urgent need of advice!

[Walter tortellini]

I got a horsefield tortoise on Tuesday and he has been settling in fine, he ate really well yesterday I have been bathing him daily and keeping the temperatures at the recommended ones. However today he has slept most of the day and he has been making sneezing noises even when sleeping/eating/drinking, its almost like he doesnt mean to do it he tucks him self into his shell very quickly and makes a sneezing noise even when no one is near the tank. At the moment he is asleep near the heat lamp and keeps making litte sneezing noises but not always moving, we rang the shop we got him from and they said it could be a respiratoty infection although we told them his living conditions and they said they were fine. Thwy said we could swap him for another one and they will care for him if he is ill. Does anyone know how serious this could be or do you think it might be a phase of settling in?

 

[Walter tortellini]

When I wake him up he will move around and be bright eyed but still making little sneezw noises please help!!

 

[tortdad]

Do you see any watering of the eyes or nose. Bubbles coming out of the nose??? Could very well be a RI

How long to you soak it? What are the 4 temps of your box and what humidity level is it at. Any pics?

 

[Walter tortellini]

His eyes and nose are fine. About 5-10 minutes I was told to have the temperature at 18 at night and 28 in the day but then when we rang the shop they said to put a thermometer under the lamp and it should be 30 then 25 at the cooler end of the tank.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I'm not good with Celsius, but his basking temp should be about 95 degrees. His cool side about 70, they do like to cool off at night. What kind of substrate is he on? What kind of a light are you using? URTI can be very serious, so it's kinda up to you to decide if it's just settling in to a substrate that's too dusty, or if he's really sick. IF he were mine I'd have him at a Vet on some antibiotics. Why take a chance on making him sicker?

 

[Walter tortellini]

He walks around absolutely fine its just the little sneeze noises and actions he is making

 

[Walter tortellini]

I'm not good with Celsius, but his basking temp should be about 95 degrees. His cool side about 70, they do like to cool off at night. What kind of substrate is he on? What kind of a light are you using? URTI can be very serious, so it's kinda up to you to decide if it's just settling in to a substrate that's too dusty, or if he's really sick. IF he were mine I'd have him at a Vet on some antibiotics. Why take a chance on making him sicker?

He has a UV light and sand on the floor we also put ceicket dust and nutrobal on his food which was recommended from the shop could this be anothe possible factor though? :/ yeah thats why I might take him to the shop where they will take good care of him and sort him out

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Sand causes impaction because it gets on their food and they eat it. Get coir or top soil. I have no clue what ceiket dust is. He needs dark leafy greens and weeds blossoms and that sort of thing. Here Nutrobal is peanut butter not exactly good for a tortoise. Get a better substrate, feed more appropriate food and warm him up, I'll bet he'll be fine...
I personally wouldn't take him back to that shop, to ME the care does not sound good. If he's not too sick you can make him better with a few changes...

 

[Walter tortellini]

Sorry I meant cricket dust! That and nutrobal are like a powder with calcium and multivitamins in. Thank you for your advice I think I will alter the substrate as that could be causing him irritation making him sneeze!

 

[Yourlocalpoet]

Here Nutrobal is peanut butter not exactly good for a tortoise...

Nutrobal is calcium/mineral dust here - you're fine!

Everything Maggie said, get rid of the sand, might be irritating him and warm it up, each side at least 5C more.

Also, the hissing/sneezing sound when he enters his shell quickly is normal. Obviously, randomly sneezing isn't.

My colleague gave me a quick formula to work out C to F and back again @maggie3fan (It's not wholly accurate though).

C x2 + 30 = F

So 28C x 2 = 56 + 30 = 86F
That example unfortunately is at least 3 degrees out. Oh never mind.

 

[tortdad]

Yeah for what it sounds like the shop is giving you bad advice. He'd probably be made worse by returning him. Change out that sub straight, warm him up and keep a very, very close eye on him. Make sure you have a exotic vet near by because most regular vets don't know torts very well

 

[Yvonne G]

I see a couple things that need to be addressed in your enclosure, besides the sand.

--the enclosure isn't big enough for a Russian tortoise
--the dishes need to be lowered into the substrate. Because of their shell, tortoises are not able to easily raise their heads up and over the edge of a dish and then back down to the food or water
--I'm not sure about this one, but the neon tube may be up too high

Try to get the tortoise outside for a little while every day. Real sunshine does wonders for them.

 

[Wanda]

I agree with Yvonne, also Russians do better in a tortoise table than a viv. It has better air circulation and also doesn't have clear sides.

 

[johnsonnboswell]

He needs a bit of moisture in his substrate, not arid conditions. In the wild he'd be able to dig down & find it.

 

[Walter tortellini]

Im going to hange his substrate today

 

[Abdulla6169]

Im going to hange his substrate today

Good luck !

 

[ascott]

He needs a bit of moisture in his substrate, not arid conditions

Actually, both are needed. If you offer moisture please be certain it is warm humid area and never let it get cool....warm and humid good, cool and wet = bad and recipe for ailing tortoise...