Russian tortoise burrowing all day during the day, runny nose, moving slower than usual. please help

[jjk2003]

I am a new tortoise owner taking care of my boyfriend’s russian tortoise while he is away. I have never cared for a reptile before and much of the information I have, I got online or from my boyfriend/his mom. I am not sure how old he is but I know my boyfriend has had him for 17 years. This morning he did not wake me up by moving around in his enclosure, as he usually does when his lights come on in the morning. I was not worried at first, but when I came back from running errands he was partially burrowed under his basking lamp. I took him out and soaked him in water for a little while, and he drank quite a bit. His eyes are shiny and have no mucus or crust. However, I noticed that his nose was runny. There was a snot bubble in one nostril, but he is not wheezing, squeaking, or breathing with his mouth. I am wondering if he may have gotten some dust or a small bit of substrate in his nose while he was burrowed?
He also seemed to be almost scratching at his face, which I have never seen him do before, however I think he is in the process of shedding.
He also keeps opening and closing his mouth, almost like he is biting the air in front of him. It does not seem like he is struggling to breathe.
There was a small piece of substrate that seemed to be stuck in his mouth that I carefully removed with sterilized tweezers, and that seemed to alleviate some of his discomfort, but soon after that he burrowed again, this time all the way underground.
I am terrified that he is ill. I cannot contact my boyfriend as he does not have cell service where he is. I know runny noses in tortoises can be a sign of an upper respiratory disease, and that more signs of this are lethargy and poor appetite.
I let him roam my backyard for awhile yesterday and gave him a pretty big salad of hostas, dandelion greens, mustard greens, and rose petals sprinkled with calcium powder. He ate most of it but it took him a lot longer than usual.
It is worth noting that I interact with him a great deal more than my boyfriend did, as he was at work all day 5 days a week and had gotten used to taking care of the tortoise without fawning over him nonstop. He very well could be stressed out from the change in environment from his house to my house, and with the increased level of activity. I also have 2 cats who don’t really bother him but who like to sit on his enclosure and watch him, whereas my boyfriend’s cat is terrified of him and leaves him alone.

Does it sound like he is ill? Should I take him to a vet? Or is he just stressed out from the various changes in his environment? Should I just leave him be? Please help!!

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hello and welcome! Sorry you’ve joined under circumstances that have you stressed! But fear not, we are all here to help.

Now I can’t diagnose this being a potential RI, but from the description of his symptoms, like the face scratching and weird gasp behaviour, it does sound like that piece of substrate you removed was potentially the cause of discomfort here and would explain the snot bubble. Again I can’t say for sure, it could be stress, it could be him getting ill.

I would advise keeping the cats away, not necessarily from danger(though that is something to be cautious of) but because the cats hair and dander could well be irritating the tortoise.

Before we get ahead of ourselves thinking him ill, if we could get some more information from you that would be so helpful!

Most importantly what are your temperatures? Ie basking temp?(directly under the bulb) the overall day temps? Night temps?

What lighting/heating is being used? Packaging photos are good, but I understand you may not have them.

Does the tortoise have indoor uv? If so what type? Packaging pic would be great but again don’t worry if not.

How’s the humidity?

What is being used for substrate?

What size is the enclosure?

How’s their diet overall?

Any answers to those questions would be great! Don’t worry if you cant answer all of them, if you could get photos of the full set up, including photos of the lights etc that would be really helpful! And photos of the tortoise🙂

Once I have your reply I can walk you through appropriate set up, equipment and levels, in case you or your partner need to make some adjustments, I can also direct you to a very helpful site diet wise😊

 

[Chefdenoel10]

I am a new tortoise owner taking care of my boyfriend’s russian tortoise while he is away. I have never cared for a reptile before and much of the information I have, I got online or from my boyfriend/his mom. I am not sure how old he is but I know my boyfriend has had him for 17 years. This morning he did not wake me up by moving around in his enclosure, as he usually does when his lights come on in the morning. I was not worried at first, but when I came back from running errands he was partially burrowed under his basking lamp. I took him out and soaked him in water for a little while, and he drank quite a bit. His eyes are shiny and have no mucus or crust. However, I noticed that his nose was runny. There was a snot bubble in one nostril, but he is not wheezing, squeaking, or breathing with his mouth. I am wondering if he may have gotten some dust or a small bit of substrate in his nose while he was burrowed?
He also seemed to be almost scratching at his face, which I have never seen him do before, however I think he is in the process of shedding.
He also keeps opening and closing his mouth, almost like he is biting the air in front of him. It does not seem like he is struggling to breathe.
There was a small piece of substrate that seemed to be stuck in his mouth that I carefully removed with sterilized tweezers, and that seemed to alleviate some of his discomfort, but soon after that he burrowed again, this time all the way underground.
I am terrified that he is ill. I cannot contact my boyfriend as he does not have cell service where he is. I know runny noses in tortoises can be a sign of an upper respiratory disease, and that more signs of this are lethargy and poor appetite.
I let him roam my backyard for awhile yesterday and gave him a pretty big salad of hostas, dandelion greens, mustard greens, and rose petals sprinkled with calcium powder. He ate most of it but it took him a lot longer than usual.
It is worth noting that I interact with him a great deal more than my boyfriend did, as he was at work all day 5 days a week and had gotten used to taking care of the tortoise without fawning over him nonstop. He very well could be stressed out from the change in environment from his house to my house, and with the increased level of activity. I also have 2 cats who don’t really bother him but who like to sit on his enclosure and watch him, whereas my boyfriend’s cat is terrified of him and leaves him alone.

