Red Foot Itching Neck

seafoam

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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.
 

Rstalder

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My red foot "happy mojo" does that too occassionally. Hes around 4 yrs...I put organic unrefined extra virgin non gmo coconut oil on his neck just a little bit..and it works. Mke sure with cotton to wipe off any excess. I use it myself for dry skin too..(walgreens).Hope that helps..I think its just dry..I also soak him maybe 5 mins daily..as the heat, lighting etc. affect the skin.
 

seafoam

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My red foot "happy mojo" does that too occassionally. Hes around 4 yrs...I put organic unrefined extra virgin non gmo coconut oil on his neck just a little bit..and it works. Mke sure with cotton to wipe off any excess. I use it myself for dry skin too..(walgreens).Hope that helps..I think its just dry..I also soak him maybe 5 mins daily..as the heat, lighting etc. affect the skin.
Thank you so much, I'll be sure to do that. I was a little confused because she would scratch even while in the bath and right after but perhaps the issue is that the substrate she buries into to sleep isn't moist enough at the lower layers.
 

ZEROPILOT

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My guess....and that's all that it is, is that there might be something stuck in the throat that isn't very restrictive. Maybe a peice of substrate.
Is the tort also yawning.or is there any discharge from the mouth, nose or eyes?
 

seafoam

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She does yawn on occasion but has no discharge from the mouth, nose, or eyes at all. This has been happening for a while so I do hope it isn't something in her throat that has been bugging her. She likes to dip her head completely underwater in the bath to drink and has eaten a lot since I started noticing the scratching, so I'd think that that would have dislodged anything... of course, this is the first time I've owned a tortoise so I'm no expert haha.
 

ZEROPILOT

REDFOOT WRANGLER
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She does yawn on occasion but has no discharge from the mouth, nose, or eyes at all. This has been happening for a while so I do hope it isn't something in her throat that has been bugging her. She likes to dip her head completely underwater in the bath to drink and has eaten a lot since I started noticing the scratching, so I'd think that that would have dislodged anything... of course, this is the first time I've owned a tortoise so I'm no expert haha.
It does seem to be something minor.
 

Rstalder

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good advice..and there is hopefully a reptile vet available just in case it continues
 

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