im a bit worried about my tortoise, he seems to be making a tiny squeak every now and then and earlier was rubbing his eyes alot, what does this mean? also since we've changed his substrate he seems to be getting alot dirtier! we were using tortoise substrate from a pet shop before but this time we used a mix of topsoil and playsand, but he gets filthy! is that bad for him? mum is complaining about having to change his water about 3 times a day from it getting so dirty as he likes to walk through it! do you think we should go back to the original substrate as it seemed alot dryer and he got alot less dirty!

 I would try to stay with the sand/soil mix. If you put stones or slate around the water bowl that works a little like a foot mat and wipes most of the substrate off of his feet before going into the water or food bowls. Having changed the substrate will have made your tortoise more active then what he has been as they are quite simply excited with the new textures and smells. Once the substrate dries out a little hopefully it wont be so messy. As for the squeak: it MAY be some sand/soil that has gone up his nose, try giving him a bath and he might just 'blow' what ever is up there out. This may also rinse his eyes out too as there may be sand in them.

Did you mix the sand and soil 50/50?

Is there any moisture around his nose area?

Keep a close eye on this! How long have you had the tortoise and did you buy him from a pet shop or a breeder? Sorry for the questions but it just gives us a bigger picture of how to help you.

Please feel free to ask any other questions.

HTH

Elaine

well the substrate we got from the pet shop was a mix of soil and sand anyway but it was just dryer, my mum is the one who changed it and she didnt seem to mix it very well so ive gradually been doing it but its still pretty moist. but that was about 2 weeks ago so i dont know if its gonna get any better and maybe the one we had originally was better unless its ok for him to be that dirty? i gave him a bath on friday but he didnt drink in it at all, so im a little worried hes not drinking enough, unfortunately as im at uni he cant live with me so hes at my mums house and i drop by every other weekend when im home to check up on him but advise mum on what she should be doing. his nose seemed to be dry and it isnt like a constant squeak just every now and then, so i have no idea! i asked mum to give him a bath today as i only popped in briefly so ill ask her tomorrow if hes squeaking still! hes still eating loads and moving around all the time just doesnt seem to be drinking much! i gave him some curly kale today which he loves and it was still wet from being washed so hopefully he got some water from that!

we've had him for about a month now and neither im afraid we found him in a road and are happy to keep him if no one claims him hes been reported as found and we've heard nothing from anyone yet! hes roughly 7 years of age and a hermans