Horsefield (Russian) Tortoise

Question

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Followup To

Question -
Tortoise is about 2yrs old. We have had him about 2 weeks. He has started making squeakes and whistling noises.
Is this a normal thing for tortoises to do?

Answer -
Whistling is sometimes an early sign of a respiratory illness. The next step is a mild bubbling or discharge.

Check out http://www.russiantortoise.org or http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/commondisease.html#Respiratoryfor some ideas for treatment.

This might be a touch of 'maladaptation syndrome'- a minor disease caused by changed housing, diet, and habitat. Keep it warm and well-fed and you should be OK.

Many thanks for your reply. This concurs with a view expressed by the reptile vet. Our tortoise is undergoing an x-ray as I write to determine if there is any lung problems.
We have heard/read various and sometimes conflicting, contradictory advice on how to care for our tortoise and are now somewhat confused as to whether we are doing the right things or the best we can for him.
Some sound, concise and accurate guidance on care/diet for our tortoise would be appreciated.
We live on the north-east coast of England (UK)which, I'm sure you can appriciate, is not the warmest part of the world.  

Answer
Russians are a little tricky, and I don't think we have 'nailed' the care issues totally.

I like the advice at http://www.russiantortoise.org but if you want an absolute step-by-step guide, I am afraid there is not one.

You can also bounce ideas off the guys at http://www.turtleforum.com/forum/upload/index.php? and see what a larger community of keepers does.