Babette Is Sick

[TaraDodrill]

Good afternoon everyone,

We are trying to get Babette bad to solid health. I thought I saw the early signs of an RI, so I took her to the vet, who agreed and put her on antibiotics, Baytril. Doc Denise did one shot every 72 hours, her last shot was on Thursday.

I know we caught it early because she had no nasal discharge, back leg weakness, or lethargy - still eating like a pig. After her shots her appetite and energy levels decreased for a few hours, but chalked that up to the meds. Poop normal as well.

She maybe gaped once or twice the day I took her to the vet, but not since, but is still wheezing. On Thursday before her shot, she seemed back to 100 percent.

The wheezing began once the weather got too chilly for them to be out all day, and only an hour or so a few days a week. Bo Scarlet is not sick, but both had a little watery eyes. We give them Vitamin A drops once a week. I changed their substrate when they started to spend more time indoors, same organic vet approved dirt as always.

No diet changes, except I am finally getting them to eat Mazuri after 8 months of continually introducing it. Their pre-rescue diet and habitat was less than ideal, hence the pyramding. But they have steadily gained weight, Babs more so than Bo Scarlet. My best guess is that Babs is 3ish years old, their growth was so stunted its hard to tell. She weights close to 6 pounds now.

Their indoor enclosure is a huge baby pool, cool side temps at 85 and basking area 100. Humidity is a constant battle, but is never less than 50 percent. Once in awhile it dips to 40ish percent on their cool side. I work from home and mist when it dips and soak their rocks in water and then place back beneath their lights to create steam and humidity.

Going to Walmart today to get a humidifier, any suggestions on which ones are the easiest to connect a hose to?

Is having the baby pool on the floor during the cooler months an issue? A draft? It's in the dining room in the middle of the downstairs, not near doors, but still, it's a concern. Didn't have any RI issue when I brought them home in February.

I had thought about converting my tanning bed room into a tort room, to give them more room to roam during cold months, while we still stuck in Ohio for another year - Florida bound. But if being on the floor creates a draft issue, then converting my tanning bed room into a tort habitat will not be a good idea.

Help please oh tort experts, I don't want Babs to be sick.
Thank you all in advance,
Tara

 

[TaraDodrill]

Still in need of advice for Babs. Should she do another round of meds?

 

[Tom]

An open topped enclosure is always going to be a pain to maintain decent temps in. The bigger it is the harder it is. For anything kiddie pool size or bigger, it will be easier to just heat a whole room (your tanning room sounds perfect) and keep the room temp as your ambient. This is what I did with my reptile room and its what id do with my 4x8' closed chambers now. Ambient is always at least 80 and then I give them a basking spot of appropriate size for the tortoise of around 100 degrees. I'd keep that room no lower than 85 day and night until all symptoms are gone for at least two weeks. Insulate that room, weather strip the doors, cover the windows with insulating foam sheets cut to size, put a towel across the bottom of the door when its closed, etc...

Trying to maintain a warm open topped enclosure in a cool room is futile and frustrating.

I prefer to find and eliminate the CAUSE of the RI rather than treat the symptoms with harsh drugs. Your tortoise will never be well until you get the environment right.

Hope this helps. Hit me back with any questions, or ask for more details...

 

[wellington]

It is usually colder on the floor. Make sure you have a temp gun to use to measure temps. Make sure the floor of the pool is the right temp. I would not let the sick ones temp go below 85 day and night. Important to keep warm.i would also cover 1/2 to 3/4 of the pool to not only hold in heat but will help with the humidity. Good luck, hope all goes well. Hopefully others will come on with more advice for you.

 

[AZtortMom]

I hope your baby feels better soon! I'm nursing a sick one too!

 

[TaraDodrill]

Thank you everyone. Tom, I entirely, fuguring out the cause is far more preferable than more drugs. We are working on their new indoor enclosure now. Do any of you use and had success the Zoo Med repti digger terrarium humidifier? So far Bo Scarlet is a big afraid of it, but Babette snuggled right up to it.
Vet said I didn't need to keep them separated while Babs has a RI? You all agree? They get very stressed when apart, I know they are known to be solitary creatures, but they were together with some yellow and red foots in a too small aquarium when we rescued them and get very stressed and pace and refuse to eat when apart. They refuse to sleep in separate hides and sleep nose to nose or Babs uses Bo's rear shell as a pillow

 

[TaraDodrill]

Babette is all well now! The zoomed humidifier digger did the trick!! They love, love, love it! I am so excited that I am finally getting them to eat Mazuri and Timothy hay. It took months of mixing it into greens to get them to finally eat it without trying to shake it off.
They are so undersized for their presumed age, I hope the Mazuri aids in a mini grown spurt. They hav always gained steadily, just very slowly.

 

[TortieLuver]

YAY! Glad to hear it I am sure the mazuri will really help and your persistance has paid off with the food I would still continue to keep your eye on the RI and causes. Also, I mean no disrespect to the vet, but I completely agree that there is no need to separate an RI tortoise from any other. I believe there is a great need for that and it can greatly affect others that are in the same enclosure. You can always put them back together when they are all healthy, but why risk it.

 

[TaraDodrill]

Thank you. I was very worried about Bo Scarlet getting sick too, but thankfully he didn't. I think the meds and just a little habitat tweaking really helped. It was odd because nothing changed in their indoor home from earlier this year when they were inside a lot because if weather. Maybe it was just the change from spending every waking moment in their outdoor habitat all summer. With the Frankenstorm on the way, they aren't going to be happy. It was 80 here today, so they got a lot of grazing and walking in.

 

[wellington]

So glad to hear all is well. Also that your set up and humidifier is working good for you too. The Mazuri should put some size and weight on them. Just don't feed too much, a couple times a week is all that is recommended.