Weird behavior?

[ShellyTheTortoise71]

Greetings My tortoise Shelly has been acting really weird lately. She will stand in her enclosure, lift up her head, and open her mouth really wide. She doesn't make any noise or anything. I'm really confused. Does this mean she is hungry or something? Please help.

 

[Jodie]

Could be gasping for air. Either an RI or something stuck in her throat? Tell us about your enclosure, temps, substrate, humidity and equipment.

 

[ShellyTheTortoise71]

Ok she temporarily lives in a 55 gallon glass tank. Soon she will have a 5' by 8' enclosure. It is generally about 80 degrees F during the day, 65 degrees F at night, and 70% humidity. Her substrate is a mix of cypress mulch and soil. She has a heat lamp and a overhead UVB light. Also, there is moss throughout the enclosure. I think it might be a respiratory infection because she has been showing symptoms such as wheezing noises, under eye discharge, and bubbles out of her nose. If it is a respiratory infection, what do I do? I do want to let you know that I recently adopted her. She is about 7 years old and didn't have a good owner. So, some of this could have been caused before me also. Or it could have been me. I don't really know.

 

[Yvonne G]

Tortoises generally only breathe through their nose. So when the nose is plugged up, it takes them a while to realize they can't breathe and when they do, they open their mouth wide and gasp in air. I suggest your tortoise either has something blocking the nares, or has a respiratory infection.

 

[G-stars]

Ok she temporarily lives in a 55 gallon glass tank. Soon she will have a 5' by 8' enclosure. It is generally about 80 degrees F during the day, 65 degrees F at night, and 70% humidity. Her substrate is a mix of cypress mulch and soil. She has a heat lamp and a overhead UVB light. Also, there is moss throughout the enclosure. I think it might be a respiratory infection because she has been showing symptoms such as wheezing noises, under eye discharge, and bubbles out of her nose. If it is a respiratory infection, what do I do? I do want to let you know that I recently adopted her. She is about 7 years old and didn't have a good owner. So, some of this could have been caused before me also. Or it could have been me. I don't really know.

65 degrees with 70% humidity or higher (Humidity tends to rise at night due to the light being off) is probably your culprit. What do you use for night heat? I suggest a CHE set on a thermostat at 75-80. It does sound like an RI to me.

 

[ShellyTheTortoise71]

So does Shelly need to go to the vet for this? I figure that she will need an antibiotic or something similar? I can't find any reptile vets in my area though, which has been a big issue for me.

 

[Yvonne G]

It's better to be safe than sorry.

 

[ShellyTheTortoise71]

True I'll bring her to a vet.

 

[Loohan]

I presume this is not just yawning.

 

[Average-Joe_15]

Please don't over react as this could very well just be yawning.
I don't mean to offend your level of tort knowledge, but if your a newbie like me,
simple actions like yawning can spook me too since we don't witness it happen very often~