Baby Sulcata Respiratory Infection?

Totally_Tortoise

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My baby sulcata seems a bit sickly lately and I'm wondering what it may be. His eyes both open but one opens not as much. he also will sometimes make his beak look like he has underbite and when he does it makes a gap, is that to breathe from his mouth? he eats less and is still active. I keep the enclosure 70 to 75 percent humidity and the sully with him seems fine
 

Jay Bagley

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My baby sulcata seems a bit sickly lately and I'm wondering what it may be. His eyes both open but one opens not as much. he also will sometimes make his beak look like he has underbite and when he does it makes a gap, is that to breathe from his mouth? he eats less and is still active. I keep the enclosure 70 to 75 percent humidity and the sully with him seems fine
I don't have all the answers, but if you are housing another sulcata with him I would strongly advise separating them. Especially if you suspect the other one is sick, as it could very easily pass it on to the healthy one.
 

Totally_Tortoise

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I don't have all the answers, but if you are housing another sulcata with him I would strongly advise separating them. Especially if you suspect the other one is sick, as it could very easily pass it on to the healthy one.
i have seperated them, he is still active but is not eating, he examines the food by pushing his nose on it and wont eat it
 

Jay Bagley

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i have seperated them, he is still active but is not eating, he examines the food by pushing his nose on it and wont eat it
I'm glad you have separated them, I think it would have been unnecessary stress especially for the sickly one. I haven't really been a member for very long, so I will save the advice for someone with a little more experience. One thing I do keep reading when people come here with sick tortoises is bumping the ambient air temperature up 5 degrees to like 85. Hopefully somebody comes along and can give you a little better advice. Good luck.
 

Tom

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i have seperated them, he is still active but is not eating, he examines the food by pushing his nose on it and wont eat it
What are the temperatures and what heating and lighting equipment are you using to maintain these temps?
UV bulb? What type?
Can we see a pic of the underbite?
 

Totally_Tortoise

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What are the temperatures and what heating and lighting equipment are you using to maintain these temps?
UV bulb? What type?
Can we see a pic of the underbite?
i will send a pic, but its not so much underbite but he is opening his mouth and the front tip of his top and lower beak touching as if to breathe and he will fix his beak back to normal sometimes, I am using a UV bulb on a large fixture and a 100 or 150 watt heat lamp the temp for basking is 95 to 100 but normall is at 95 and the ambient temp is 80
 

Totally_Tortoise

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What type of UV bulb is it? MVB, cfl, long tube/strip?

What is the overnight low and what are you using for night heat?
For night the low is 70 and to heat the night i have a red night heat lamp the uv bulb is a dome light thats all i know
 

Tom

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For night the low is 70 and to heat the night i have a red night heat lamp the uv bulb is a dome light thats all i know

The temperature should not drop below 80 at night. You are asking for a respiratory infection, and your tortoise might be fighting the initial stages of one. Get that temperature up tonight. Do not let the tortoise drop to 70 even one more night. Put the enclosure in a bathroom with a space heater and close the door, if need be to get through the night.

Red bulbs should never be used. Use a CHE and set it to run on a thermostat to maintain ambient at 80 or above. If you have to use this one more night to keep the temp up, that is fine, but get the CHE ASAP.

Sounds like you are using a cfl UV bulb. These are not effective and some of them can burn tortoise eyes.


You've got some changes to make, and you need to do it ASAP. Babies have only a small margin of error. Small mistakes like these can lead to their death in a short period of time. Here is the care info again:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/
 

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