Does it sound like he is ill? Should I take him to a vet? Or is he just stressed out from the various changes in his environment? Should I just leave him be? Please help!!

I agree with little red big red foot.
Get his humidity up….
Keep him warm….
And when it is day time give him a good long soak!
Warm water then When it gets colder
(45 minutes later) change it and make it warm again.
If you can , add some “Pedialite” to the water. “Unflavored”
He also has to get used to the change.
Feed him as usual and sit with him
TALK to him and he will get better ❤️‍🩹
Glad you are HERE and welcome to the forum!
One last thing….
You called it a respiratory DISEASE 🦠
in fact it is NOT a disease it is an INFECTION. Therefore it is FIXABLE.
I hope that takes some of your stress away.?
A disease is something you have for a very loooong time or forever.

God bless and good luck! 🍀👍
Please let us help you so you can have a very long time friend. ❤️🙏

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

The runny nose could either be from irritation or an infection. Stress can make those both worse. Follow @Littleredfootbigredheart and @Chefdenoel10 advice and answer their questions.

Adult tortoises are really though and it sounds like you caught this early! Keep us updated ☺️

 

[jjk2003]

Hello and welcome! Sorry you’ve joined under circumstances that have you stressed! But fear not, we are all here to help.

Now I can’t diagnose this being a potential RI, but from the description of his symptoms, like the face scratching and weird gasp behaviour, it does sound like that piece of substrate you removed was potentially the cause of discomfort here and would explain the snot bubble. Again I can’t say for sure, it could be stress, it could be him getting ill.

I would advise keeping the cats away, not necessarily from danger(though that is something to be cautious of) but because the cats hair and dander could well be irritating the tortoise.

Before we get ahead of ourselves thinking him ill, if we could get some more information from you that would be so helpful!

Most importantly what are your temperatures? Ie basking temp?(directly under the bulb) the overall day temps? Night temps?

What lighting/heating is being used? Packaging photos are good, but I understand you may not have them.

Does the tortoise have indoor uv? If so what type? Packaging pic would be great but again don’t worry if not.

How’s the humidity?

What is being used for substrate?

What size is the enclosure?

How’s their diet overall?

Any answers to those questions would be great! Don’t worry if you cant answer all of them, if you could get photos of the full set up, including photos of the lights etc that would be really helpful! And photos of the tortoise🙂

Once I have your reply I can walk you through appropriate set up, equipment and levels, in case you or your partner need to make some adjustments, I can also direct you to a very helpful site diet wise😊

Thank you so much for your response!!!! I can answer some of your questions but I’m just using the lights/equipment my boyfriend provided, so I do not have the packaging
He has one heat lamp and one UVB lamp, both are on a 12 hr timer (on during the day, off at night) but I have been keeping the heat lamp on at night these past two nights because I read that RIs can be caused by them getting too cold. I am not sure what brand either of them are or what wattage, but I can get temps when I get home from work today.
Substrate is woodchips of some kind, either coconut fiber or regular playground mulch, I can’t tell the difference, but I did read that using woodchip or mulch substrate can increase the risk of them eating it and causing impaction in the GI tract, so I watch him carefully when he eats to make sure he doesnt eat any.
I usually will feed him mustard greens, hostas and occasionally roses, all from my backyard. We do not use pesticides or weed killer.
I sprinkle calcium on his food but I also got him some cuttlebone.
His appetite has been mostly normal, but he ate too fast this morning and choked a little, which also freaked me out, though he seemed to be fine once he kept eating.
I have been keeping the cats out of my room where I keep the tortoise and he does seem to be less stressed.
As for enclosure size, I’m not sure on exact measurements but I’d say maybe 2 and a half by 4 by 2 feet? My estimations are usually awful though. He is small for his species as well.
I will take pictures of the setup when I return home, and I have included a recent pic of Mr. Tortoise.
Thank you so much for your help!!