Lower Respiratory Infection Issue

Charsuibun

New Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2018
Messages
10
Location (City and/or State)
UK
My tortoise seems to have another infection and I'm at a bit of a loss to work out why.

She finished a course of antibiotics just over a month ago, and it seemed that she was back to normal.
Yesterday I noticed her doing the same open mouth 'gasping' with a sort of clicking noise and took her straight back to the vets and they've confirmed she definitely has an infection. I've no idea if it's the same one or a new one, but I can't see any reason for it.
Other than the open mouth (and the bubbles my vet saw at the back of her throat) she has no other symptoms.

I use coco coir for substrate and dampen it down (just to stop it from getting too dry, not wet) but I think I'll switch this out for top soil or mix the two.

Under her heat lamp I stick to the high 30's (celcius) and the cool end is at around 20-25. Her heat lamp is on a 12hr timer.
Our heating is set to switch on when it drops below 19c so I think she's okay at night.

She really hates being in water, no matter the temperature so I try to give her short baths on a regular basis (she must drink as she's not dehydrated, and it's usually long enough for her to poop if she needs to).

I try and make sure I pick up all left over food and any poo/urates as soon as I see them. I deep clean her table monthly using a reptile safe disinfectant.

Her table is near the backdoor, but we make a point of not leaving it open unless it's warm enough outside - I don't imagine that could contribute, but I could be wrong.

Please critique anything that I could be doing wrong, or anything you think might be contributing to this infection. I'm desperate to help her get better.
Thank you.
 

SachaZ

New Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2018
Messages
11
Location (City and/or State)
Ottawa
Hi Charsuibun, I want to add two points (and I might be wrong as well).

- When you bath the tortoise, do you damp her afterwards with a paper towel, just in case the air is actually colder than her body temp at that moment? I may be mistaken that it can contribute. I damp mine with just a toilet paper gently, so while I bring him back to the table, he doesn't get cold on the way.

- The second point is the topic and concern of mine as well, which I am interested in myself. And I ask more as a question to everyone on the forum: When you bath her, what is the temperature of the water? If the the temperature of the water is lower than the tortoise's body temperature at the moment when you take her from under heat lamp and the animal is already warmed up, may it be a cause to get the animal cold and, as a result, get the animal sick?

- Lastly, I don't mean to doubt the vet and your own alertness, but does the vet specialize in reptiles particularly? Sometimes tortoise may have nose discharge because it breathed in too much water (but that would last for a very short time!). And opening the mouth because the food got stuck. Other than that, is it active and curious and eating well?

and other three little points, which, I am sure, you have covered, but just in case:

- do you wash your hands before handling the tortoise?
- are there any other (new) animals that have access to her?
- did you disinfect (i would rinse it with a hot boiling water, if you can) her enclosure after the first illness?
- that back door you talked about, if you place your hand near it, do you feel the cold air getting though?
 

SachaZ

New Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2018
Messages
11
Location (City and/or State)
Ottawa
I noticed I made a grammar mistake in my above post (autocorrect issue) - I meant TO DRY the tortoise with a paper towel, NOT to "DAMP" or "wet".
 

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