Bubbles coming out of nose

TerryTheTortoise2016 · May 5, 2019

Hi, my 5/6 year old horsefield tortoise was just lifting up his head with his eyes closed and I went to have a look what was wrong and under closer inspection he had bubbles coming out of my nose, does anyone know what’s happening?

Kapidolo Farms · May 5, 2019

Hi, it could be a range of things, all of which should be diagnosed and treated by a veterinarian.

1- the simplest issue could be that there is an irritant that has gotten into the enclosure that has caused an 'allergic' like reaction, from dust mites to fine substrate particles. There is at least one published account of this.

2- some bits of food are caught in the roof of the mouth acting as an irritant.

3- some pathogen has been there all along or has been recently acquired and is causing the discharge (bubbles). Russian tortoises are well known for harboring pathogens for long periods of time with no apparent effects, then something triggers it, and you get manifestation.

https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/that-nasal-discharge.170356/#post-1669706 . print this out and bring it with you to your vet visit. It is the complete exhaustive range of possibilites with well vetted means to resolve the issue. Feel free to read it yourself. It is written by a well respected tortoise vet.

Good luck, please report back what the outcome is.

Cheryl Hills · May 5, 2019

Sounds like a respiratory infection. Please post pictures of your enclosure and tort. What are your temps day and night? Basking temp? Usually this is caused by to low of a temp, cold and moist.

TerryTheTortoise2016 · May 5, 2019

Kapidolo Farms said:
Hi, it could be a range of things, all of which should be diagnosed and treated by a veterinarian.

1- the simplest issue could be that there is an irritant that has gotten into the enclosure that has caused an 'allergic' like reaction, from dust mites to fine substrate particles. There is at least one published account of this.

2- some bits of food are caught in the roof of the mouth acting as an irritant.

3- some pathogen has been there all along or has been recently acquired and is causing the discharge (bubbles). Russian tortoises are well known for harboring pathogens for long periods of time with no apparent effects, then something triggers it, and you get manifestation.

https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/that-nasal-discharge.170356/#post-1669706 . print this out and bring it with you to your vet visit. It is the complete exhaustive range of possibilites with well vetted means to resolve the issue. Feel free to read it yourself. It is written by a well respected tortoise vet.

Good luck, please report back what the outcome is.

Hi thanks for the info, I’ve been watching him and his nose hasn’t bubbled since, it could be to do with the fact that I’ve been feeding him dandelions from my garden recently, I think it’s his first time eating them so that could be the problem, he seems to be fine now and I don’t think he’s done it before so it must have blown over, is there anything I should look for in terms of side effects?

TerryTheTortoise2016 · May 5, 2019

Cheryl Hills said:
Sounds like a respiratory infection. Please post pictures of your enclosure and tort. What are your temps day and night? Basking temp? Usually this is caused by to low of a temp, cold and moist.

TerryTheTortoise2016 · May 5, 2019

Cheryl Hills said:
Sounds like a respiratory infection. Please post pictures of your enclosure and tort. What are your temps day and night? Basking temp? Usually this is caused by to low of a temp, cold and moist.

I’m not sure what the temperatures are as I have him in a tortoise table with a uv/heat lamp

Tom · May 5, 2019

TerryTheTortoise2016 said:
I’m not sure what the temperatures are as I have him in a tortoise table with a uv/heat lamp

You need to know the temperatures. And that substrate is much too dry and dusty. Please give these a read through and make some changes:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/

His beak is overgrown and in need of a trim. Then its time to figure out why the beak is over growing...

Please go into your user profile and put in a general location, so we know where in the world you live. This will affect the advice you get. Different advice for Seattle vs. Sarasota.

Kapidolo Farms · May 5, 2019

Side effects of dandelion can be pink urates, not a bubbly nose. Dandelions are good food source in a wide range of things the tortoise can eat

The temp itself does not cause the bubble nose, but puts stress on the animal that an underlying pathogen can present itself as a bubbling nose, it does not solve itself with proper temps, if that is an issue or not in the first place.

It's be a good idea to have an actual thermometer so you can see what the temp is. Your home thermostat has an actual thermometer, it does not report 'warn enough' etc. it provides actual numeric values.

Thanks for the picture of the enclosure, Tom's concerns should be headed.

Bubbles coming out of nose

TerryTheTortoise2016

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Kapidolo Farms

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Cheryl Hills

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TerryTheTortoise2016

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TerryTheTortoise2016

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TerryTheTortoise2016

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Tom

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Kapidolo Farms

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