Reptile & Amphibian Forums

however there are no other signs of RI and it has made these noises for about 6 mos. now? Eyes are clear, no runny nose, no gapping mouth, full of energy, and has a great appetite. It does however sound a bit congested. Any ideas? It is a 1.5 year old, been in my care since birth. Has a large tortoise table, UVB light and heat bulb 100 under the light 70 on the cool side, 50/50 bed-a-beast/ topsoil bedding.

Thanks

When do you hear the noises? Does it happen randomly at any time or does it happen when the baby is eating or shortly after eating?
-----
PHRatz

More after she has been eating although there is a very faint popping noise when she has not been eating- it is not a gurgly noise however and her airway seems clear.

It may be that the tortoise is clicking its jaws together, or actually snapping the lower beak on the upper beak. You can approximate this sound yourself by pulling your thumb nail over one of you other fingernails on the same hand. In some tortoises, it can indicate that the beaks are getting overgrown. It is the tortoise's attempt at wearing the beaks down to make them have a proper bite.

If you can post a reasonable detailed photo of the mouth, I can tell you if the beaks appear overgrown to the point of needing trimming.

Bill Z

>>It may be that the tortoise is clicking its jaws together, or actually snapping the lower beak on the upper beak. You can approximate this sound yourself by pulling your thumb nail over one of you other fingernails on the same hand. In some tortoises, it can indicate that the beaks are getting overgrown. It is the tortoise's attempt at wearing the beaks down to make them have a proper bite.

That's basically what I was thinking. It could be the signs of a beak beginning to overgrow. If that's not it sometimes there are some who are just noisy eaters. I have a couple of box turtles who have always made clicking popping noises when they eat.
You might want to check the mouth because there was one instance with one of the box turtles- she kept doing this, kept doing it wouldn't stop so I checked her mouth & sure enough she had food stuck in her mouth that she couldn't swallow & couldn't spit out. I pulled it out for her & it stopped.
-----
PHRatz