Sneezing While Burrowing

[W Shaw]

I've recently rescued a Russian tortoise. He's my first. He has a hide and will use it occasionally but he prefers to sleep in a burrow. Aside from the issues he came to me with (half starved to death and skeletal deformities from malnutrition) he's healthy. Gaining weight and strength now that he's with me and being fed properly, and much happier now that he has proper bedding and UVB and such. But I have a new mother paranoia question. When he makes his burrow at night, he spends about half an hour digging and adjusting and settling. Then, once he's all the way buried, he makes a lot of little hisses and sneezes and huffs for a minute or 2 before he goes to sleep. No sign of sneezing or nasal discharge or mouth breathing when he's out and about, and none in the burrow after the first minute or two. I assume that he's getting substrate in his face when he burrows and is huffing and sneezing to clear it away before he settles. Is this something I should be concerned about? He's in aspen bedding, which is what the vet recommended for him for now. I could reduce the depth of the substrate so he can't bury himself completely, but he's so much happier sleeping in a burrow. I don't want to take it away from him if it's not necessary.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

Aspen bedding isn't normally dusty, however, we usually recommend something that you can add a bit of moisture to. I like to use orchid bark, and quite a few members here use coco coir. The bit of humidity in the substrate helps keep the dust down, and is a bit more healthy for the tortoise than something completely dry.

 

[W Shaw]

Thanks! I was going to go with coco coir but the pet store where I was buying supplies said that they found that when they were using it they had a lot of eye infections and when they switched to Aspen, the problem went away, so I started with aspen until I could get a check up and the vet also warned me off coco coir, so I've kept him on the aspen. Maybe I'll try the orchid at his next change.

Thanks for the welcome! This wasn't exactly planned parenthood for me. Happened very suddenly, so I have a lot to learn. I've thought about adopting a tortoise ever since I found a sulcata who had escaped his yard and gone missing for 3 months. I got him back where he belonged, but I've been intrigued by tortoises ever since. adopting one was going to be a long time in the future when I was in a position to afford one. Didn't count on finding this little guy starving and under a UVB lamp that actually had loose bits floating around in the bulb ("I don't know... we've used the same bulb forever. It still lights up..."). So, he's my baby now, but starting with three strikes against him. He was very timid and stressed, not to mention so weak he wobbled when he walked and preferred to drag himself along rather than standing up. He's been with me 3 weeks now and turned into a little prince. Looks at his breakfast plate and then turns to me to make it known that , "We are not pleased to feed ourselves, We would prefer to be served." Sometimes he examines the whole plate (which always has at least 4 options on it) and gives it a big sniff and then lets me know that, "This is peasant fare and does not suit us. We would prefer raddiccio." I'm indulging him with hand feeding and if he only wants raddiccio at one snack, I'll let him get away with it, and make it up next time. I'm feeding him several small meals instead of one large one (for the sake of enrichment and giving him some control over his world), so I figure it's not a big deal if I indulge his whims at his bedtime snack. I'm probably creating a monster, but if he ends up being a happy, healthy little monster, it's worth it! He's strong enough now to stand up on his hind legs, with just one hand on the side of the enclosure for balance while he waves the other one to summon the help.

 

[Yvonne G]

Sounds like he's got you right where he wants you.

 

[W Shaw]

He totally does!

 

[Tom]

Here is some russian and general info for you:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

Aspen bedding is not a good substrate. Far too dry for one thing.

I've raised hundreds of baby tortoises in coco coir, including a couple dozen russians, and not one eye infection ever. I like the coir for little ones and I prefer the orchid bark for bigger ones.

 

[W Shaw]

Thanks Tom!

As a newbie, the most frustrating thing for me has been the conflicting advice from seemingly reliable sources. I've been told, for example, that eye infections occur when the substrate is too dry, but other sources say damp substrate causes them. I thought I'd done a good bit of research on food in advance, but I go out and buy a bunch of stuff that's highly recommended only to find someone else saying, "Never feed X to tortoises." I think I'm going to try orchid bark at my next full change and see how the little guy likes it. He's a rescue who came to me with a lot of issues. One of them is that he gets freaked out by unfamiliar surfaces and won't walk on them, which is a problem because I really need him to walk to strengthen his limbs.