odd sneezing noise?

[unfathomableturtles]

My little guy is about 6 weeks old now and he seems perfectly healthy, but I'm concerned about one thing he's been doing. Every night a few minutes after he buries himself in his coco court, I hear a few sounds sort of like sneezes coming from him! I have no idea what it is, and he doesn't seem to have anything lodged in his nose
Any insight?

 

[tglazie]

So, does he do this every night, or is this something you notice every so often? Does he do this when he's awake? Does he suffer from any nasal discharge, or does he regularly rub his eyes? I would say that so long as he continues to gain weight, so long as he continues to maintain a healthy appetite and a reasonably healthy activity level (keep in mind that hatchlings tend to spend most of their time in hiding), then he should be fine. But be vigilant, and see that it doesn't worsen or become a problem.

T.G.

 

[tortadise]

The two relative items to me is digging and coco coir. I would speculate it's the dry substrate and the tortoise is just getting it in his nasal passages and "sneezing". How dry is the substrate/enclosure?

 

[unfathomableturtles]

I try and keep it pretty damp, but he is rubbing his eyes a lot. And yes this is a Nighty occurance

 

[tortadise]

I try and keep it pretty damp, but he is rubbing his eyes a lot. And yes this is a Nighty occurance

What else do you have in the enclosure? Which UVB light are you using too?

 

[unfathomableturtles]

Just his food and waters dish, a log hide, and a few tiles. And it's the national geographic brand uvb/heat bulb. I tried increasing the dampness of his substrate. It's at the point where it holds together if I squeeze it but no water is coming out.

 

[Louise C]

When I first got my tort in the summer I started him off on coco coir - the shredded stuff and found it made him very sneezy and made him rub his eyes a lot. Thinking he had an allergy or something I went straight to the shops and got him some of the grass pellets his previous owner raised him on and the sneezing did stop. I knew the grass pellets weren't the best so I had to research what I could do....tried a few other substrates but were either too messy or he ate them (top soil/ aspen) . A few weeks later my local reptile shop started to stock the coco husk instead of the shredded stuff and I just put a tray of this in his enclosure to start with to see how he would get on with it. He didn't have any problems with it at all. I think the coco coir was maybe getting in his nose and eyes because it's little gritty particles. The coco husk don't do this so seems to be the solution for me and they still hold the moisture and he can dig in them. I have managed to find them on Amazon too so I can buy in bulk http://www.amazon.co.uk/Exo-Terra-P...UTF8&qid=1413110328&sr=1-1&keywords=coco+husk .