Tortoise submerging head under water??

Matildasmom

New Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2018
Messages
6
Location (City and/or State)
Massachusetts
My red foot did this today (submerged her whole head) and it scared the heck out of me, mainly because she doesn't seem like her happy self today. When I pulled her out she shot water out of her nose I thought she was drowning. I'm having trouble getting the humidity in her enclosure higher than 60 and I'm worried she's not very happy she seems rather laggy today she did eat some dandelion greens but I hand fed them to her. I also haven't found any poop in 2 days. Any thoughts?
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,390
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
Tortoises drink through their nose and mouth at the same time. The nose ends up in the roof of the mouth, not down the throat. Do you soak the tortoise? What are the temperatures in the enclosure? Can we see pictures of the tortoise and the enclosure?
 

Toddrickfl1

Well-Known Member
Tortoise Club
5 Year Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 7, 2018
Messages
7,103
Location (City and/or State)
Ga
My Redfoot does this when he's drinking he puts his whole head underwater.
 

Matildasmom

New Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2018
Messages
6
Location (City and/or State)
Massachusetts
This is Matilda, we found her in our yard I'm thinking she escaped from an outdoor enclosure but I never found her owner so we kept her. She's very social loves to be pet on the head and even lets me hand feed her! We built her a 4x4 enclosure with an attached house. The temperatures in the enclosure range from about 90 the highest to about 73 the lowest. I am having some trouble keeping humidity up since it's open but it's been holding at about 65 or 70% I've been doing lots of research but find so much contradictory information about food mostly. I try to give her a large variety so far I have given spring mix, romaine, kale, dandelion greens (her favorite!) Mustard greens apple, kiwi, banana which she loves but I recently read was not good for her, zucchini, yellow squash and hibiscus flowers. Am I missing something? I just ordered some mazuri but haven't gotten it yet. Does she need worms or other protein? I do soak her but she doesn't like to soak for long maybe 10 minutes tops but she does soak herself in her water dish. We take her out in the yard when weather permits but we are in the northeast and it's getting chilly. We plan on building a great enclosure for her next summer outside so she can stay out in the warm weather. Any comments and suggestions appreciated we just want her to be happy she's really sweet! Any ideas how old she might be? I kind of think she's up there in age?
 

Toddrickfl1

Well-Known Member
Tortoise Club
5 Year Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 7, 2018
Messages
7,103
Location (City and/or State)
Ga
Underneath the box you write in when you leave a comment where it says upload a file click on that.
 

Toddrickfl1

Well-Known Member
Tortoise Club
5 Year Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 7, 2018
Messages
7,103
Location (City and/or State)
Ga
Screenshot_20181008-120625.png
 

jsheffield

Well-Known Member
Moderator
5 Year Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2018
Messages
3,114
Location (City and/or State)
Westmoreland, NH
My little guy, Darwin, does this almost every day when he soaks, before attacking his brunch.

Jamie
 

Toddrickfl1

Well-Known Member
Tortoise Club
5 Year Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 7, 2018
Messages
7,103
Location (City and/or State)
Ga
She's pretty old, no way to tell really but I'd say atleast 5. My Redfoot loves papaya if you can get some give it a try. The good thing about Redfoots is they can eat a wide variety of foods. I do earthworms about once a month and my tort snacks on whatever bugs, slugs, snails he can find while outside.
 

Matildasmom

New Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2018
Messages
6
Location (City and/or State)
Massachusetts
She's pretty old, no way to tell really but I'd say atleast 5. My Redfoot loves papaya if you can get some give it a try. The good thing about Redfoots is they can eat a wide variety of foods. I do earthworms about once a month and my tort snacks on whatever bugs, slugs, snails he can find while outside.
Earthworms from the yard? Sorry sounds like a stupid question but I've never owned a reptile! All my pets are furry!!
 

Toddrickfl1

Well-Known Member
Tortoise Club
5 Year Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 7, 2018
Messages
7,103
Location (City and/or State)
Ga
Earthworms from the yard? Sorry sounds like a stupid question but I've never owned a reptile! All my pets are furry!!
Ya earthworms from the yard. Or you can buy them at a bait and tackle store.
 
Top