New (December) owner to 2 testudos, concerned one is ill

[tortsformykids]

Hello and thank you in advance for reading. I am disappointed that my first post is one of concern. We are new owners to 2 testudos as of December, bought for my 7 and 10 yr old, with me doing most of the work They came(I know, I know) from Petsmart unfortunately, but seemed very healthy.
I am concerned one might be sniffing. I observed her carefully for 10 minutes and she is making a slight sniff and drawing her head into her shell as she does so. Her eating has been normal. We live in PA so diet rig now is a mix of endive, some kale, some weeds from a few dandy's when we hike and find things alive under snow, some other mixed lettuces (not spinach) and mushrooms (store bought). How can I best attend to her? I will try to post a pic of her enclosure if that helps you help me, just let me know. Thanks so much.

 

[TechnoCheese]

Hello!
We need some pictures to help you further. I find our app to be much easier to use/attach pictures to.
What are your temperatures?
What is your humidity?
What do you feed?
How big it your enclosure?
Tortoises, especially testudos, do not do well in pairs. Testudos are highly territorial, and only see other tortoises as mates or combatants, and will greatly stress each other out. They need to be separated.
Please take a look at these links and come back with questions.
Beginner Mistakes
https://tortoiseforum.org/index.php?threads/Beginner-Mistakes.45180/
It’s hard to link a care sheet without knowing which testudos you have, but here’s one that covers most testudos, but is just for Russians.
Russian Tortoise Care Sheet
https://tortoiseforum.org/index.php?threads/Russian-Tortoise-Care-Sheet.80698/
Welcome to the forum!

 

[Yvonne G]

I think your main problem is keeping a pair of tortoises in the same enclosure. It is very stressful for both of them, the dominant because he can't chase the subordinate out of his territory, and the subordinate because he can't get away from the dominant. A runny nose is an indicator of stress, not necessarily a respiratory infection.

 

[tortsformykids]

Hello!
We need some pictures to help you further. I find our app to be much easier to use/attach pictures to.
What are your temperatures?
What is your humidity?
What do you feed?
How big it your enclosure?
Tortoises, especially testudos, do not do well in pairs. Testudos are highly territorial, and only see other tortoises as mates or combatants, and will greatly stress each other out. They need to be separated.
Please take a look at these links and come back with questions.
Beginner Mistakes
https://tortoiseforum.org/index.php?threads/Beginner-Mistakes.45180/
It’s hard to link a care sheet without knowing which testudos you have, but here’s one that covers most testudos, but is just for Russians.
Russian Tortoise Care Sheet
https://tortoiseforum.org/index.php?threads/Russian-Tortoise-Care-Sheet.80698/
Welcome to the forum!

Pic 1. Basil environment
Pic 2 Moses environment

 

[tortsformykids]

They are not in the same enclosure

 

[tortsformykids]

I think your main problem is keeping a pair of tortoises in the same enclosure. It is very stressful for both of them, the dominant because he can't chase the subordinate out of his territory, and the subordinate because he can't get away from the dominant. A runny nose is an indicator of stress, not necessarily a respiratory infection.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. They are not in the same enclosure. I posted pics if the two different environments.

 

[TechnoCheese]

Sorry, I wasn't clear. They are not in the same enclosure. I posted pics if the two different environments.

Phew, it’s great that they’re not in the same enclosure, lol
Please answer the questions above

 

[tortsformykids]

So, size you can see. Temp is monitored by gun temp and thermometer inside enclosure. 75 to 80 during the day, down to 65-70 at night. Humidity is monitored by the gauge, it's not the best guage, but it hovers in the moderate to tropical range, unless it runs out and we are out of the house (the humidifier). Food is endive, raddichio, some kale, some red leaf, some herbs, mushrooms from the grocery. Dandelions from under the snow when we go hiking. It is winter here in PA and it's our first year doing this so next year I hope to grow and dry some other things. Is this helpful? Happy to give more info

 

[tortsformykids]

So, size you can see. Temp is monitored by gun temp and thermometer inside enclosure. 75 to 80 during the day, down to 65-70 at night. Humidity is monitored by the gauge, it's not the best guage, but it hovers in the moderate to tropical range, unless it runs out and we are out of the house (the humidifier). Food is endive, raddichio, some kale, some red leaf, some herbs, mushrooms from the grocery. Dandelions from under the snow when we go hiking. It is winter here in PA and it's our first year doing this so next year I hope to grow and dry some other things. Is this helpful? Happy to give more info

Also, I just checked on her again and her nose is running take her to the vet?

 

[TechnoCheese]

I would say she has a respiratory infection. Make sure she has a basking spot of 100 degrees, and I wouldn’t let temps fall below 85.
Soak in a 50/50 mixture of Strained carrot baby food and water daily, and make sure that the water does not get cold. You can achieve this by putting the bowl under the heat lamp.
Vets often do more harm than good, so I’m not sure if you should take her or not. If you do, make sure the vet doesn’t give any “vitamin injections”.

 

[Maro2Bear]

I agree with TechnoCheese... try to take care of the temps, soakings, etc first. An expensive visit to a vet probably won’t do much good at this stage. Increased temps, lighting, food will help a lot.

Good luck!

 

[Yvonne G]

You can set her up in a smaller 'hospital' tank and raise the temperature overall to 85F degrees. As long as she still eats, I wouldn't go to the vet yet. If you do go, don't allow a vitamin injection.

 

[tortsformykids]

I would say she has a respiratory infection. Make sure she has a basking spot of 100 degrees, and I wouldn’t let temps fall below 85.
Soak in a 50/50 mixture of Strained carrot baby food and water daily, and make sure that the water does not get cold. You can achieve this by putting the bowl under the heat lamp.
Vets often do more harm than good, so I’m not sure if you should take her or not. If you do, make sure the vet doesn’t give any “vitamin injections”.

Got it thank you so much

 

[tortsformykids]

You can set her up in a smaller 'hospital' tank and raise the temperature overall to 85F degrees. As long as she still earpts, I wouldn't go to the vet yet. If you do go, don't allow a vitamin injection.

Thank you so much. What do you recommend for the temporary enclosure, where can I buy it asap?

 

[Yvonne G]

Just a small plastic bin, the size of a 10 gallon aquarium.

 

[chin_lee]

When my tort had runny nose I followed what kenan showed in one of his videos in which he held the tort upside down with head pointing down to drain the fluid build-up. I did that with my tort 2x per day with elevated temps and it recovered nicely.

 

[Rusky]

The one I can see in the picture is a Russian. Can you see the actual fluid around their nostrils?

 

[tortsformykids]

The one I can see in the picture is a Russian. Can you see the actual fluid around their nostrils?

I did. In the one female. It seems after following the instructions given here she is better. If I take a close up of both torts can you ID for me? TIA

 

[chin_lee]

I did. In the one female. It seems after following the instructions given here she is better. If I take a close up of both torts can you ID for me? TIA

Good to hear it's doing better. Which instructions did you try to get it better?

Following up on previous advice to turn tort head down because they can't expel the fluids with coughing sneezing or blowing their noses so use gravity. I give them a very warm bath and then turn them upside down. I know fluids are coming out vs water dripping off their bodies because it's gooier than water and strings when dripping off.

Most experienced tort keepers can give you an id on species from overall photo