# Respiratory Infection!!!!!!



## Killerrookie (Feb 20, 2015)

Hello there!!! I own a leopard tortoise named Speckals.... Speckals has got a respiratory infection since Monday. I took her to the vet and she got 5 injections of antibiotics, 5 tubes of nebulize antibiotics and eye drops. She is gonna take her third inject antibiotics on Sunday and she is starting to look better!!!! Here she is now and the medicine she takes. Feel free to ask me questions and tell me about if you ever had to deal with a reptile with respiratory infection.


----------



## A Carson (Feb 20, 2015)

First and foremost what a doll!!! I have a Russian tortoise who is ten months old and I've had him since November 19 and have had problems ever since. We have been fighting a respiratory infection and its been pretty devastating. He got completely healthy then relapsed. Now he is doing ten injections of amikacin and he has five left to go. It's been a long road but i feel your pain and wish you the best of luck!!!


----------



## Killerrookie (Feb 20, 2015)

A Carson said:


> First and foremost what a doll!!! I have a Russian tortoise who is ten months old and I've had him since November 19 and have had problems ever since. We have been fighting a respiratory infection and its been pretty devastating. He got completely healthy then relapsed. Now he is doing ten injections of amikacin and he has five left to go. It's been a long road but i feel your pain and wish you the best of luck!!!


Thanks and I'm sorry to hear about your Russian and I hope that he gets well soon and its a real pain in the butt with this Respiratory Infection it's horrible. Funny thing is I was watching a video about it on Sunday and I said I hope mine never get that and the next day it happens!!!! It sucks really bad!!! But he looks like he is recovering hopefully for good.


----------



## A Carson (Feb 20, 2015)

Thanks it certainly is a pain. I think where i went wrong was the substrate. Although i did massive amounts of research everyone has different opinions. I'm not sure if it's the same for Russians as leopards but i know moist and cold is a bad combo. Out Of curiosity what kind of substrate do you use? Right now since he relapsed i have removed all possible irritants and I'm using paper towel. The only bummer no humidity


----------



## Killerrookie (Feb 20, 2015)

A Carson said:


> Thanks it certainly is a pain. I think where i went wrong was the substrate. Although i did massive amounts of research everyone has different opinions. I'm not sure if it's the same for Russians as leopards but i know moist and cold is a bad combo. Out Of curiosity what kind of substrate do you use? Right now since he relapsed i have removed all possible irritants and I'm using paper towel. The only bummer no humidity


Well I use Reptibark and I believe that's what happen to Speckals it was humidity and cold but I fixed it with a night light!!! It heats it up to high 80's.


----------



## A Carson (Feb 20, 2015)

Ok  i was on a different forum and they told me to turn heat off at night. Stupidly i listened being new at this and that's when he got worse. Has a little bit of a runny nose as we speak and that's after five injections. What all did your very say to give? Seems like you have different medications. I don't have any good reptile vets where i live


----------



## Killerrookie (Feb 20, 2015)

A Carson said:


> Ok  i was on a different forum and they told me to turn heat off at night. Stupidly i listened being new at this and that's when he got worse. Has a little bit of a runny nose as we speak and that's after five injections. What all did your very say to give? Seems like you have different medications. I don't have any good reptile vets where i live


It is Gentocin for nebulization which he breaths in. It's an antibiotic I'm suppose to use it twice a day for 5 days and eye drops I'm suppose to put one drop in both eyes for 10 days and the injection is called Fortaz I give it to him every 3 days. Here are pics of it.


----------



## dmmj (Feb 20, 2015)

Cold and wet is bad for all tortoises.  ?I took in a rrussian a few years back who had an RI, I used nose drops, and syringe fed meds into the mouth. She had swollen eyes, and mucus from the nose, but no open mouth breathing thankfully. the earlier you treat an ri, the better chance a tortoise has of beating it. . Is your tortoise still eating?


----------



## Killerrookie (Feb 20, 2015)

dmmj said:


> Cold and wet is bad for all tortoises.  ?I took in a rrussian a few years back who had an RI, I used nose drops, and syringe fed meds into the mouth. She had swollen eyes, and mucus from the nose, but no open mouth breathing thankfully. the earlier you treat an ri, the better chance a tortoise has of beating it. . Is your tortoise still eating?


Oh yes he is eating like crazy and moves everyone in a while!!! His eyes are swollen to but he can open them and stuff just takes awhile. Wbu Carson?


----------



## Jodie (Feb 20, 2015)

Leopards and Russians are a bit different in their care, but humid and cold is always bad. Glad to hear you're keeping your temps well over 80F. My Leopard had an RI and the antibiotics my vet gave didn't help. I don't have a vet within 100 miles that knows anything about tortoises, so I just kept him extra warm and humid for 6 months to get it cleared up. He didn't have swollen eyes or runny nose. Just wheezing. Humidity is even more important to Leopards and they are less tolerant of cool temps. Never cooler than 80F with 80% humidity. While sick up that to 85F. Good luck. Glad to hear he is eating good.


----------



## The G (Jul 15, 2017)

Hi there, I just posted about a potential respiratory infection with my little Cherryhead Red Foot. Since we moved her stools are not as normal as before, but yesterday she had a big one. Her behavior totally normal even wanting to be outside more. The temperatures in Germany have been warmer than usual in the high 80s so we were going out daily and she would greens she encountered out there. My concern is her breathing tonight. I heard her and I never do. You will see in my post that I have her in a temporary enclosure until our terrarium arrives. I am soaking her in luke warm water to make sure i keep her hydrated and she is drinking and eating normally. We have a turtle bone too that she is munching on every day. Does this sound like the beginning of an uproad battle?


----------



## Bee62 (Jul 17, 2017)

The G said:


> Hi there, I just posted about a potential respiratory infection with my little Cherryhead Red Foot. Since we moved her stools are not as normal as before, but yesterday she had a big one. Her behavior totally normal even wanting to be outside more. The temperatures in Germany have been warmer than usual in the high 80s so we were going out daily and she would greens she encountered out there. My concern is her breathing tonight. I heard her and I never do. You will see in my post that I have her in a temporary enclosure until our terrarium arrives. I am soaking her in luke warm water to make sure i keep her hydrated and she is drinking and eating normally. We have a turtle bone too that she is munching on every day. Does this sound like the beginning of an uproad battle?



Mayby she was getting too cold while the transport on your travel ? Keep her warm with high humidity in her enclosure. When you can hear her breathing it is very possible that she has a RI.


----------



## TammyJ (Jul 19, 2017)

Killerrookie said:


> Well I use Reptibark and I believe that's what happen to Speckals it was humidity and cold but I fixed it with a night light!!! It heats it up to high 80's.


A night light? So this is a light that is warm but not bright? They need darkness at night.


----------

