Help....sulcata head twitching!!

[Frankiebaby16]

Hello,
My Franklin has been behaving very oddly today. He has a continuous head jerk that has me worried. I have a video attached to show this behavior. He is acting like he has an irritant on his neck or face but I cannot see anything that would bother him. We also gave him a bath today hoping that would help his "itch" but he doesn't seem any better. He also seems to be grazing and moving around less. So whatever this discomfort is, it may be causing him not to eat or move around as much. While this is only the first day it has me worried because he has never done this or been this inactive before. If anyone has any clue what this behavior is and if I should be concerned please let me know!!!!!

The video can be found at this link.

Thank you!!!!!!!

 

[Tom]

Are fire ants a possibility? I see you are in Texas…

Also, did he poop in the soak? Is he pooping regularly? Might be suffering from constipation.

Last guess is a stone. X-Ray would eliminate this possibility.

 

[Yvonne G]

He's got something stuck someplace. either in his mouth, on his neck or down his throat. You're going to have to manhandle him and take a look in his mouth. It might take more than one person, because they're very strong.

I wish someone would invent a head holder like they have for cattle. You offer a piece of tempting treat, the tortoise sticks his head out (through the divice) to grab the treat and you spring it closed behind his jaws, holding the head from being retracted. But since there is no such device, you have to grab the head behind the jaws and hold tight so he can't pull away from you. Then pry his mouth open and give it a good inspection inside.

I forgot to hit "post reply" so I didn't get this posted when I wrote it. A fire ant biting him on his neck under the fold of skin is a good guess. See if you can't get him to extend his head so you can inspect his whole neck.

It really looks like there is something external bothering him.

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

Fed any cactus lately? I have seen very similar head motion in a tortoise who got a cactus spine stuck in the side of his mouth. I feed him a banana so I could get him to hold his head out so I could get the spine out - he ended up eating the spine accidentally with the banana and all was well.

 

[Frankiebaby16]

Thank you everyone.

Sarah I did give him cactus yesterday so maybe he has a spine stuck somewhere although it would be weird for it to start irritating him a day later but I will inspect his throat first thing tomorrow.

Yvonne thank you for the directions on how to handle him, I haven't had to man handle him for anything yet so that will be very helpful!!

Tom, it wasn't fire ants or any other exterior irritant that I could find and I inspected him well. Also his poops are regular however they have been more loose and runny lately. I wanna say a special thanks to you, we used your plans to make Franklins house and it works out great, although we made it too small so we will be back at it again soon!!



We got a little carried away with the exterior lol.

 

[Tom]

That is a classy tortoise house. It looks so much nicer than my plain utilitarian boxes.

If you ever discover the cause, please let us know. I'm curious and would like to learn something.

 

[melissah]

Thank you everyone.

Sarah I did give him cactus yesterday so maybe he has a spine stuck somewhere although it would be weird for it to start irritating him a day later but I will inspect his throat first thing tomorrow.

Yvonne thank you for the directions on how to handle him, I haven't had to man handle him for anything yet so that will be very helpful!!

Tom, it wasn't fire ants or any other exterior irritant that I could find and I inspected him well. Also his poops are regular however they have been more loose and runny lately. I wanna say a special thanks to you, we used your plans to make Franklins house and it works out great, although we made it too small so we will be back at it again soon!!

View attachment 199659

We got a little carried away with the exterior lol.

I LOVE the house it looks awesome!

 

[Gillian M]

Hello @Frankiebaby16 and a very warm welcome to the forum.

Extremely sorry, can't help you - am no tort expert. Hope to hear your tort is better SOON.

Good luck!

 

[Bee62]

@Frankiebaby16

Are there news about Franklyn ? I hope he doing well.