eat without biting off peices or providing finely shredded peices.
(It looks like I was late with my reply)