Lucille the "nose whistler"?

[dewbert]

Hi folks--
We're still getting to know our two new red foot torts, George and Lucille. Over the past few days I've noticed that Lucille sometimes "whistles" through her nose. This is not a wheezy sort of sound that happens constantly (I've dealt with URIs before... this is a completely different sound). This is a little puff-puff-puff whistle sound that she makes when she's excited or agitated. She does it (sometimes) when you pick her up or when she gets "stuck" in the corner of her tub. She also seems to do it when checking out new surroundings or when I put new food in her dish and she's checking out the buffet du jour. It's a very funny little sound and she stops once things settle down again.

Anybody else have nose whistling RF torts?

 

[Jacqui]

Not a redfoot, but with me it's a female Bells Hingeback. It seems to only happen, when she is under stress. We got her from a rescue and they almost didn't let us take her because of it. These days she is quiet and I sorta forgot about her doing it, until I saw your post.

 

[Candy]

Dale does it, but not all the time. I hear him a lot and I was actually wondering what it was too. I didn't think he was sick because everything else was O.K. Candy

 

[twtraudio]

whats funny is im treating my female leopard for pneumonia because of this noise (almost sounds like a little crackle if you put her real close to your ear ) but its like you guys said it only real happens when shes under stress ( like when nibbler used to chase her around) but im no vet.

 

[drgpenardo]

I took Gracie to the vet for a whistle thinking it was a respiratory infection but she was given a clean bill of health. She doesn't do it anymore though. Does she have any mucus in her nostrils? We lost our first hatchling to a respiratory infection and we were only aware something was wrong when he blew a "snot bubble"

 

[twtraudio]

no discharge or anything i think she was fine but better safe than sorry

 

[REDFOOTMATT]

It might just be a need for a little more humidity. I've heard some of that when things get a little dry.

 

[drgpenardo]

That's true. We moved from NC to MA and there's a huge humidity difference. Gracie didn't whistle until we moved. I had a hard time controlling the humidity. They can't go outside yet. It's too cold still.