Coughing/Hacking Tort

[Toshina]

Hello!
My Sulcata (~7yo) is coughing much like a cat couging up a hairball. It just started about 10 mins ago while he was outside in his pen. It's slowing down now, but I'm curious as to what other tort owners have to say it was? He is a free roaming tort in my home. (It's baby-proof, I also have a toddler walking around.) No discharge from the eyes or nostrils and nothing is coughed up. It really sounds like a cat coughing up a hairball. He has done this once before almost a year ago, nothing since then til now. Any ideas? I'm drawing a blank. Thanks!

 

[shell head]

I hope someone with experience chimes in because my tort has done the same thing and continues to do it once in awhile and the vet had no idea why that is.

 

[308547570]

Abrupt cooling temperature? I don't know, people here with me always suggest to raise temperature and stop feeding for two or three days. By the way,can U buy this kind in U.S.?

 

[Yvonne G]

The first thing that springs to my mind is your tortoise had tried to eat one of the baby's small toys and it's stuck in his throat. Tortoises should not be allowed to roam freely throughout the house. There are just too many little things he might try to eat. Indoor tortoises need their own dedicated space. Also, having a tortoise poop and pee on the same floor that your toddler is on is not healthy for the baby.

I've never had this occur with my tortoises, but I've read threads here on the Forum and it MIGHT possibly be a respiratory infection?????

@308547570 please start your own thread to ask about the availability of this type of tortoise.

 

[dmmj]

coughing tortoises? In 30 years I've never heard of such a thing. They're not designed to cough because they have no diaphragm. definitely unusual

 

[UnicornSploosh]

Most reptiles are carriers of strains of salmonella. Having a tortoise and a young child on the same floor is just asking for trouble. I've had to deal with my son having salmonella. It was a horrible ordeal and not something I'd wish on any parent. Nor was the testing that the health department did on my reptiles and their food supply (thankfully everything was clean there). I don't know what would cause the hacking but I can say as a mom who has been there - you don't want to deal with salmonella.

 

[leigti]

Most reptiles are carriers of strains of salmonella. Having a tortoise and a young child on the same floor is just asking for trouble. I've had to deal with my son having salmonella. It was a horrible ordeal and not something I'd wish on any parent. Nor was the testing that the health department did on my reptiles and their food supply (thankfully everything was clean there). I don't know what would cause the hacking but I can say as a mom who has been there - you don't want to deal with salmonella.

I thought the tortoises and turtles with salmonella thing was kind of an exaggeration. Salmonella is in a lot of places, not just tortoises or other reptiles.

 

[UnicornSploosh]

I thought the tortoises and turtles with salmonella thing was kind of an exaggeration. Salmonella is in a lot of places, not just tortoises or other reptiles.

I know when his illness was reported the health department called to ask me a ton of questions. When they found out we had reptiles they focused on that. They came out here to test the animals, the cages, fecal matter, and some of their food (frozen rodents) because the strain he had all the people had been in contact with reptiles and their food. It ended up not being that after testing but they sure put a lot of effort into checking it out.

http://www.cdc.gov/features/salmonellafrogturtle/

 

[Peter grave]

I have a sulcata that is 4 yrs old and hacks like a cat. Still eats well and seems happy. At first I just thought he was thirsty. He will do it for a day or two. Then won’t do it for months. I can’t figure out what it is ???